GBR- Port Douglas or Heron Island
 

We'll have three to four nights to spend for the GBR and would like the board's opinions on whether we should stay in Port Douglas or to stay on one of the more reasonably priced islands such as Heron Island. Our budget is probably in the $400 per night range. We don't dive but we snorkle. I was leaning towards Port Douglas to be able to see the rainforest but if staying on one of the islands is amazing, I could be persuaded.

neither - go to Hinchinbrook Island which is very diverse.

I haven't stayed at Port Douglas so I can't help with a comparison, however I am a huge fan of Heron Island. The great advantage of Heron Island is that you are right there on the reef, so with a minimum of fuss you can swim out from the beach to the reef edge. It is incredibly beautiful and relaxing.

What time of year are you going, as the prices on Heron Island drop in Autumn and Winter?

We'll be at the GBR mid April. Will it be too cold for snorkeling?
What will I miss out on if we don't go to Port Douglas?

Go to Heron if seeing the reef is your priority - it's fantastic. As Susan says, you're right on the reef. Snorklers are well catered for. There's good snorkeling off the beach and excellent snorkeling from the small boats they take out to the reef edge twice a day (5-10 min ride). At PD or Hinchinbrook it's a significant boat ride out to the reef proper.

You will have to sacrifice the rainforest aspect, however, since Heron is well offshore and it is just a small coral cay.

I'd say April will be an ideal time for Heron Island and for snorkeling. The times I visited the island were in Jun-Aug, and even though it was technically "winter", it was very pleasant. We rented wet suit tops for snorkeling. I highly doubt you'll need to do that in April.

Hinchinbrook has its own rainforest and the snorkling areas are not far from it. It also has a diversity of terrain with waterfalls, beautiful non tourist beaches, dugong marine habitat, its own flora and of course fauna to play with. What it does not have that Heron Island has is noisy, smelly birds. The further north you go the better the water temps at that time of year although April is not too bad at all anywhere in Queensland other than the far south. Hinchinbrook's website is as follows:
http://www.hinchinbrookresort.com.au/index1.html

Birds are a 'problem' on Heron Island only during breeding season, which is over by mid April.

I love the birds, to me they are a huge plus, but as Ralph says they are not permanently on the island.

My favourite seasonal visitors are the shearwaters and the nodddies. The shearwaters are such strange birds on land, they scuttle in the most endearing way and the sound they make at night is bizarre.

The noddies are also great to watch building nests with leaves and later on feeding their young. I've never been that close to nesting birds.

Lizzie, I've been extolling Hinchinbrook Island on and off here for years, it just seems to fall on deaf ears on this forum. I don't know why, although US actress Jodie Foster has recently described it "as one of the most beautiful islands in the world".

stotz, do remember if you get bad weather on Heron Island, or for that matter Lizard Island, that's about it. Hinchinbrook is close enough to coast to get back to mainland quickly and easily, and there's plenty of land based activities around the wet tropics and Atherton Tablelands area of FNQ.

Right now there are atrocious weather conditions (and its still summer) on much of Queensland coast from about Townsville south - yesterday 37 tourists had to be helicoptered off a sinking charter yacht in Whitsundays and 90km wind gusts were recorded on Lady Elliot Island further south. So watch the weather forecasts, April can still be dodgy.

Nothing against Hinchinbrook. I hope get there this July and see it for myself. Cant wait. But the original poster asked about seeing the Barrier Reef, not what the most beautiful islands in Australia are. That's where my recommendation for Heron Island comes in...Hinchinbrook may be very beautiful and close to shore, but it's not a reef island like Heron, Lizard or Lady Elliot are.

Ralph, the OP also was interested in rainforest, about a budget and furthermore they only snorkle. The reef is very close to Hinchinbrook and the short trip there is lovely as well. I know that you have not been to Hinchinbrook but have you looked at the website Ralph? The location of Hinchinbrook is very close to everything that North Queensland can offer and as Pat says, if it rains then you have something else to do other than sit inside your lodging and wait for the sun! No one has ever said that the reef around Heron is not nice - it is, BUT it is very, very small and it costs quite a bit to get to Heron because it is off the tourist paths and you do get there by going through some rather forgetable areas such as Gladstone if you go that way. The cost of getting to North Queensland is much, much cheaper and easier and you have a wealth of interesting things to see as well.

I sure wouldn't want to be confined on Heron Island if the weather is not good. I would definitely choose the Port Douglas area and venture forth from there. Love the Atherton Tablelands area. I am sorry I will probably get blasted by some posters but Heron Island is not my favorite snorkeling location. I would choose Lizard Island for a day snorkling trip and maybe one of the boats that take you snorkeling another day. I don't want to discount Hinchinbrook though - one of the islands I haven't been to but it does sound interesting.

I'm looking forward to visiting Hinchinbrook. I've seen it from the mainland on a few occasions. It's very impressive looking. And it's very close. In fact it might as well be part of the mainland. And while I haven't yet stepped foot on the island, I have been to Dunk Island just up the coast, also close to shore. Unfortunately based on its proximity to shore, I have to assume the snorkeling experience on Hinchinbrook will be much the same as it was on Dunk, i.e., next to nothing and still at least an hour by boat to the outer reef.

But it is good to know that if it rains I'll be less miserable than I was on those few rainy days I experienced on Heron Island on several trips. I'll swallow the (not insignificant) daily tariff and jump on a boat to huge metropolis of Cardwell just onshore. And when I've exhausted all the possibilities there (in about 10 minutes), I'll rent a car and drive 100 miles through the rain north to Cairns to watch a movie or something.

You just may be pleasantly surprised what is around Cardwell Ralph there are some wonderful spots that you must have missed when you sped through it en route to see a movie in Cairns. Obviously you will have to just stop in Cardwell and enlighten yourself of its attractions and learn something new and humbly apologise to us that you don't know everything there is to know about the Queensland coast.

Liz...you miss my point. If it's raining there isnt going to much to do anywhere except in a big town like Cairns, which is not close to Hinchinbrook. My wife's aunt lives in Ingham. We have visited her three times there. There's no doubt it's a great area (love Wallaman Falls, for example), and I have indicated so many times on this forum. Regardless, the whole weather argument as to choosing Hinchinbrook over a reef island does not "hold much water". If it's raining on Hinchinbrook you're still stuck inside in a remote place far from civilization.

You can at least get a jacket on and go for a walk on Hinchinbrook for the whole day in contrast to Heron which takes about 15 minutes to go around the island. We understand that you love Heron and we understand that you think everyone should love Heron BUT there are other areas in Queensland that should be seen if one is coming all this way and Heron does not have a rainforest on it. Furthermore it is more expensive to get to and from.

If stotz is still paying attention to this thread, I'd like to make a few additional points about Heron Island. While it's true there is not much to explore on the island itself (it takes about 40 mins to walks around - timed it once), there is the reef walking aspect, which is a major activity on Heron besides snorkeling and diving. At low tide the intertidal lagoon (a huge area expanding out from the island to the reef edge) is exposed. You can walk and wade out there quite far - and there is a lot to see - turtles, starfish, sea cucumbers, fish, crabs, all kind of stuff. Fun to do once or twice.

There is also the (biweekly?) boat trip to nearby Wilson Island, which is a blast. The boat moors off the reef and you can swim/snorkel to shore, and do more snorkeling off the beach. Very good. The staff take a dingy ashore and cook lunch for everyone.

I havent done it, but there is also a daily (?) fishing trip offered. There is also a semi-submersible for reef viewing without getting wet (not my preferred way of seeing the reef, but good for some).

If your timing is right, Heron is a good spot for whale watching, particularly in the winter months. Whales are forced quite close to shore as they come up the Wistari Channel. Also, at certain times of the year you may see University of Queensland (which has a research station on the island) people collecting, tagging and examining the many sea turtles found living around Heron. (My kids loved seeing that). And of course there's turtle egg laying/hatching during the summer months, which I have not seen unfortunately.

The island is more off the beaten track making it more expensive to get to. You just have to weigh that in with what it will cost you elsewhere and what you want to see. Heron Island is relatively close to Fraser Island, a completely different kind of island. The two make for a great combination if you have more time.

I agree with RalphR in every aspect of this reply. If you want visit a coral cay island on the southern Great Barrier Reef, with that Robinson Cruscoe feeling (no cruise boats, or hordes of tourists, just you & mother nature...its a great experience, something to remember for a long time)

Stotz - You asked about water temperature in April. Well I live in Hervey Bay just south of Gladstone, and I swim right up to end of June, and I can tell April is great time of the year for swimming/diving etc.

tropo, the only coral cay island I can think of in FNQ with "hordes of tourists" is Green Island, and no-one here is talking about that. Even Green Island's eastern reefs are just about tourist-free. There are boats such as Quicksilver which take hundreds to the outer reef to its own pontoon, but there are others, out of both Cairns and Port Douglas which take only small groups to restricted sites. There are limits to numbers visiting a particular reef set out by Great Barrier Reef Marine Park authority.

Stotz, if you do decide on Port Douglas, have a look at Wavelength for a snorkelling day trip, it takes small groups, and goes to three pristine reef sites.

Or check out Cape Tribulation, there's one or two small passenger reef trips from there from the rainforested beach at Cape Trib.