Where to Snorkel GBR?
 

I would really appreciate your comments on where we should experience the GBR. We are a family with two children (6 and 7 years) and are on a fairly modest budget. We will mostly snorkel but my husband will do some beginner dives as well. We are thinking about staying in the Port Douglas area for access to the Daintree as well as the GBR. But also thinking perhaps about the Whitsundays instead. We would love to stay on an island that had snorkelling right off the beach (unfortunately Heron is too expensive but I would just loooooove to go there). We do fly out of Cairns so could split between Whitsundays and northern GBR although airfare is starting to add up for us. Any hints or advice welcome.

Just a suggestion Conny but considering that you have 2 children with you the easiest and cheapest holiday would be to rent an apartment for one week in one area and do the things that you would like to do from there so thinking in terms of what you want to do and see I would centre myself in Cairns as it is more central to most places with access to many of the areas on the reef.
Although a lot of people don't like Cairns for one reason or another I think it is a nice little place and further I would suggest that as you could take the children out to Green Island, go around to the quieter area of it and the children could have a wonderful time snorkling in safety off the beach there. It is a small coral cay and it is very touristy BUT it is not far off the coast and is relatively cheap to get to - probably take your own picnic though as the food situation is not that great - costly and not too varied.
Alternatively you could centre yourselves in the Whitsundays and I think that if you do a google search for Club crocodile you might find that you can get a great deal on the island that they are situated ( make sure it's the Club on the island and not the one on the mainland ) OR you can rent a boat and live off that yourselves and go to one of the many uninhabited islands where there is snorkling off the beach. You are not stuck on any one island as there are boats which take you from one to another as well as to the outer reef areas.

Think Liz's suggestion is very worthy and Trinity Beach about 20mins drive north of Cairns has a huge choice of family apartment holiday rentals. There is budget accommodation in Cairns city, as you don't mention which time of year, there may or may not be a stinger problem on beaches. Cairns city has a huge, stinger-safe, swimming lagoon with free hot showers and and bbq facilities and for the kids there's a MacDonalds over the road. Also a great kids'new playground called "Muddies".

Green Island is great for kids - safe beaches - its not too hard to get away from the multitudes who tend to cluster around the resort area. A full day trip from Cairns on Big Cat with 5and half hours on Green for family of 4 is AU$155, AU$10 pp extra for buffet lunch on boat, or bring your own. Don't bother with the semi-sub, the coral is degraded, but there's plenty of fish about.

Fitzroy Island is even closer to mainland from Cairns than Green, it has budget accommodation and is a pretty place. It's a continental island, not a coral cay, but has some good fringing coral from beach, good rainforest walks and sea-kayaking in calm weather.

Frankland Islands, south of Cairns are pristine and are said to be how Green was 30 years ago. No accommodation, just camping, you'd need a permit from Queensland Parks and Wild Life.

Thanks again Pat & Liz. We will be looking to visit the GBR sometime in May so I guess stingers may still be an issue.

We've heard that around Cairns, the coral is not always in the best shape and is overvisited by tourists like us (which is sad). That's one of the reasons we're wondering whether the Whitsundays might be better i.e. access to some lesser trafficked parts of the reef. That being said, I know it will be an awesome experience where ever we go.

Wish we were campers, but we're not (nothing like a toilet and a shower I say!).

Any thoughts on accommodation availability in May? I'm thinking of laying low and trying to find something last minute on laterate.com or something like that. Does that sound crazy or might it be worthwhile?

Thanks again,

Connie

No stingers in May and there is plenty of reef around Cairns which is untouched and fantastic - probably much better selection of spots there than on the Whitsundays. I think it was you that I mentioned Club Crocodile to - its not a camping place but a family holiday resort.
I would think that you are much better trying to get a last minute accommodation on one of the Australian last minute sites like www.wotif.com.au
because most people in Australia list their sites on that one ( I used to when I had a B&B ) and it is the most popular. I don't know the one that you mentioned but it probably only deals with the larger Multinational owned accommodation places.
Just remember that May is in the peak season on the GBR - everyone trying to get away from the colder weather down south and the NZers getting some sun.

Hi Conny - you've probably heard that reef around Cairns is affected by overvisiting by people who take the large boats with hundreds of people to the same site every day. Big Cat to Green Island (I mentioned it a nice place to take kids, not an ideal snorkelling site) is one of these, there's another 2 out of Cairns and one out of Port Douglas all of which go much further afield than Green. This is good in a way, because it keeps the multitudes away from the more pristine sites. There's a posting here from Mountain Gal who was impressed with her Ocean Spirit trip to Michaelmas Cay and someone else was very happy with Passions of Paradise which goes to
Upolo Cay. Ocean Spirit is a lovely sailer/motor catamaran with a semi-submersible and easy snorkelling from sand cay, not pontoon. A more budget way to visit Michaelmas (from Cairns) is with Sea Star - AU$60 per adult; $45 per child over 4 years - a full day including lunch. It's by no means a luxury boat, but its well maintained and totally non-commercialised vessel, doesn't even have a website and won't try to sell you a t-shirt. Any tour desk in Cairns can book it for you.

Hi Conny
We visited Green a few years ago and it was the biggest let down of the whole holiday, search this forum for Green Island and many people have lots to say about it.
However it does meet your criteria for snorkeling right off the beach and for the children it is reasonably safe, ok if thats all you want.
As Pat says stay away from the the sub it is expensive and the coral is poor, but to satisfy young children it may be ok just to be in a sub and see the fish. Lets face it Green has little else to offer except hundreds of daytrippers and poor coral.
To be honest I would look for somewhere else other than Green, but I guess you have to make that decision.
Just don't base your decision on the glossy leaflets and the website as its really not quite all it seems.

Good Luck

Muck