We recently returned from a magical 4 night stay in Agnes Water & the Town Of 1770.
This small coastal town is home to the northernmost surfing beach and also just a short trip from the Southern Great Barrier Reef. We were excited to book a day trip to visit Lady Musgrave Island with 1770 Reef Tours.
We set off on our adventure from the 1770 Marina. After checking in and collecting our ticket we purchased some fish food from the Marina Cafe – a bag costs $2 and our kids really enjoyed feeding all the fish from the jetty while we waited to board the catamaran.
Once boarding commenced we were given a friendly and warm welcome by the smiling crew. Jasmyn and Marcus were awesome and clearly loved their jobs. They were both happy to share their knowledge about the Island and answered the thousands of questions from our children, mostly around all the ocean life they were likely to encounter, like Nemo & Dory lol!
We spotted multiple groups of dolphins as we made the 2 hour trip to the Island. We were all so excited to spot the Island as we approached…what a sight it was!!
Lady Musgrave Island
Upon anchoring we were given the choice to take a morning or afternoon glass bottom boat tour to the Island for a guided tour. Some guests chose to solely snorkel & skip the Island Tour.
Snorkelling around Lady Musgrave Island
We chose to snorkel first and then take the Island tour. This worked out perfectly as the one and a half hour snorkel session was more than enough time for us and the kids (aged 4 & 8) were pretty exhausted from all the swimming.
We were all fitted with the appropriate snorkelling gear. We chose to fit both kids with a life jacket and Matt (my Hubby) wore one too as he would be in charge of helping Master 4, we didn’t want to struggle hanging onto an extra child…better to be safe than sorry.
Miss 8 is a very confident swimmer and just finished her Nipper season. She and I made the decision to remove her jacket a few minutes into the swim as there were several turtles swimming around us and she desperately wanted to get a closer look. I kept her jacket with us and in between Turtle visits she used it to float around on.
Let’s talk about the turtles, there were SO many green sea turtles and they were almost showing off to us! They would swim towards us and then simply glide along side of us, or just ‘hang’ suspended in the beautiful clear aqua ocean. It was very moving to experience this with our children. I’m so proud of both of them, to be able to swim a fair distance into the vast ocean and not to be scared.
Miss 8 really didn’t want to end the session but lunch was being served and our glass bottom boat ride was waiting. So I dragged her (quite literally) from her ocean friends and we engulfed the delicious lunch provided by 1770Reef Tours. You really do get hungry after all that swimming!
Tour of Lady Musgrave Island –
We boarded the glass bottom boat and headed into the coral Island. As soon as we started to travel over the coral we could spot more turtles and hundreds & thousands of fish! Master 4 was our giant clam spotter too!
We had a brief 20min walk into the Island where we learnt all about the amazing aspects and animals that inhabit the Island.
We spotted a few baby birds resting in their underground nests as well as evidence of hatching turtles that would have emerged over the last few nights. Marcus was a great tour guide and was fantastic with the smaller children who continuously showed him hundreds of shells and coral.
It was then time to explore more of the Reef from the glass bottom boat. Master 4 enjoyed this more than the snorkelling as he is not as fearless as his older sibling. We came across a Turtle cleaning station with three turtles sitting on the coral getting their shells cleaned. Such an awesome sight!
The return home was filled with sleeping guests – a sign of a great day on the Reef!
Check out this amazing video of our day trip – including Miss 8 and I swimming with the turtles!
You can find all the booking information for the 1770 Reef Tour to Lady Musgrave Island here. Be sure to book in advance as the tour is very popular.
We were very lucky to have Agnes Water Beach Club host our accommodation – boy oh boy did we sleep well there after this adventure. We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them if you’re looking for some affordable luxury accommodations whilst visiting (we’ll be back with another blog post sharing all their info soon). Check out their website here. You won’t be disappointed!
Please be sure to visit the Agnes Water & Town of 1770 visitor information website too! You can find it here.
Until next time Lady Musgrave…hopefully sooner rather than later!
Lou x
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