www.moderntravelermagazine.com

enCOMPASS

Voyages Heron Island

you’re roughing it on neighboring Wilson Island, they do their darnedest to keep a low environmental profile. No buildings rise above the palm fronds, lights are powered by the sun and water is supplied by, of all things, the sky.

The Trip Off of Australia

Heather Hansen and Kimberly Lisagor are freelance journalists who have written about travel and the environment for Outside, Men’s Journal, Mother Jones, New West and other publications. They co-authored Disappearing Destinations, a book about the world’s endangered places, which will be published by Vintage in April.

Stranded on the Great Barrier Reef Dip your dive mask beneath the surface, into the warm waters of the Great Barrier Reef, and you’re transported into a colossal kaleidoscope where canary-col-ored coral, the plump purple lips of a Humphead Napoleon wrasse fish and the swaying pink fingers of an anemone float into view. While you could easily while away a week in this brilliant Kodachrome, most visitors are day-trippers who are plucked prema-

turely from the reef, barely allowed to skim the surface. But instead of using the mainland as a base for exploring the reef, there are a handful of ways to actually sleep on the globe’s greatest barrier. Stay on far-flung Heron or Wilson islands — both coral cays straddling the Tropic of Capricorn — and the best of the reef is just footsteps from your bed, across the sugar sand, to the surf. By staying on the islands, you can use your own horsepower to propel you to phe-

nomenal snorkeling spots where 72 percent of coral species and 900 out of 1,500 fish species are on hand for the ogling. Both islands also offer reef and ecology walks and, on Heron Island, the thick Pisonia forest is a birder’s bliss. Staying there also offers the opportunity to rub elbows with scientists studying the dynamic reef from their base at Heron Island Research Station.

Who’s there? Since both islands are within the national park, travelers to Wilson and

Heron experience the Great Barrier with few other people (no day-trippers are allowed on either cay). A maximum of 12 guests is permit-ted on Wilson Island at a time, lessening the impact on the wildlife sanctuary. And while Heron Island accommodates more people, many of them are associated with the research station, which has a distinguished 50-year history there. “The island and the reefs around it are absolutely pristine,” says David Clyde, the station’s director. “It’s the cleanest water you’ll ever find anywhere; it’s not been over-fished or exploited for its coral. To be in such an isolated environment is not an opportunity that many people get.” That remoteness (both islands are roughly 50 miles off of mainland Australia) lends focus to the islands’ and reef ‘s main events — rare bird nesting, turtle breeding and the famed coral spawning.

Giving back To address the adverse impacts that climate change is having on the reef, split your time on Heron Island (www. heronisland.com) between pampered and proactive. Support the University of Queensland’s Centre for Marine Studies’ “Friends of the Station” program by volunteering ( www.cms.uq.edu.au) at one of the world’s most impressive coral research facilities. “As a volunteer you may have the opportunity to work with the researchers on various aspects of the reef like coral, sharks and turtles,” says Clyde. Volunteers, who normally agree to be stranded for a week, also help revegetate the island with native flora and de-vege-tate its invasive weeds. (The four hours of work per day that’s required of Volun Tourists is a small price to pay for free lodging on one of the reef’s most exclusive islands.) And while it may not seem like

contact

VOYAGES Heron Island www.heronisland.com + 612 8296 8010 COST_$185 pp, per night; prices vary seasonally

Wilson Island
www.wilsonisland.com
+ 612 8296 8010
COST_$495 pp, per night;
prices vary

HERON ISLAND
RESEARCH STATION
www.cms.uq.edu.au
+ 617 3365 4333
COST_free for volunteers