[All the Raige] Heron Island & the Great Barrier Reef

By Raige on Tuesday, February 6, 2018

Our take on the ever popular

The Hype

Heron Island is a coral cay 80 kilometers off the coast of Queensland (Gladstone) on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Unlike Cairns, you don’t have to take a long boat trip to visit this natural wonder of the world because the resort is right on the reef. The reef supports a ton of biodiversity including 900 of the 1,500 fish species and 72% of the coral species found on the Great Barrier Reef.

The resort shares the island with the University of Queensland’s Heron Island Research Station. The facility conducts research on the spectacular reef, extraordinary variety of aquatic life, migrating whales, nesting turtles, and abundant bird life.

Since the 1970s, the resort has been a popular holiday spot for divers, snorkelers, and those who want to relax on their own private beach with no “day trippers” in sight. Several our friends and family, including Ben’s grandparents (Hi, Juju and H-Dog) fondly, remember vacationing in Heron Island back in the day.

The Reality

We had some issues with the resort before we even got to the island. Granted, we planned a trip around their busy season, so making a reservation proved to be a hassle. Their Vancouver-based operations team dropped the ball a few times, but made up for it with a suite upgrade (which we greatly appreciated since we were four to a room).

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on how you look at it), we had to take the helicopter ($$$) to the island since the boat doesn’t operate on Tuesday or Thursday and the seaplane was under maintenance (FYI: it’s always under maintenance). The helicopter ride was “sick as” and we made fast friends with the pilot, Will.

Upon our arrival, 100,000 birds greeted us with their s*** bombs. Apparently, Heron Island is a breeding and nesting sanctuary for many birds species, making it impossible to get to your destination without getting pooped on. The entire island smells like bird poop. Awesome!

The resort looks like the last time it was updated was over 20 years ago. Nevertheless, it currently attracts tons of (mostly Australian) families. Besides one other couple and the staff, Colbi, Mark, Ben, and I were the only young adults on the island. The one benefit of all the kids was the kids buffet (their chicken fingers being the only edible food at the resort). When one kid confronted Ben about eating from the “kids only” buffet, Ben asked the kid for his ID to prove his age. The kid responded, “I don’t have one,” to which Ben replied, “me neither.”

Despite the crap food, we didn’t fail to appreciate the beauty of the island and spent most of our time diving, snorkeling, and walking the beach in search of turtle hatchlings.

The Verdict

It’s NOT all the raige.

To put it bluntly, the resort is a total dump (old/outdated, unorganized, terrible food, etc.). We’re hoping that with new management the resort will get a much needed face lift and return to its former glory. I’d recommend the ultra-luxe, Lizard Island, or the newer/updated resorts in the Whitsundays (farther north).

However, it wasn’t all a bust because our trip coincided with turtle nesting and hatchling season (Jan to May). We got to watch several nests explode with 100 to 120 little guys as they shimmied their way to the water, imprinting on the environment so they know to return to the same exact spot as mature adults.

Ben and I also dived, taking advantage of the 20+ world-class dive spots just off the island (Heron Bommie is one of Jacques Cousteau’s top 10 favorite dive sites). The visibility wasn’t amazing, but we got to explore the coral cay teeming with fish, turtles, rays, and reef sharks.

There’s not much better than traveling the world with your friends and family and meeting new people along the way. We were happy to explore Heron Island with Colbi, Mark, and our new friend, Will. When we weren’t enjoying the natural beauty of the island, we were winning at trivia night and sneaking into the staff only bar on the island.