Quickies

Issue #171, 2017

Welcome to our Autumn issue of Quickies,

keeping you posted with some of our latest news and happenings.

It’s been a busy start to the new year as we welcomed the Chinese Year of the Rooster, plans being finalised for our exciting new Quicksilver Dive Centre in Port Douglas and we took delivery of another environmentally advanced coach for our Quicksilver coach fleet.

Our Port Douglas Reservations Department is set to move into new premises at the Port Douglas Marina and there’s a feast of events heading our way to showcase the wonderful World Heritage region we live in.

We also caught up with some of our guests to film their experiences and reef conditions at Agincourt Reef, and as you will see, we’re delighted to report our passengers are having wonderful experiences while seeing the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef!

We hope you enjoy catching up on our latest news. Enjoy a break with our Quickies!

With warm tropical wishes from the Quicksilver Group Crew.

WHAT'S NEW

Quicksilver Drives Environmental Sustainability

Passenger comfort and reduced carbon footprint are the key drivers (pardon the pun) of our Quicksilver coach fleet upgrades.

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With the recent addition, we now have two new Volvo luxury 57 seater coaches in our fleet travelling along the Great Barrier Reef Drive between Cairns and Port Douglas, one of Australia’s most scenic drives.

After the success of our first Volvo coach in early 2016 a second coach was commissioned and these vehicles have brought new levels of safety, quality and cutting edge technology to Far North Queensland.

The Vovlo Marcopolo B7R carries up to 57 passengers and comes with the highest possible current Exhaust Emission controls, proving to be among the cleanest and most fuel-efficient coaches on the Australian market. The coach exceeds current emission standards in Australia and has the equivalent of a 5 star ANCAP safety rating for coaches, with reversing camera and sensors, security and forward facing cameras, an LED lit interior and exterior along with a raft of other safety features.

Quicksilver Dive Centre Update

In the last issue of Quickies, we announced the development of our new Quicksilver Dive Centre in Port Douglas and the project has been moving along swimmingly! After the finalisation of plans and builder appointed, construction is expected to begin mid year.

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The purpose built Learn to Dive Centre will include a 13 x 7m (43 x 23 ft) pool with a shallow depth of 1.35m (4.4 ft) at either end and 4m (13 ft) depth in the mid section, classrooms for dive lessons, a dive specialty retail outlet and offices. An exciting and innovative feature is the retractable roof allowing operation in all weather conditions.

Commenting on the Dive Centre, Managing Director Tony Baker said, “We are extremely excited about the development. We have fantastic dive sites off Port Douglas. We believe the Dive school will complement the services Quicksilver currently provides and bring another dimension for travellers who are considering a stay in Port Douglas. With a four day dive course we hope to attract a new market who will be spending up to a week in local accommodations and participate in other evening activities.”

Quicksilver Reservations and Check-in Office Relocation

We’re not moving far, just across the hallway actually! Our Quicksilver Reservations and Check-in Office is relocating at the Port Douglas Marina in Port Douglas. The new shop is currently being fitted out we expect to be in our shiny new office in early April. Our address, phone numbers and reservations process for our Port Douglas cruises remains unchanged.

Green Island Resort donation assists homeless

Following a change of guest room amenity products, such as shampoo, conditioner, moisturiser, razor blades and even sewing kits, the team at Green Island Resort were delighted to donate the goods to a very worthy not-for-profit company assisting social housing and homeless people in our community.

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CEO of Access Community Housing, Donna-Maree O’Connor said, “I would like to extend our thanks for your generosity in providing us with products that will be used as part of our efforts with the Dignity Packs for homeless people in the Cairns community. These Dignity Packs will provide some basic hygiene and clothing products to allow recipients a sense of dignity and well-being that many of us take for granted. We know this will benefit many people in our community who need our help.”

Access Community Housing is a local organisation providing temporary and permanent affordable social housing options for individuals and families living across Far North Queensland. A small gesture can mean so much for many and we invite other like-minded local businesses with excess product to consider donating to this worthy cause.

What’s cooking at Emeralds Restaurant?!

Green Island Resort’s talented Executive Chef, Shuki Salem, has launched Emeralds Restaurant’s wonderful new menu. Inspired by the world famous Great Barrier Reef and rainforest that surrounds Green Island, the menu is a perfect representation of the freshest local ingredients and unique flavours of our region.

View Menu

A ticket to ride to the tropics!

Well if you’re in or visiting Stuttgart Germany over the next year, keep your eyes peeled for an awesome Tropical North Queensland branded tram! Featuring a gorgeous image of Green Island Resort guests floating over the reef, we were delighted to be involved with this TNQ campaign by DerTour, one of Germany’s largest wholesalers, Tourism Tropical North Queensland and Tourism Events Queensland.

Diving in with Perry - Pro Dive Cairns Instructor

You could say that Perry Roos knows the Great Barrier Reef like the back of his hands! Perry has been sharing his passion for the reef and scuba diving as a dive instructor with Pro Dive Cairns for over 10 years.

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Originally from New Zealand, Perry learnt to dive while travelling in Egypt and loved it so much it became his career path. “I was enjoying it and spending my money on diving so thought it would be a good idea to start getting paid for it!” Perry’s dive master training took about a year and a half and his first job was in Thailand.

Pro Dive Cairns’ popular 5 day learn to dive course commences every day except Sundays. As an instructor you stay with the same group students from the classroom to out on the reef for the liveaboard experience to complete certification and Perry says no two courses are ever the same.

Whether students have never swum in the ocean, have a fear of the ocean, or whether English is not their first language, Perry said the job will throw up many challenges but it’s always enjoyable to help people achieve their dream of becoming a certified diver.

For more information about learning to dive, or even becoming a dive instructor, visit www.prodivecairns.com

Photo credit: Justin Brierty, The Cairns Post

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SEEN ON THE REEF

 

Guests aboard our Quicksilver Outer Reef Cruise got to see a unique sight from the activity platform recently, a waterspout in the distance! These relatively mild waterspouts, known as ‘fair weather waterspouts’, form on the surface of the water and work their way upwards, usually due to warm water temperatures and high humidity in the first 1000 feet of the atmosphere. Their occurrence is always brief, in fact by the time the funnel is fully formed and they are visible to the naked eye, the spout is nearing the end of its short life.

EVENTS


There’s a feast of events heading our way to enjoy providing some extra reasons to visit us!

From elite Ironman and ocean swim events to the fun of Port Douglas Carnivale, the Quicksilver Group is delighted to be supporting a raft of wonderful ways to experience and enjoy our unique World Heritage reef and rainforest home. We hope you can join us to experience some of this wonderful calendar of events.

Earth Hour, Saturday 25 March 2017

On Saturday 25 March, WWF will be celebrating 10 years of this global environmental initiative aimed at increasing awareness about climate change. As all non-essential lighting is switched off for one hour, guests staying at Green Island Resort will enjoy candlelit dinners in Emeralds Restaurant followed by torch lit guided walks with the island activities officer. Out further on the Great Barrier Reef on Pro Dive Cairns' liveaboard boats, torch lit night dives will take on a new meaning. From 8.30pm – 9.30 pm local time, be sure to switch off and join in. We may think our actions not significant, but together we can all make a difference.

Quicksilver Port Douglas Race Week 16 - 20 May

Coming up in May, Quicksilver, in conjuction with the Port Douglas Yacht Club is a proud sponsor of the 2017 Quicksilver Port Douglas Race Week. Over five days, yachts from all over the coast come together for a week of sailing, food and fun. With some of the best sailing opportunities nature can offer, this year’s racing schedule in the Coral Sea off Port Douglas will incorporate the beautiful Low Isles and Snapper Islands, and the famous Four Mile Beach.

Port Douglas Reef and Rainforest Carnivale, 26 - 28 May

The Port Douglas Carnivale is set to celebrate our tropical lifestyle with some amazing events, food and wine, entertainment and activities for all. The Quicky crew are already hard at work creating another fun and original float for the opening night highlight Street Parade with this year’s theme being “Wonders of the Reef”. We can’t wait to see it!

Quicksilver Reef Swim, Thursday 8 June

The Cairns Airport Adventure Festival incorporating Ironman Cairns will once again feature the Quicksilver Reef Swim on Green Island in the lead up to the main Ironman events. This amazing reef swim will see competitors tackle 1.5km or 3km swims in the sparkling waters of Green Island on the Great Barrier Reef.

Link to Ironman swim page

Great Adventures Green Island Ocean Swim, Sunday 27 August

Our annual Great Adventures Green Island Ocean Swim will see swimmers compete in 500m, 1.5km and 3km distances in this unique Great Barrier Reef swim. Competitors aged 12 years and over are eligible to enter.

For more info or bookings, contact Great Adventures on 4044 9944 or book online at http://www.green-island.com.au/oceanswim

Download PDF flyer

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BIO BITS

Here’s some fun facts you might not have known about the Great Barrier Reef!

• It’s the largest living structure on the planet and can be seen from outer space!

• It’s big. The Great Barrier Reef is greater in size than the United Kingdom, Holland and Switzerland combined. Or all of Japan or Italy or half the State of Texas!

• It stretches for 2,300 kilometres extending over 14 degrees of latitude.

• It covers a huge area of 35 million hectares (about 70 million football fields).

• The Great Barrier Reef is home to more than 1600 species of fish. In fact there are more fish, turtles and other marine animals living on our reefs than almost anywhere in the world!

• It can be traced as far back as 18 million years. The reefs we see today have grown on top of older reef platforms during the last 8000 years since the last Ice Age.


THE ZOO


Monika Baum, Sales Executive

You may recognise Monika as our friendly face for Pro Dive Cairns in the local Cairns, domestic and international markets. Dive enthusiast Monika is also taking on the responsibility for our Port Douglas based dive and snorkel vessels Silversonic and Poseidon in the Port Douglas market.

[email protected]

 

With the new Quicksilver Reservations office opening soon at the Port Douglas Marina, and saying farewell to our former reservations manager Joseph Graham heading who is heading South, there are some exciting changes in the Port Douglas Reservations Department.


Rachel Cocks, Reservations and Customer Services Manager

Rachel is now combining her extensive experience as Quicksilver’s Customer Service Manager to head up the Reservations Department.

[email protected]

 


Kelly Stevenson, Reservations Supervisor

Rachel will be capably assisted by Kelly Stevenson our Quicksilver Reservations Supervisor with the day-to-day running of the Port Douglas Reservations Department.

[email protected]

 

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Postcard.... to Silverswift


Thanks to the awesome team at Silverswift! We went out for a 3 dive day to the outer reef. Saw turtles, shark, Maori wrasse, red basse, giant trevally, triton trigger fish, puffer fish with attitude and loads more! The briefing by our dive master Ty was again the best briefing we have ever heard. He was funny, informative and professional. The gear was fantastic, the boat very comfortable and the location sensational.

Robert, Aus

QUICKBITS


  • Lycra Suits: As of 1 April, lycra suits are now included on Quicksilver’s Outer Reef Cruise and Great Adventures Outer Reef Cruises. This means lycra suits are now included on all products with the exception of Green Island day cruises where they can be hired from the Dive Shop if required.
  • Poseidon: Introductory diving is now available to be pre-booked for our Port Douglas based Poseidon Dive & Snorkel experience.
  • Did you know we’re on Instagram?! @ReefCruises and @ProDiveCairns
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