The Great Barrier Reef – Who doesn’t dream of snorkelling in the world-famous coral reef? Yet some people might ask where the reef is best preserved and whether you should book tours from the coast or visit the reef from an island. You can find the answers here.
The best-preserved part of the Great Barrier Reef
Unfortunately, far too many visitors choose to book a tour to the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns. This is a big mistake, as most of the inner reef is bleached and destroyed. Accordingly, one should choose to book a tour further south or visit an island in the outer reef. Some lovely islands are Lady Musgrave Island, Green Island, Lady Elliot Island or Fitzroy Island. We opted for the small Lady Ellitot Island!
Lady Elliot Island
Lady Elliot Island is the most southern coral island in the Great Barrier Reef and very small. It is around 45 hectares in size, which is why only around 150 overnight guests are allowed on the island at any time. A third of the entire island is a bird sanctuary and for this reason may not be entered. In the southeast you will find a small holiday resort and an airstrip for small aircraft. Lady Elliot Island can only be reached by plane from Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and Gladstone.
Tours
We booked a whole bundle directly from Hervey Bay. This included a day on Lady Elliot Island, a Glass Bottom Boat Tour, lunch and the two flights. Additional free tours were also offered on the island. Accordingly, we also took part in a Reef Walk. The boat tour was great – we could marvel at all the underwater world below us and especially the sea turtles were very excited about our boat. At the end of the tour we were allowed to go snorkelling, a highlight with all the colourful corals and fish! However, the Reef Walk was just as exciting. The water in the lagoon, where we snorkelled alone in the morning, had almost completely disappeared after our boat tour. So we could see all the corals, starfish and fish much better and also learned some interesting facts from our guide. By the way, all the snorkelling equipment and reef shoes were provided free of charge.
The Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is beautiful. However, as is known worldwide, the reef is in danger, bleaching, being destroyed and littered. We had already visited an aquarium on our road trip along the east coast and saw there what the Great Barrier Reef looked like and would still look like. It was beautiful. So colourful.
Some parts of the sea are unfortunately already very bleached, which means the corals don’t really look blue, yellow or red anymore, but rather brown and grey. However, the underwater world is enchanting and it is something very special to swim in the Great Barrier Reef. On Lady Elliot Island, rubbish is actually separated and the reef is protected. Accordingly, it is better preserved than in the inner reef near the northern east coast. We were lucky enough to see some colourful corals as well as many other water life.
East and west coast in comparison
Now that we have seen both of Australia’s great reefs – Ningaloo Reef as well as Great Barrier Reef – we can make a good comparison. In our opinion, the western reef is just as worth a visit as the world-famous one in the east. Both have a beautiful and breathtaking underwater world with numerous corals, fish, turtles and other creatures. It is therefore impossible for us to make a decision between the two. If you have the opportunity to visit both reefs, then you should really take advantage of this chance. No matter which reef you choose, you will be surprised by a breathtaking underwater world.
