New expedition ship, Coral Geographer embarked on her maiden voyage from Cairns yesterday.

The ship took a small group of passengers to explore Holmes Reef and Osprey Reef – two of the best dives in the world. The 19-night itinerary will also visit Forbes Island, Cape York, Ashmore Reef  and Adele Island before ending in Broome.

Coral Expeditions held a dockside ceremony for its newest ship with the line’s longest serving staff member, purchasing manager Gary Wun-Hym christening the Geographer with a bottle of champagne.

The new expedition ship has two Xplorer tender boats for rapid shore excursions. It has also been designed with expansive open decks, lounge, bars and feature a collection of Indigenous Australian art.

While she can accommodate a maximum of 120 passengers, she will only carry fewer than 100 guests under the line’s SailSafe plan.

Following her maiden voyage, Coral Geographer will head to the Kimberley.

“She represents the perfect balance between being large enough for ocean voyaging yet having a small and intimate ship atmosphere to maximise our guest experience,” said the line’s group general manager, Mark Fifield.

Coral Expeditions have completed 21 incident-free expedition voyages since its return to operations last October and explored the Great Barrier Reef, Tasmania, South Australia and Western Australia’s coral coast.

The ship’s maiden sailing brings good news to Queensland’s tourism industry, injecting millions of dollars into the region’s economy.