There is no good news in the search for an elderly boatie feared missing overboard from a yacht on a remote Queensland reef, police say.

A 71-year-old man was reported missing on Saturday afternoon when a friend on the 15-metre yacht anchored off Cato Reef woke to find that the man was not on board.

Queensland water police vessel PV Lyle M Hoey on the way to Cato Reef. Credit:Queensland Police Service

It sparked an aerial search around the reef in the Coral Sea, which is about 480 kilometres off the central Queensland coast.

Police divers were called in from Yeppoon and arrived about 5am on Monday.