I hope you enjoy this trip report to snorkelling Heron Island. This will be my seventh visit to Heron Island and a chance to share this amazing location with my kids, now 17 and 18 years of age. As always the island didn’t disappoint. The main difference between this and other times I’ve visited was the tides. If you read my guide about snorkelling at Heron Island, you’ll realise it’s all about the tides. We had low tides at dawn and dusk, which made turtle-watching a little harder. But as always, there are advantages with seeing the island in different states. This time we saw a lot of epaulette sharks (we failed on previous trips). This serves the illustrate how you can keep going back time and time again and see more and more different wildlife.
For more information, visit my Heron Island page.
Photos by Simon Mustoe.
DAY 1 – Arrival
We left our hotel in Gladstone at 7:30am and headed to the harbour for breakfast and checked onto the ferry. By 9:30 we were on our way. A light north-easterly and gentle swell made it a lovely calm crossing.
First thing I noticed was the incredible amounts of algae in the water. The surface micro-organism Trochodesmium was abundant. A particularly warm and wet La Nina summer had led to a proliferation. You could smell its scent on the air like freshly cut grass. On the boundaries of current lines it had formed slicks that could easily be mistaken for oil, and often are.
After passing the line of islands marking the edge of the reef proper we were rewarded by a quiet glide into the jetty at Heron Island. Twenty or so Spotted Eagle rays moved gracefully aside. The drum of the diesel engines was replaced by the chatter of fifty-thousand Black Noddies nesting in the trees.
The first snorkel
Eager to get wet, we attended the briefing, before donning snorkelling gear and dropping in on a falling tide in front of the restaurant. There were colourful wrasse and black-tipped reef sharks, enigmatic reef pipefish and clownfish. After we got out we saw the unmistakeable shape of a frigatebird perched in the she-oaks near the helicopter landing pad. The noddies had taken offence to it being there as these birds are notorious pirates of the sky, stealing food from other birds. It’s not that unusual to see them over the island but rarer to have them landed.
By later afternoon when all the research boats were moored, we went to the channel and swum with numerous turtles and white-tipped reef sharks. The light was magical at this time of day, although the visibility was a bit impaired by the cloudy run-off from the emptying reef that was now mostly bare coral surrounding the island.
DAY 2 – Epaulette Sharks and Shark Bay
Despite being low tide, there was still one lone female turtle awaiting the rising tide after nesting the night before. There must have been dozens of animals ashore last night. Most will have made it back to the water much earlier.
Low tide at dawn meant only one thing … chance to look for epaulette sharks! Out of the front of our rooms near the old gantry we found three of these graceful animals ‘walking’ on the top of the reef.
First swim in ‘the channel’
Our next stop was the channel again but this time on an incoming tide. The water had cleared and we were met with one of the largest (and oldest) male turtles I’ve ever seen. As the water rose the black-tipped reef sharks began to cruise towards the east but the shovel-nosed rays did the opposite. They regathered at the harbour and rested beneath the jetty. There must have been 20-30 cruise by in the hour leading up to breakfast. That along with a big school of jack (a type of trevally) balling under the pier’s pylons.
Shark Bay
High tide was around the middle of the day so we walked up through the centre of the island among the nesting noddies to shark bay. By then the reef sharks that left the jetty earlier had grouped together, along with cowtail rays and a couple of huge lemon sharks.
In the late afternoon we returned to the channel but the tide was quite low and visibility was poor due to an incoming storm. It had started to rain and get quite dark early. A yellow boxfish was a nice find. Then, a few metres out from the jetty, a huge male loggerhead turtle appeared from the mirth and circled us closely. Note, this is the same turtle that was present when we visited in July!
On the way back in the shallows there were lots of fish and hermit crabs emerging for the evening. The pipefish were congregating on top of small rocks and there was a weird greyface moray and beautiful Bayer’s sea slug.
DAY 3 – Outer reef snorkel, octopus and noisy neighbours
Decided to lie in a bit this morning as it was low tide near dawn. The wind had also picked up from the northeast which made most of the island exposed to current. Before breakfast the tide was rising though and there was enough chance to snorkel in the channel.
After breakfast we took a guided snorkel boat trip to ‘hole in the wall’ on the northern side of the island. The sea was quite choppy and the current made for a steady drift-snorkel. Highlight was a huge tropical octopus in about 5m of water. A green turtle and white-tipped reef shark were also special.
The Gantry
After lunch we snorkelled again, this time to the north, catching the current back towards the gantry. There were a couple of turtles hungrily feasting by breaking off chunks of algae-encrusted coral. A scorpionfish was a nice addition to the trip.
While the weather had calmed a bit, it was still overcast, so we decided to walk to the end of the island and photograph the noddies and bridled terns. A few silver gulls were sadly making meals of turtle hatchlings – all part of life on an island that has been affectionally named ‘death island’ on account of the brutality that is seen each day. Apparently, most were emerging at night on the high tide – probably why we saw night herons moving from their roost at dusk. They would be feeding on the young turtles tonight.
A dusk bird walk
But these hardships are balanced by moments of beauty. Before dusk the birds were returning from foraging trips at sea and feeding their young. We guess that noddy pairs mate for life. Couples greet each other with courtship flights over the island where they fly in formation and make repetitive tic-tic-tic-tic-tic-tic calls.
Before dinner we grabbed a drink from the bar and stood by the pool watching wedge-tailed shearwaters come in after dark. Then we sat at our dinner table and oversaw them waddling by and ducking into holes.
By evening they were everywhere. There were groups chatting to each other and pairs sitting side-by-side at nest holes. Their weird mewing sound rang throughout the resort; their voice reminiscent of Sybil from Fawlty Towers, oh I ‘knowwwwwwwwwwww!.’ There was even one sat on the stairs of our accommodation to welcome us when we returned from dinner.
DAY 4 – Nesting turtles and seabirds
A low tide was forecast for 5pm and we knew about 70 turtles had come up to nest the night before. Hatching was also happening coincident with the high tide (how do the hatchlings know?)
An early start
So with the high tide getting later each day we headed out at 4am. To our surprise and great pleasure, there were two turtles nest-filling just a hundred metres up the beach. The sun wouldn’t rise for another half an hour and there was just enough light to watch them make their way back across the rocks.
While we were sitting there, the wedge-tailed shearwaters were making their way back to the beach and flying low over our heads and between us. They will make a huge foraging trip today and return later to feed their chicks and partners left incubating eggs underground. All this is going on under your feet every day on Heron Island in the summer.
A bit further up the beach and another turtle was nesting even later. She made her way back to the sea long after the sun came up. Another was swimming along the nearshore and we wondered if that was one we saw earlier, forced back by the low tide. Perhaps some of them spend a few hours sitting in a hole in the coral waiting for the tide to rise again.
The Wreck
With a strongish wind still blowing from the southeast the only sheltered snorkelling was near the gantry. But there was plenty to see. The cowtail rays were passing through along with spotted eagle-rays and a big school of mullet cowering from the black-tipped reef sharks.
Just before lunch we decided to swim out to the wreck. By then it was nearly high tide and despite being quite choppy there was little current. It turned out to be one of those epic swims. Three species of turtle (hawksbill, loggerhead and green), loads of cowtail rays, a large black-tipped reef sharks and half a dozen spotted eagle-rays. One of the latter leapt out of the water.
On return to the jetty there were lots of shovel-nosed sharks resting with a thorny ray.
To complete the day we did a snorkel tour and headed to ‘the junction’, a lovely swim over reef bisected by numerous gullies with holes full of fish and rock bommies. It was a lovely picturesque swim punctuated by views of an enormous male green turtle and a white-tipped reef shark.
Day 5 – Final morning!
Final day! But as the ferry doesn’t leave until 12:45, there’s still half a day to go. We woke again at 4am and headed up the north side of the island. Several green turtles were still back-filling their nests, including one right by the visitor’s centre. The great surprise was a loggerhead making her way back to the sea – one of only 8 recorded nesting this year already.
We finished the walk at shark bay where two turtles made their way back to sea. The low tide was about 1m today. This was about 40cm more water than when we first arrived, which gave the turtles enough depth to get off the beach.
A close encounter
One young girl had the foresight to sit quietly on her own 20m down the beach and wait where she thought a turtle would make its way down. We later spoke to her and she said how she had heard it was best to let animals come to you. How true. In this case, her wisdom, patience and calm paid off. The turtle bee-lined for her. It turned only at the last moment and while she remained totally still, it gently brushed her leg with its fin.
We returned to our room but there was still time to see epaulette sharks. We’d worked out earlier that they are very shy and it’s best to wait for them to swim towards you. With only about 10cm of water, we placed the camera in the sea and waited for one to make its way forward. They seem slightly curious about the camera and would swim closely by.
The final swim
With room tidied and bags packed and left for pick up, we got changed for one final swim. The currents this morning were stirring up quite a bit of sediment so it was a bit murky. But there were lots of turtles and we stumbled across a cleaning station with perhaps ten turtles.
And that was the end to another epic Heron Island trip – my seventh so far. I’m sure there will be many more.
Advice on Heron Island snorkelling
I hope you enjoyed this trip report about snorkelling Heron Island. It’s certainly good to have some advice before visiting. If you’d like to know more, please consider booking a trip via me, by putting your contact details here: https://deluxelife.com.au/experience/nov-2021-heron-island-turtle-spectacular-6d-5n.
For more information, visit my Heron Island page.
