: Thursday , September 12, 2013 Palm Cove Scuba Diving The Great Barrier Reef Palm Cove is a beautiful beach community located about 17 miles north of Cairns . Named for the coconut palm trees that line the beach , it offers a tropical year-around climate . Located in Far North Queensland , Australia , Palm Cove is surrounded by the Daintree Tropical Rainforest and the Great Barrier Reef in the South Pacific . Ocean Palm Cove has a historical past dating back more than 60,000 years . Its first settlers were the Aborigines , island people who lived off the land in grass huts . Many stories have been written about Palm Cove and its history with the Aborigines and Captain Cook who stopped there on his trips navigating the Australian coast . In 1986, the Ramada Reef Resort opened as Palm