Where to see turtles in Queensland

You can see turtles off most of Queensland’s coastline, from South Stradbroke Island (east of Brisbane and the Gold Coast) all the way to the remote northern corners of the Torres Strait. Keen to hit the turtle jackpot? Head to Queensland’s Great Barrier Reef, starting just north of K'gari (Fraser Island).

Fraser Coast & Southern Great Barrier Reef

The Southern Great Barrier Reef provides plenty of turtle-spotting opportunities. It’s also easily accessible from Bundaberg, Gladstone and Seventeen-Seventy. And whether you want to take a day trip by boat or stay the night, islands like Heron, Lady Elliot, Lady Musgrave and Wilson Island have a range of accommodation options, from camping to eco-resorts.

Want to cruise the seas just like the turtles? You can’t beat a day trip to Lady Musgrave Island from Bundaberg with Lady Musgrave Experience. Reef conservation and preservation is at the heart of this tour, but it’s the island’s protected coral lagoon that will steal yours. With calm conditions like a giant swimming pool, snorkellers and scuba divers will be sure to encounter turtles, manta rays and some of the 1200 fish species found here, making the Lady Musgrave Experience a bucket list adventure - made even more special if you choose to glamp overnight in the new Lady Musgrave HQ pontoon. Whether glamping on deck or camping on the island instead, during turtle season rangers provide a free guided tour and a lesson on how to protect these majestic mariners.

Mon Repos, which neighbours the town of Bundaberg, has the largest concentration of nesting turtles on the mainland. It’s also the site of the incredible new Mon Repos Sea Turtle Centre. Book well in advance, as the Centre's guided tours that get you up close and personal with this epic phenomenon can sell out quickly.

An eco-conscience leads the way through the Great Sandy Strait of Hervey Bay with Hervey Bay Eco Marine Tours. Gliding through the waters aboard a glass bottom boat, the Hikuwai family are avid researchers of local marine life and ecology, with daily tours that fuse education and adventure,  and pay tribute to the land's traditional owners. If you’re a keen snorkeller you’ll find tropical fish, turtles and dolphins around the coral reefs. Otherwise landlubbers can seek solace with a picnic on Weenandin (Round Island), where it’ll feel you have the whole place to yourself.

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

Visiting Cairns? Sunlover tours will take you out to snorkeller haven Moore Reef. Or join Calyspo Reef Cruises or Quicksilver from Port Douglas to Agincourt Reef, home to the renowned Turtle Bay dive site. Here you’ll find an underwater observatory, semi-submersibles, snorkelling platforms and specially designed introductory dive areas. Locals have nicknamed some of the Agincourt regulars, including “Lucky”, the three-flippered green sea turtle, but they have frequent turtle visitors throughout spring and summer including green, hawksbill, loggerhead and olive ridley turtle species.

Prefer to head a little further off the beaten path? Frankland Island Cruises is the only operator with access to remote and uninhabited Normanby Island. Surrounded by an incredible fringing reef, it’s not uncommon to spot large turtles swimming along the western side of the island, you might even see a few manta rays too.

Townsville

Become a citizen scientist and learn from traditional owner rangers about how to protect green sea turtles on board Gudjuda Tours’s cruises. The program is conducted in partnership with James Cook University, the World Wildlife Fund and Gudjuda Saltwater People, offering an inspiring, hands-on experience where you’ll not just come face to face with nature’s finest, but record biometric data and help tag and release turtles back into the wild.

You'll also have the chance to strap on a snorkel and fins with Aquascene at Magnetic Island. Day trips explore the quieter corners of the island so you can seek out moments with the turtles. 

Take a turtle tour

Want to tour – and sleep – on an eco-sanctuary? Lady Elliot Island offers a barefoot, down-to-earth experience like no other. Here, you won’t even need to go looking for turtles: just jump into the water and you’re sure to meet a few friendly faces. Go your own way, or lean on the experts with guided snorkel tours, glass bottom boat tours and more available each day. Hawksbill, green and loggerhead turtles all swim in these parts, with green and loggerheads nesting here from November to February, their hatchlings dashing their way into the water from January to March each year. During turtle season, join a Turtle Trek information session followed by a self-guided night tour on the beach to witness the nesting or hatchings.

This coral cay has the closest Great Barrier Reef system to Brisbane, making it perfect for a short escape. You can even experience the beauty of this sustainable island on a day trip from Brisbane, the Gold Coast or Hervey Bay, thanks to return scenic flights which include guided snorkel and glass bottom boat tours.

Short on time? Did you know that you can snorkel with turtles just off the Gold Coast? Head on a tour with Watersports Guru and within 15 minutes you’ll be deep within one of South East Queensland’s best marine preserves, exploring the corals, fish and green turtles around Cook Island.

Off the coast of Cairns, jewel-like Green Island is a haven for turtles. Just a 45 minute boat trip from the city, this national park island (the only coral cay with its own rainforest) is a rookery for green and hawksbill turtles, who use the reef fringes and seagrass meadows for feeding throughout the year. Stay for the day, or for a week – here’s how to do it.

If you’ve got a sense of adventure, and want an experience that’ll stay with you for a lifetime, join Mike Ball Dive Expeditions for a dive trip to Raine Island at the northern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. More green turtles come ashore here in nesting season than anywhere else in the world – and while protection zones mean you can’t access the coral cay, you can explore its fringing reef, coral gardens and plunging rock walls that welcome turtle sightings.

Visit turtle nesting grounds and watch them hatch

Home is where the heart is for female loggerhead turtles, who travel thousands of kilometres to reproduce on the very beach they were born. And their favourites? The northern and southern tips of the Great Barrier Reef. It’s a natural miracle that you can witness each year around Queensland from November - January, along with baby turtles hatching and taking their first scurried steps toward the ocean (January – March).  

Heron Island, Lady Elliot Island and Lady Musgrave Island are all southern nesting grounds for green and loggerhead turtles, where you can take guided interpretive or self-led walks during nesting and hatching season. More than half of the Southern Hemisphere’s loggerhead turtle population nests at Mon Repos in the Bundaberg region, which offers national park ranger-guided turtle encounters of an evening, when the nightly action begins. 

You can also catch nesting/hatching season at Great Keppel Island, one of the most important rookeries for flatback turtles migrating from Torres Strait; plus at Green Island and Fitzroy Island off Cairns.

Turtle research, conservation and rehabilitation encounters

As fascinating as it is to witness these gentle creatures in their marine habitats, they are endangered and must be protected. But tourism meets conservation here in Queensland, with amazing facilities and tour programs where you can learn about sea turtles, and even help to care for them alongside researchers and marine biologists.

Run by Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Bundaberg’s Mon Repos Turtle Centre is home to a world-class education hub where you can learn about the conservation and long-term research and monitoring conducted on site, before heading onto the beach with a Park Ranger.

On the Southern Great Barrier Reef, eco-haven Lady Elliot Island’s Reef Education Centre has informative and interactive displays, guided snorkels and tours, daily Reef Ranger programs for the kids, and an incredible lineup of guest speakers who visit as experts in their field. Nearby, Heron Island has its own Marine Centre, home to the University of Queensland’s world-class research station with tours run daily plus a Junior Rangers program on weekends/school holidays.

Off the coast of Cairns, Fitzroy Island’s Turtle Rehabilitation Centre is a volunteer-run, non-profit organisation caring for sick and injured turtles from all over the Great Barrier Reef and Cape York Peninsula. They also run daily tours of the rehabilitation facilities. Back on the mainland, Cairns Aquarium has its own facility that provides the final stage of rehabilitation to turtles before they’re re-released into the ocean.

You can also see turtles and help with conservation projects at Sea Life Sunshine Coast and Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast, and at Sea World on the Gold Coast.

Remember, if you find a sick or injured turtle to call 1300 ANIMAL. You can do your part to help their survival with these ideas.

Ready to see turtles in Queensland? Why not turn your marine adventure into a road trip?