Lady Musgrave Island
The beautifull Lady Musgrave Island and reef-fringed Lagoon, situated in the heart of the Southern Great Barrier Reef is ... the Eco Adventure destination of the South Pacific for Scuba Divers, Snorkellers or just those with an adventureous spirit to explore.
Lady Musgrave Island is a true coral cay, an agglomeration of sand and fragments of coral from surrounding reef, thrown together by wave action and tide movement. It is stabilised by vegetation and surrounded by 1192 hectares of spectacular reef.
It has the largest navigable lagoon on the entire Great Barrier Reef - over eight kilometres in circumference. Every year yachts sailing the East coast of Australia flock to the sheer beauty, comfort and protection of this lagoon as a highlight of their travels.
Accessible by boat from either Bundaberg or the Town of 1770, visitors walking the Island observe many different species of nesting seabirds and reef walkers will discover jewel-bright starfish, sea urchins, giant clams and corals exposed at low tide.
There are over 1200 species of marine life in the waters surrounding Lady Musgrave Island, making it one of the best diving sites in the world. From November to March, Loggerhead and Green Turtles are often sighted laying their eggs with baby turtles hatching from January to April.
Scuba divers and snorkellers stand an excellent chance of coming face to face with Manta Rays, Sea Turtles, Moray Eels, Reef Sharks and many of the large rainbow coloured fish, including Coral Trout, Red Emperor, Maori Wrasse, Potato Cod and Groper to name a few.
Some of the popular dive sites include:
- Coral Gardens- magnificent
coral structures habouring many of the large fish species.
- Manta Ray Bommie- unique coral domes and a 'cleaning station' frequented by groups of Manta Rays.
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Smurfs Bommie- unusually shaped bommie like the Smurfs huts (from the cartoon) with large populations of colourful fish.
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Becks- superb colours and formations of coral, some of the very best viewing on the reef.
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Entrance Bommie- an imposing structure near the lagoon entrance and a hotspot for close-up encounters with large Coral Trout.
These and the other dive sites around Lady Musgrave Island are comfortably accessable to recreational divers with depths ranging from 6 to 20 metres with dives timed to co-incide with the most gentle currents.
Inside Lady Musgrave Lagoon offers diving, snorkelling and swimming in calm, crystal clear water, still with the amazing corals, fish and marine life- like swimming in your own giant aquarium.
