Heron Island, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, was named in 1843 when the ship HMS Fly was charting a safe passage through the maze of coral reefs off the Queensland coast. The captain noticed the abundance of white and grey egrets, and mistook them for herons. It was a good mistake, as Egret Island just doesn't fit an international resort.
In the early 1900s a turtle canning factory devastated many green and loggerhead turtles around Heron Island. In the 1930s Captain Poulson realised the island's potential for tourism. Some of the original turtle factory buildings are part of the current resort.
Diving On Heron Island
Most divers plan for two dives a day. All diving is carried out from spacious, fit for purpose dive boats.
A dive trip takes about two hours, allowing for forty minutes to an hour under water. Visibility can be 30 metres in winter; and average water temperature is 27 degrees all year.
Lunch is taken between dives, and the procedure is then repeated for the afternoon dive. Night dives are provided, depending on diver numbers and conditions.
Heron Island Dive Sites
The dive site depends on currents, wind and the usual planning aspects of any dive. With around 20 recognised dive sites, the diving on Heron Island is unique and varied.
It might be the world famous Heron Island Bommie, just out of the harbour. Or a drift-dive from the Gorgonian Hole to Plate Ledge. Maybe the North Bommie to Blue Pools. Wherever the dive site, it will have some magnificent coral reef diving.
The Gorgonian Hole lives up to its name. Large fans of gorgonian coral cluster around gullies running up into the reef shelf. This shelf falls from the reef flat to about 20 metres and then slowly shelves away to the deep. Plate Ledge is a wall of the drop off covered in plate coral.
A drift dive can be done from the Coral Grotto to the Hole in the Wall. The dive boat drops off the divers, then collects them at the end of the dive.
Heron Island Fish Life
Shoals of hussars, lumbering turtles, moray eels, parrot fish, and even the occasional school of squid have a look at the divers. If Lady Luck and Mother Nature are working together, a manta ray might cruise past. Harmless white tipped reef sharks add to the end of dive stories.
In turtle time, October to March, night walks along the beach will reveal huge female turtles lumbering up the beach to dig their nests. Late in the season, the tiny hatchlings make their frantic dash for the sea.
Getting To Heron Island
Heron Island is accessed from Gladstone by helicopter or fast launch. Many years ago the trip across in the boat took nearly six long seasick hours, so most guests took the helicopter. Now most guests take the smoother two hour boat trip; with day-trippers stopping at a pontoon at nearby Wistari Reef.
A range of different accommodation options is available at the resort.
Wilson Island
Heron Island also runs a small resort on nearby Wilson Island. The facilities are spartan yet comfortable with accommodation in small tent style bungalows, ensuring a maximum of 12 on the island. This offers the chance to live like a castaway for a few days with almost complete privacy on an isolated coral island.
Heron Island has something for everyone. It is right on the reef, has pristine white sandy beaches, clear topical waters over some of the best coral reefs in the world, making for great scuba diving.
