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 the formation of Heron Island as a vegetated coral cay, the plants that colonised it, the role of the seabird populations and the sea turtles that return to nest each season. Overnight: Heron Island Resort. Meals: L/D.

Morning CoralWatch presentation at the Marine Centre 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. After lunch, a CoralWatch Reef Walk at low tide covers reef formation, symbiotic relationships between marine species, adaptations for low-tide survival, and the threats facing coral ecosystems; you will enter this data into the global database on Day 3. A presentation on green and loggerhead turtle biology and nesting behaviour follows in the afternoon. A sunset cruise around Heron Island, then an evening guided turtle nesting walk along the beaches. Overnight: Heron Island Resort. Meals: B/L/D.

Early morning boat snorkel over the reef crest at Heron and Wistari 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: the data collected on Day 2 is uploaded to the global database 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 checkout, then a 30-minute boat transfer to Wilson Island; arrival involves a knee-deep beach landing on coral; 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. 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. A guided snorkel to the Wilson Bommie follows: a coral formation approximately 5m tall and 5m wide, growing at roughly one centimetre per year, which puts it at around 500 years old. After breakfast, the day is open: kayaking, paddleboarding, snorkelling from the beach or relaxing. A guided bird walk in the afternoon covers the four bird categories present on the islands: breeding populations, visitors, migratory shorebirds and residents. At peak nesting season, up to 200,000 birds occupy these islands. In the evening, enjoy sunset cocktails, dinner and marine trivia.

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).