Turtle Conservation of the Southern Great Barrier Reef

Check in at the Heron Island Ferry Terminal (Gladstone Visitor Information Building) by 8:30am. The ferry takes approximately two hours. On arrival at Heron Island, meet your guide on the jetty. After a welcome briefing and lunch, check in to your accommodation and collect your complimentary snorkel gear at the Marine Centre.

The afternoon island walk takes the group through Pisonia Forest to Shark Bay, covering how Heron Island formed as a vegetated coral cay, the plants that colonised it, and the seabird populations and sea turtles that return to nest each season.

Overnight: Heron Island Resort.
Meals: L/D.

A morning CoralWatch presentation introduces the Coral Health Chart (a University of Queensland tool for quantifying coral bleaching), followed by a swim and snorkel check in the resort pool.

During a CoralWatch Reef Walk at low tide, you’ll put into practice what you learnt during the CoralWatch Presentation and help provide a current status of coral health when we enter the collected data into the global database on Day 3. We will also explore symbiotic relationships between marine species, adaptations for low-tide survival, and the threats facing coral ecosystems.

A presentation on green and loggerhead turtle biology and nesting/hatchling behaviour follows in the afternoon. A sunset cruise around Heron Island, then an evening guided turtle nesting or hatchling walk along the beaches (depending on season).

Overnight: Heron Island Resort.
Meals: B/L/D.

Early morning boat snorkel over the reef crest at Heron Reefs: colourful fish, coral gardens, rays and turtles. After rest time and lunch, a private tour of the University of Queensland Research Station, which has operated on Heron Island since 1951; the Station Manager covers current research experiments and the station’s work on coral resilience, fish behaviour and ecosystem monitoring.

CoralWatch data entry follows: data collected on Day 2 is uploaded to the global database and interactive map, showing real-time coral health surveys worldwide. An evening walk to Shark Bay to watch the moonrise over the reef.

Overnight: Heron Island Resort.
Meals: B/L/D.

Breakfast and check-out, then a 30-minute boat transfer to Wilson Island; arrival involves a possibly knee-deep beach landing on ancient broken coral rubble; wear shorts and reef shoes.

Settle into your glamping tent and explore at your own pace: snorkel from the beach, kayak in the lagoon or rest in a hammock. All beverages are included on Wilson Island. Enjoy sunset cocktails at the longhouse, followed by dinner under the night sky.

Overnight: Wilson Island (glamping tents).
Meals: B/L/D.

A sunrise turtle walk takes advantage of Wilson Island’s distinctive nesting pattern; because of its isolation and surrounding deeper waters, the turtles here often nest in the morning rather than at night. (April departure will be hatchling season). A guided snorkel to the Wilson Bommie follows: a coral formation about 5m tall and 5m wide, growing roughly 1 cm per year, making it around 500 years old.

After breakfast, the day is open for kayaking and snorkelling from the beach, or relaxing. An afternoon guided bird walk covers the four bird categories present on the islands: breeding populations, visitors, migratory shorebirds and residents. At peak nesting season, up to 100,000 birds occupy these islands. In the evening, enjoy sunset cocktails, dinner and marine trivia.

Overnight: Wilson Island (glamping tents).
Meals: B/L/D.

A final sunrise turtle walk, then a morning beach snorkel before packing up. The boat transfers back to Heron Island, with time to browse the gift shop and collect a packed lunch at Baillie’s Bar before the ferry to Gladstone. Arrival at Gladstone Marina is approximately 2:30-3:00pm.

Meals: B/L (packed).