Great Barrier Reef — Cairns & Ribbons, the area around Flynn Reef – Gordon's Mooring

Great Barrier Reef · Australia · Reef

Flynn Reef – Gordon's Mooring

Swim-throughs and overhangs among Flynn Reef's smaller bommies

Area photo: Toby Hudson · CC BY-SA 3.0

Gordon's Mooring is one of the principal moorings on Flynn Reef, on the outer reef east of Cairns. The dive works a scatter of smaller bommies cut with swim-throughs and overhangs, bottoming out at 22 metres, with brain and plate corals on the coral heads and established giant clam gardens between them.

Also known as 2 Gordon's, Gordon's.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Flynn Reef – Gordon's Mooring: typical dive to 22 m (to 72 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit22 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

16.7323° S, 146.2674° EPublished position for this site.

The dive

The mooring drops onto a field of smaller bommies rather than one continuous reef face, so the dive is a circuit of coral heads instead of a single wall run. Between them are swim-throughs and overhangs, and the ground around the bases carries large established giant clam gardens, which are worth the slow pass they need to actually see.

Depth is worked in stages rather than in one drop: 22 metres is the site's maximum, and a circuit that moves from one coral head to the next lets you step the profile back up as the dive runs. Corals on the heads run to brain and plate species, and the shallower bommies make an easy place to finish the dive, holding depth on the reef while the safety stop runs.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Flynn Reef – Gordon's Mooring
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
FairFairFairGoodGoodPrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGoodFair

Season follows Great Barrier Reef: Dry season (Jun–Nov) brings the clearest water and dwarf minke whales; wet-season runoff and cyclone risk lower visibility and reliability Dec–Mar.

Questions divers ask

How deep is Gordon's Mooring at Flynn Reef?+

Maximum depth is 22 metres. The dive is a circuit of smaller bommies rather than one continuous wall, so the profile can be stepped back up toward the mooring as the dive runs.

Sources

  1. Flynn Reef - 2 Gordon's — Scubago
  2. Flynn Reef dive site — PADI
  3. Australia - Great Barrier Reef - Cairns — Dive The World

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