Commenting on the acquisition, Tony Baker Managing Director of the Quicksilver Group said, "The purchase of Poseidon Cruises is a wonderful addition to our Port Douglas fleet. Poseidon is a well-established and well respected brand. The crew are a key asset to this product and we have welcomed many of the staff into the Quicksilver family.

We are confident that the investment in our Great Barrier Reef vessel fleet, which is now 13 across all our brands from Cairns to Port Douglas, will enable us to continue to lead in showcasing the Great Barrier Reef across our diverse range of quality reef experiences."

Designed for personalised dive and snorkel adventures, Poseidon, a 24 m high speed dive and snorkel catamaran, operates daily from Port Douglas visiting 3 different reef sites at the spectacular Agincourt ribbon reefs. With access to over 25 individual reef locations, certified and introductory divers can enjoy up to 3 dives including drift and wall dives, while snorkellers can enjoy unlimited adventure snorkelling in this marine wilderness.

Peter and Barbara Wright established Poseidon in 1981 and after many years as pioneers in reef tourism in Tropical North Queensland, have chosen to formally retire and transfer ownership to Quicksilver. The highly successful Poseidon adventure started with expedition dive yacht "Scheherazade" before upgrading respectively to Poseidon 1, 2 & 3 specialising in snorkelling and diving at the renowned Agincourt Ribbon Reefs. The Poseidon brand and product will continue to operate premium diving and snorkelling day trips to the Agincourt Outer Reefs under the management of the professional and very Quicksilver team.

Peter Wright said "We wish to thank our fantastic employees, agents and suppliers for the years of commitment, loyal service and support." Poseidon directors Steve & Katrina Edmondson will cease to manage Poseidon however will continue to own and operate their "Sailaway" Low Isles and Sunset Sailing business based in Port Douglas.

A classic warm up event in the lead up to the Cairns Airport Adventure Festival incorporating Ironman Cairns, entrants from Australia and around the world took on 1.5km and 3km distances in this unique Great Barrier Reef event. But it was 15 year old Cairns boy, Cameron Keith, who took out the honours of being first across the finish line in the 3km swim while Rebecca Clarke won the women's 3km race.

A remarkable young man, Cameron is also planning a challenging 27km swim from Green Island to Yorkey's Knob on the mainland in August. Born blind in one eye, Cameron is raising money for the Fred Hollows Foundation.

It has been 20 years since his last Ironman when Warren was Tasmania's veteran champion for 2 years. When not in race mode Warren is a coach driver for Quicksilver so in place of the coach wheels he had Quicksilver on the wheels of his bike, support of his workmates and even managed to train for the swim at Low Isles!

On competing in the Ironman Cairns, Warren said, "I just wanted to finish the race and enjoy the experience - it was challenging but rewarding to be back on track."

While the traffic controller held up a STOP sign we think she stopped the traffic by herself while being towed across the road.

Quicksilver VIII is now back in Port Douglas - and in the water, ready for the start of the peak season.

Originally built in Cairns and now 21 years young, she made an impressive crossing over Cook Street before finally arriving at BSE Cairns Slipway where she is now undergoing a 3 month refit and maintenance refurbishment.

Brian Cave, Great Adventures General Manager of Operations said, "The upgrade includes the underwater observatory, all the tubular steel flotation sections, flooring and general maintenance. While these platforms have an ongoing and scheduled maintenance at sea each year, this one is major and will involve up to 3 months with her out of the water."

Michael Healy, Quicksilver Group Director Sales and Marketing commented "This reflects the company's commitment to showcasing our reef products, ensuring our clients have the best facilities available on the Great Barrier Reef. We will be using our recently refurbished Norman Reef platform for our Great Adventures Outer Reef cruises".

Passengers and crew aboard our Cairns-based dive and snorkel vessel Silverswift were fortunate to encounter the first sighting of the season at Gordon's mooring on Flynn Reef, when their special guest appeared. The playful minke approached the snorkellers while Silverswift was moored and arrived by swimming over the divers. Curious and inquisitive, the minke came in to have a look and started doing loops and swimming away and then coming back again over 30 minutes to visit and surfaced several times while eyeing off the snorkellers.

Silverswift Dive Instructor Sam Killian said "The minke was about 5 metres in length and was an amazing experience not only for our passengers from around the world but also for the crew. We visit the Reef every day but we still are in awe of the marine life that we encounter.

Not to be outdone, the crew and passengers aboard Port Douglas based Silversonic had an amazing in-water encounter with a 7 metre minke on Saturday 15th June.

The minke believed to be a full adult swam around the vessel and surfaced several times as if saying "hello and welcome to my world" to everyone while the vessel was moored at Phil's Bommie at Agincourt Reef.

Silversonic Dive Instructor Tami Summers said, "The minke was about 7 metres in length and swam in from around 500 metres away to eyeball our passengers as they hung onto the rope to observe the Minke. It came within 2 metres of us. It does not matter how often you have seen them it is still an amazing experience. If fact, I think the crew get more excited than the passengers as they know just how special it is."

Silversonic has one of only 3 permits in this region to be issued by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to allow our passengers to swim with the minke whales.

Russell Hore, Quicksilver Marine Biologist said "Interactions have become more frequent in the past few years and is one of those once in a life time experiences. 90% of minke whale sightings on the Great Barrier Reef are during June and July and through research data contributed to the Minke Whale Project, it's been established that many identified individual whales are returning to the same reef sites each year."

After receiving the final clue from Eric Bana and a police escort, Aiden received a hero's welcome (including from Great Adventures' mascot, Wally the Wrasse!) before embarking with GBR Helicopters to Green Island. Here our fantastic Great Adventures dive instructor Craig Hardes took a very excited Aiden on a personal snorkel tour to find the one and only Nemo!

We wish the best of luck to Aiden and his wonderful family and hope you enjoyed a magical stay at Green Island Resort on the Great Barrier Reef.

We were delighted to host a number of functions aboard the recently refurbished Quicksilver V, Ocean Spirit and also Silverswift for a Green Island Dinner.

Rhett, Craig and the crew from TCMG (complete with matching pirate's pants!) hosted a memorable pirate's themed party aboard Ocean Spirit.

With an awesome Rocky Horror theme, the guys and gals swapped their uniforms and sarongs for fishnets (of a different kind!) and had a whole lot of fun doin' the Time Warp!

Port Douglas Carnivale will be back again next year with an amazing calendar of events over 10 days celebrating our lifestyle in the tropics. See you next year from 22 - 31 May 2015!