STEVE AND CATHY SHERWEL
Started their first business in the tourism industry in 1986. This was a jet ski hire, parasailing, and tube riding business at Lake Boga in Northern Victoria.
In 1994, Lake Boga dried up, so they moved to Port Douglas to start Extra Action Watersports, operating the same activities for 10 more years.
Steve and Cathy noticed that there were no quick snorkelling trips from Port Douglas, so they sold their jet ski and parasailing business and started Reef Sprinter with quick-trip snorkelling tours in 2005. Due to high demand, they built another boat called the Jet Sprinter in 2011. With two boats, this allowed up to four trips daily to the Low Isles Reef.
In 2013, they had many requests for a half-day Outer Reef snorkelling tour, so they purchased a permit at the spectacular Third Sister Reef. To operate half-day tours to the Outer Reef, you need to get there fast, so they placed an order with Woody Marine in Brisbane to build one of the fastest snorkelling boats in Australia. In 2016, they sold Jet Sprinter and replaced it with the fantastic Reef Sprinter 4. It has 3 x 350hp supercharged Mercury outboards.
With three boats and multiple departures, Steve and Cathy now employ their daughter Sam who helps out with the bookings and looks after the marketing.
In 2017, they purchased a very rare low Island Access permit allowing 365-day access to the spectacular Low Island and Lagoon. They now operate morning and afternoon tours to this location.
With over 15000 happy customers a year (check our Trip Advisor page), Reef Sprinter continues to provide personalized half-day snorkelling tours as well as a fun and exciting boat ride to the Low Isles Reef or the Outer Reef.