Sleep under the stars on the reef

It’s just hit you: you’re about to spend two days on one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. With fantasies of rainbows of reef and stunning sunsets on the mind, you board the Tropic Sunseeker.

After being led to a reserved area for ‘The Starlighters’, you’re introduced to your friendly hosts and told how the next two days of utter magic will play out. You start to feel a little bit like a tour ‘A-lister’. Let the Great Barrier Reef adventure commence.

As the day tour boat pulls away from the pontoon, you are met by nature’s serene silence. With only a handful of people left on the pontoon, you watch as Sunlover’s Moore Reef pontoon gradually transforms into a whole different world. Slowly but surely, birds begin to chirp and an abundance of turtles skirt across the top of the reef like underwater larks.

After you’ve taken in the newfound serenity, enjoy a snorkel tour to City Hall, a giant coral bommie east of the Moore Reef pontoon. This huge structure is teeming with wildlife and is even more colourful when swimming over the deep canyon straight down its centre. Not a confident swimmer? Hang onto the life ring being pulled by the snorkelling guide and look down through your mask and enjoy the view.

As you arrive back on the pontoon, you’re happy to see your swag waiting comfortably for you on the pontoon’s top deck with the promise of a hot shower and a scrumptious cheese and fruit platter to follow.

The reef is a little bit like New York, it never sleeps. You are treated to a sneak peek at night time marine life through a presentation in the underwater observatory. The hosts place halogen lights on the outside of the observatory, which seems to be like kryptonite to passing predators.

With the generator-powered lights keeping Moore Reef out of the dark, you enter a whole new world when the final light is turned off. As your eyes adjust, twinkles of stars began to appear in the dark night sky and before you know it, the constellations of the southern night sky are staring down at you. Your Sunlover By Starlight hosts seem to be astronomy buffs and marine experts rolled into one and point out various constellations including the iconic Southern Cross.

With a day of reef discovery planted firmly in your brain, you settle down in your deluxe swag and drift to sleep below a thousand sparkling stars.

After enjoying pristine snorkelling off the pontoon, the moment has finally arrived: time to try an introductory dive. Sunlover’s professional scuba diving instructor teaches you how to use the equipment and before you know it you’re five metres into the big blue.

Having seen the reef up-close in all its glory, you’re on a total adrenaline high and decide to take a scenic helicopter flight with Nautilus Aviation to see the Great Barrier Reef just as Mother Nature designed it: an exquisite mosaic of blues and greens.

As you touch back down, delighted that you’ve explored the reef in almost every way imaginable, the time has finally come to leave the watery oasis of Moore Reef for dry land – but, you know that this isn’t goodbye, it’s just “until next time”.