The Keppels, Queensland, AustraliaWe woke up really early in order to pack up
and drive to Rosslyn Bay where we were catching the boat to Great Keppel
Island. I had really wanted to do some snorkeling while here and so we had
planned our 10 day trip around the drive north.
Great Keppel Island is one of
the lowest points of the southern Great Barrier Reef and there were beaches
mentioned where you could snorkel from the beach. We had read up and decided
that the water temperature would be warm enough (around 20⁰C) and if it wasn’t,
we could always rent a wetsuit.
There are no groceries on the island so we
had to plan our meals ahead and pick up enough (or more than enough!) for the 3
days we would be spending there. We also weren’t sure how many bags we would be
allowed, and so tried to pack as efficiently as possible. We still had a huge
amount of luggage since we needed to bring towels, snorkeling gear, clothes,
food and all of Rhys’ stuff.
We found the marina and dropped off all of
our stuff before parking in the lot. We were quite early and the boat was a bit
late so we enjoyed walking around while we waited. We boarded the boat and sat
inside since Rhys was keen to wander and look out the window. The trip across
was about 35 minutes and we enjoyed seeing Fisherman’s beach, a white sandy
beach, as we approached.
There is no dock so they drive the boat as close to
shore as they can and then drop a small ramp to walk down. If you time the
waves, you can hop off without getting your feet wet (at least on the days we
boarded)!
The GKI Holiday Village truck picked up all
of our stuff & us before driving us up the beach and dropping us off at our
cottage. Rhys loved riding in the back of the truck. We weren’t supposed to be
able to check in until 2 pm (it was only 10:30 am), but since there had been no
one in the cottage that day, we were able to go in right away! We got changed
and headed straight down to the beach so Rhys could have a play before lunch.
We walked down the path a few hundred metres and arrived at Putney beach.
It
was another gorgeous stretch of white sand and there were very few people
there. The beach was great for Rhys because it didn’t get deep quickly. He had
a blast running and “jumping” in the water and pouring water from his bucket.
We eventually convinced Rhys that it was time to leave and head back for lunch.
After his nap, Nalini and Shankar took him
back to the beach while Anoop and I headed off to find a snorkeling beach. We
had a map and general directions, but still managed to wander off course trying
to find the start of the trail. We walked along past the old abandoned resort
and to the end of Fisherman’s beach before finding it. The trail then heads
straight up and over a short distance to Shelving beach below. It was quite a
rough trail with lots of scrambling over rocks and trying to see what was the
best way down. We decided it was a good thing Rhys had stayed back as we
wouldn’t have been able to manage the descent to the beach with him (at least
not terribly safely!).
The reef is broken up into two sections off of Shelving
beach with a larger reef further out and a smaller one close to shore near the
rocky point. We decided to stick closer to shore since it was our first time
out and test the waters as it were. We immediately saw a stingray and later
read that you should shuffle your feet when in the shallows to avoid startling
them and getting stung! Since it was low tide, we had to snorkel on the outer
edge of the reef which was interesting because we got to see some bigger fish
that don’t swim in the coral itself. There were lots of different fish and many
schools of smaller fish. We enjoyed the snorkelling and managed to stay in for
about 40 minutes before we had to head back. We enjoyed the walk back along the
beach and spotted an echidna on the path as well!
The next day we had forecasts of
thundershowers and some rain starting in the afternoon. We decided to stick
around home for the day and see how the day was turning out after lunch.
We
took Rhys to Putney beach in the morning after his nap and had a lot of fun.
The water is so clear and warm that he would happily play for over an hour
before starting to get cold. He had a blast running in and out of the water and
splashing around. Since it was earlier in the day, we had the entire beach to
ourselves for quite a while; even once it got busy, there were only a few other
people spread out along the huge stretch of sand.
After lunch the forecast had improved
considerably and they were no longer calling for rain. We headed back to
Shelving beach where we had wanted to check out the reef further offshore. The
tide was so low that we couldn’t comfortably snorkel over the coral so we
skirted around the edge of the reef with the coral on one side and the sandy
bottom on the other. After reading about stingrays in the information booklet
at our cottage, we shuffled our feet as we walked out to avoid startling them
and getting lashed by their tail. We were able to walk out most of the way to
the reef and only had to swim the last little bit. We saw an amazing amount of
fish, mostly small to medium size.
There were large schools of smaller fish in
among the coral and the bigger fish tended to be on the edge. We saw a neat
spotted fish hiding under the coral and resting on the sand. My favourites are
the blue and yellow ones but they are also the most prone to hiding as soon as
you get near! We once again enjoyed the variety and were glad that we saw
different fish from the previous day even though it was the same beach. We lasted
about 45 minutes before heading back in and returning home.
On our last day we decided to make the trek
to one of the beaches further away. After reading up, we decided to walk to
Monkey Beach via Long Beach as the path was longer, but easier walking. This
meant that Nalini, Shankar and Rhys could join us for our outing! We set off
along Fisherman’s beach, but rather than take the fork to Shelving beach, we
branched off to Monkey beach.
The walk was hot going uphill basically in sand;
there were occasional areas where you could walk on firmer ground to the side,
but mostly it was sand. It helped that it had rained a bit that morning since
it helped pack it down somewhat. None of us would have wanted to do the walk in
the heat of summer! After about an hour of walking, we arrived at Long beach, a
beautiful stretch of sand with absolutely no one on it! There were sailboats
anchored offshore, but we had the beach to ourselves.
We wandered to the other
end collecting shells along the way and then climbed over a short boardwalk
before arriving at Monkey Beach. This beach was busier with about 4 other
groups of people spread out along it and a few boats with snorkelers offshore.
We found a spot to sit where we could make some shade as the shadier spot was
downwind of a dead goat…
We gave Rhys a quick lunch and got him
changed to that he could charge off into the water. Nalini and Shankar looked
after him while we set off for a snorkel. The beach was quite flat and we had
to walk out a long ways before we reached deep enough water to swim. Even then,
the reef was too shallow to snorkel over and we had to go around the outside
instead.
It was a much larger reef than at Shelving beach and we were later
able to snorkel over the coral in parts once we got to the deeper water. We saw
more stingrays and Anoop spotted the outline in the sand where one had been
resting. The amount of fish was incredible and we enjoyed looking at all of the
varieties. A particular favourite was a very colourful fish with green, pink
and blue on its head and a very interesting fin which was bright pink in the
middle and circled by a vibrant blue. We saw larger fish here than at Shelving
and certainly larger schools.
We also saw a larger variety of coral. It was however
much busier with a bunch of snorkelers from the nearby boat; they weren’t
terribly aware of their surroundings and you had to really watch where they
were because they would kick quite near you or come up underneath you when
surfacing.
We headed back in to give Rhys a snack and
then Anoop headed out with his parents. They aren’t confident in the water and
we hoped that with the tide being so low, they could walk out to the reef and
just bend over to check it out. They were able to see a few different fish and
some coral before we had to head back.
We were the last ones to leave the beach
and by the time we had changed and Rhys was de-sanded as much as possible, it
was about 4:15. Sunset was around 5 pm and we didn’t want to end up walking in
the dark! It was faster on the way back as it wasn’t as steep climbing up from
the beach. We made it back to the main beach just as the sun was setting which
meant we had enough daylight to get home.
2025-05-22