Great Barrier Reef · Australia · Reef · Coral garden · Wall
Flynn Reef
Moorings from an 8 m coral garden to a 30 m wall
Photo: Wise Hok Wai Lum · CC BY-SA 4.0
Flynn Reef lies 60 km east of Cairns and carries several moorings on one reef, running from an 8 m coral garden on sand to walls, swim-throughs and overhangs down to 30 m. Gentle current and generally excellent visibility mean a first-time diver and a photographer can go in on the same line.
Where it is and how deep
16.7345° S, 146.2720° EPublished position for this site.
Site maps published elsewhere
The dive
Operators work several named moorings here — Gordon's Mooring, Tracy's Bommie and Coral Gardens among them — and which one you get depends on the day. The Coral Gardens mooring drops onto sand at 8 m, and from there the coral extends back from the wall in stands of staghorn set among terraces of table coral. It is shallow, bright diving, and a long dive at that depth is easy to plan.
The reef's other face gives the wall dives, cut with swim-throughs and overhangs and running to 30 m. Clownfish, batfish, coral trout, cod, fusiliers, butterflyfish and angelfish are constant, and whitetip reef sharks are frequent enough to expect. Grey reef sharks and octopus turn up less often; moray eels, barracuda, lionfish and nudibranchs are ordinary here rather than a find. Turtles graze the shallows and giant clams sit in the coral.
Current is gentle and visibility generally excellent, so the profile is set by the mooring your boat takes rather than by the conditions on the day. PADI recommends Open Water and Advanced Open Water for the site, which is a fair reading of it: the shallow gardens are within any certified diver's limits, and the deeper wall sections are where the Advanced rating starts to matter.
Marine life and season
- Sea turtles
- Reef sharks
- Groupers
- Octopus & cuttlefish
- Barracuda
- Nudibranchs
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fair | Fair | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Fair |
Season follows Great Barrier Reef: Boats sail all year; visibility peaks from September to November and corals spawn in October or November, while December to February brings the most rain, often at night.
Photos from Flynn Reef
Toby Hudson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Toby Hudson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Toby Hudson · CC BY-SA 3.0
Dive videos
Amazing underwater world of FLYNN REEF (Great Barrier Reef) · Underwater Australia on YouTube
Great Barrier Reef - Flynn Reef, Boulders · Arek F. on YouTube
Questions divers ask
Is Flynn Reef good for beginners?+
Yes at the shallow moorings — the Coral Gardens mooring sits at 8 m on sand and the current is gentle. PADI recommends Open Water for the site and Advanced Open Water for the deeper wall sections down to 30 m.
How far is Flynn Reef from Cairns?+
Sixty kilometres east of Cairns, which puts it within reach of the day-boat fleet rather than needing a liveaboard trip.
Sources
- Flynn Reef dive site — PADI
- Australia - Great Barrier Reef - Cairns — Dive The World
Photo credits
- Two butterflyfish over a colorful coral garden at Flynn Reef by Wise Hok Wai Lum, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Blue-striped surgeonfish swimming over the reef by Toby Hudson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- A large mixed coral outcrop rising from the reef floor by Toby Hudson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Close up of a tan leather coral with folded, ruffled lobes by Toby Hudson, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
More dive sites in Great Barrier Reef
A dozen resident potato cod, the largest around 30 kg
Coral garden
Terraced coral slope falling away from an 8 m sandy mooring
Swim-throughs and overhangs among Flynn Reef's smaller bommies
A 20 m wall with a sand patch crowded with sea cucumbers
A long eastern wall dropping into deep water
A 25 m wall with a very shallow top for the safety stop
Small caves in a 15 m wall holding eels and octopus
One coral tower, 30 m to 5 m, dived by spiralling upward
Similar dives elsewhere
A resting pod of 60 to 80 spinner dolphins in the lagoon.
Pineapplefish under the same ledge for at least seven years
A 40 m drop-off on the west side, with 20 to 30 m of visibility
The protected shallows where Balicasag's turtles are thickest