Lady Elliot Island Guide: Snorkeling, Turtles and Eco Resort

Lady Elliot Island is one of the most incredible destinations on the southern Great Barrier Reef. Famous for its snorkeling, turtles, manta rays, and eco-friendly resort, it’s a must-visit for anyone exploring Queensland. In this guide, I’ll share how to get there, what it’s like to stay overnight, and the best things to do on the island.

Background

In my previous post about Brisbane Australia, we took an a side quest during that trip and drove to Hervey Bay then flew to Lady Elliot Island and stayed a night at Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort. The island is the southern most island of the great barrier reef and is absolutely stunning.

Planning your visit to Lady Elliot Island

You have to book travel through the Eco Resort, but you can fly out of several different locations, check out Lady Elliot Islands website for the latest details.

What to bring

• Pack light, small planes have strict weight limits.
• Bring essentials like sunscreen, a hat, and a reusable water bottle.
• The island is walk-only, so make sure to pack comfortable walking shoes.
• Bring reef shoes too, since many beaches are covered in coral.
• Once you’re there, everything is easy to reach on foot, so you can relax and enjoy the reef.

Planning Tips

• Book your accommodations and flights early
• Consider staying overnight in your departing location (eg. Hervey Bay) before flying
• No cell service, Wifi for purchase

Birds

The island is a bird sanctuary with nearly 10,000 birds, and they’re everywhere, constantly calling, and making noise. As you can imagine, also bird poop almost everywhere as well. We were lucky enough to read about this before our trip, but it’s definitely something worth knowing ahead of time.

Things to do on Lady Elliot Island

Flight to Lady Elliot Island

We chose to fly out of Hervey Bay, boarding a Cessna Caravan for the short trip. The flight itself was an adventure, offering incredible aerial views of the ocean and reef on the way in and out. Once you arrive , you will notice that there is a reef around the island and it actually protects it from most of the wake.

Here we just left Hervey Bay as we head out to Lady Elliot Island.

Here are some awesome patterns in the ocean.

Look at this beautiful view of the island as we approach. The pilots usually circle the island to allow you to get photos and amazing views.

We arrived around lunch time and found our way around the small island and stopped at the cafe and got some amazing food, for lunch the day we went it was a hamburger and fries.

When we arrived they recommended we sign up for the glass bottom boat tour right away. This boat would travel out so you could see the reef and the different animals, which was about 15 minutes of a tour and boat ride, then they stopped so we could snorkel, which was about 45 minutes. This was my first time snorkeling, so I struggled a little with the equipment, but the views were amazing. Once I got situated we were able to see green sea turtles, reef shark, and other various fish all just swimming nearby,

From their we headed back to shore and got settled into our room. We went with a garden unit (vs the eco cabin) which was an upgrade and appreciated having our own bathroom vs a shared bathroom. Just a note, most of the rooms do not have air conditioning and since the entire island runs off solar, limited power. Check out the the accommodation page to get more details.

Lighthouse

As the day progressed, we went to west side of the island which is where the old and new lighthouse is located. Here is a photo of the old light house.

We ordered ahead some drinks and charcuterie from the cafe at lunch, then upon arrive, we checked in and picked up our snacks to watch the sunset. We just sat for an hour and decompressed as we detoxed from our phones and watched the sunset which was absolutely beautiful as you can tell from the photos below.

From here we headed back to the cafe to catch dinner, as we wanted to attend the sea turtle class.

Sea Turtle Nesting

That evening we went to the training class so we could go find and watch sea turtles laying eggs. This was late December when we were on the island, so the turtles have a limited season when they lay eggs. They give you special flashlights, so you don’t disturb them but allows you to see a little. We were able to find 3 different turtles digging nest, but we didn’t stick around enough to see if they actually layed eggs. Many times they will get spooked and go back out to sea. We were nervous that we would spook them ourselves, so we didn’t get too close or stick around long, so unfortunately the only photo I have is of a turtle already heading back out to see.

Stargazing

From here, knowing we 50 miles off shore and 80 miles from the airport we took off from, I figured I could get some good sky photos of the milky way. These photos are from my phone, if I would have used a real camera, I am sure they would have come out even better.

All of that adventure was in about 10 hours from when we landed. It was finally time to settle down and get some sleep.

Day 2

The next morning, we headed over to the cafe again and picked up some breakfast.

I decided to get a hot chocolate and they made this super cute sea turtle hot chocolate.

We were slower this morning as we were taking it easy, but then found it we couldn’t go snorkeling due to weather conditions bring windy. We were still able to go to the lagoon and just walk into the water and still see ocean wildlife. One of my favorite things was this blue starfish!.

We had to pack up our things and checkout from the room so they could start cleaning it. Here is where we wrap up our trip of the beautiful Lady Elliot Island and departed back to Hervey Bay to drive back to Brisbane.

Conclusion

Although we spent just 28 hours on the island, every moment was truly breathtaking. From the stunning ocean reefs to sunset. The views feel like a dream. It wasn’t until we had left that we fully realized how deeply the experience had impacted us, leaving us with memories that would last long after our departure.

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