Lady Musgrave Island — Big & Little Adventures

What a cracking way to finish our recent trip up north. A visit to Lady Musgrave Island was on our family bucket list and we were crossing our fingers that the weather would be kind to us!

Fortunately, we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning and arrived at the Burnett Heads Marina for our 7am check in aboard 'Reef Empress', the newest addition to the Lady Musgrave Experience .

It is approximately a 2 hour & 15 minute boat trip out to Lady Musgrave Island. You are out in the open sea so it can get a little rough. We recommend you take sea sickness medication the night before and on the morning of the trip, if you are at all susceptible to sea sickness. We are and took all the necessary precautions and were very glad we did, as there were some guests on board who were taken by surprise. However, I am sure they will agree, that despite how they were feeling, it was absolutely worth it when you arrive at the beautiful reef surrounding Lady Musgrave Island.

The ‘Reef Empress is the latest addition to the Lady Musgrave Experience. Air con, bathrooms, shower off the back of the boat, morning tea, buffet lunch and afternoon tea are all included in your fare.

You could see the coral and marine life through the water as the boat carefully manoeuvred its way further into the reef. We were pinching ourselves. We'd never seen such a beautiful and untouched underwater paradise. We couldn't wait to get into the water and look around.

First up we were taken over to Lady Musgrave for a tour of the island. The island supports several species of birds, with the Black Noddy Terns building nests in the Pisonia trees that are abundant on the island. It's a bit sad as the sticky Pisonia seeds sometimes get caught in the birds feathers, making them unable to fly and they ultimately die, with their bodies providing fertiliser for the growing Pisonia trees, benefiting future Noddies and further population of the trees.

An informative 30 minute guided walk on the island. Home to many, many birds, so you can imagine it’s not too quiet!

During the nesting season, 100's of turtles come ashore each night to lay their eggs. Can you imagine the number of baby hatchlings a few months later?!

After an informative half hour on the island, it was time to take a glass bottomed boat back to the tour boat via some beautiful coral gardens.

Glass bottom boat tour on the way back to the Reef Empress.

We were chomping at the bit to get into the water to explore, so we all ate our lunch at lightning speed (a delicious buffet of cold meats, prawns, salads, bread rolls etc.) and got ourselves ready to hop in. The kids all wore life jackets but after a short while out in the water, decided to ditch them so they could swim down and get a closer look at some of the coral and fish!

It was a dream come true when we spotted the first beautiful turtle swimming past. It was a wonderful feeling to swim along with them and they are so graceful in the water!

Swimming with turtles in their natural habitat was just amazing.

As well as turtles and colourful fish, we spotted reef sharks, squid and some really cool coral gardens.

After about 2 hours snorkelling time, it was time to head back to the mainland after a wonderful day. Afternoon tea and a cup of tea was just what we felt like after our long session in the water.

We loved our day out with the Lady Musgrave Experience and look forward to heading out there again next time we're up that way.

Here’s the link to watch our highlights from the day https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHWlQlmA9As

More pics on Instagram @bigandlittleadventures