Lady Elliot Island
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The best island on the Great Barrier Reef is without a doubt, Lady Elliot Island. Lady Elliot is a true coral cay and is also the southernmost island on the reef. Experts will tell you that the best diving and the most beautiful corals on the reef, can be seen at Lady Elliot Island. Diving visibility here is excellent as the island is well offshore and away from polluting rivers. It is usually 20 meters or better. Divers here will encounter a range of marine life. On any dive you will see turtles and sharks, as well as many different species of reef fish. Manta Ray sightings are frequent and these awesome creatures are the trade mark of the island. Humpback whales, that pass Fraser Island, have also been encountered by divers around the island. The island has fully trained dive staff, with instructors and dive masters so if you want to learn to dive, you can do a course right here. There are many great dive sites as well as a marked snorkeling trail. The beauty of Lady Elliot Island is that you can just walk in off the beach and you are right on the reef itself. As a tourist destination, there is more than just the reef to attract you here. The island is a huge seabird nesting place and tens of thousands of seabirds can be found here throughout the year. Some very rare species where only a few breeding pairs are known to exist come here every year to raise their young. Lady Elliot Island is also a turtle rookery and several species come here every year to lay there eggs. Staff will escort you onto the beach at night to see the nesting turtles and also see the baby turtles when they hatch out.
The resort on Lady Elliot Island is the most reasonably priced resort on the reef. The accommodation is clean and tidy, but not of high class. There are self contained cabins and permanent tent cabins with timber floors. For this reason, the island is very popular with backpackers as the rates are reasonable. The resort is carbon neutral and all it power requirements are supplied by a large solar system. Sea water is desalinated to provide fresh water. The island has its own airport and regular flights from Hervey Bay and Bundaberg come in and out each day. There are also day tours if you only want to come out and see the island, have lunch and a snorkel on the reef and then return to the mainland. There are no ferry boat services that come out to the island.
The most reasonably priced option to see the Great Barrier Reef is certainly, Lady Elliot Island.
»» Lady Elliot Island
»» Lady Elliot Island
»» Lady Elliot Island