Heron Island
Experience nature at its best on Heron Island, world famous for its spectacular coral reef and a sanctuary for an extraordinary variety of marine life. This natural coral cay provides a genuine eco-experience and the unique opportunity to witness the magic of the world’s largest coral reef.
Boasting some of the best scuba diving and snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef, Heron Island offers a unique experience where you can truly immerse yourself in the beauty of nature. Among the music of seabirds, tracks of turtles and clouds of multi-coloured fish, the feeling that you’re a guest of nature itself is inescapable. Surrounded by 24 square kilometres of reef, the island is home to a resident population of over 5,000 green and loggerhead turtles – with many more returning each year during breeding season.
There is one resort on the island, Heron Island Resort, which offers several standards of accommodation designed to suit all tastes and budgets.
Access
Guests of Heron Island Resort can access the island via boat transfer, which regularly departs from the Gladstone Marina. Alternatively begin your holiday with a scenic seaplane flight between Gladstone Airport and Heron Island.
Top things to do
- Watch turtle hatchlings erupt from their nest and wiggle their way to the waters edge at Heron Island.
- Dive your way around the 20 spectacular dive sites surrounding Heron Island.
- Have an up-close encounter with your favourite marine life.
- Take a guide tour of the University of Queensland's Research Station on Heron Island.
- Enjoy some of the resorts activities including a guided reef walk, semi-submersive tour and much more.