Great Barrier Reef Day Trips
By sea or by air, a trip to the Great Barrier Reef is recommended for visitors to north Queensland. If you have never snorkelled, give it a try as it is the best way to see reef life. Large fast catamarns depart from Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and from the islands to the Great Barrier Reef. Fantasea Cruises has a pontoon called ReefWorld moored on the reef with swimming and snorkelling in safe areas and rides in a semi-submersible sub
.Sailing Day Trips
Yachts sail from Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and from the islands for lunch and a swim, snorkel or dive.
Fishing Day Trips
Handline fishing trips operate daily from the mainland. Gamefishing charters are available from Hamilton Island and Airlie Beach subject to numbers. Dinghies are for hire in most areas.
Diving Day Trips
Most of the day trip boats offer limited diving and introductory dives around the islands or the at the Great Barrier Reef. Specialist dive boats with excellent dive facilities anchor at the fringing reefs around the islands or at the Great Barrier Reef. Pick ups from islands and charter boats can be arranged.
Site Seeing Day Trips
From Airlie Beach, high speed catamarans and older style ferries visit the resort islands, sometimes picking up passengers before anchoring at one of the more popular uninhabited beaches for lunch and a swim, snorkel or dive. Ocean Rafting vessels travel at 65km per hour so you can see a lot of the islands in one day.
Whale Watching
Humpback whales come from the Antarctic in July to give birth to their young in reef waters. In October, they return to the cold waters of Antarctic for the summer. During the calving season whales are very sensitive to disturbances so please keep your distance.
From July to September Fantasea Cruises locates the whales by plane each day. On their high speed boat trip out to watch the whales you are shown a video about whales and how they live.
Feature links
Audi Winter Series - CYCA
2010 World Match Racing Tour
Clipper Cup
National Maritime Festival 2010
Australian Wooden Boat Festival 2011
11th - 14th February 2011
