great barrier reef tours: shaolin
Shaolin is an authentic Chinese sailing junk with an amazing history. Enjoy the classic ambience of this unique vessel; built from teak she has cruised the South China Sea for 16 years and sailed around the world twice before making Port Douglas her home.
She sails to the crystal clear waters at Low Isles, a pristine coral cay island on the Great Barrier Reef named by Captain Cook in 1770.
The relaxed midday departure offers more quiet time on the island in the afternoon and is great for those of you that like to sleep in on holidays.
Once on board a light snack is served which consists of fresh fruit, bikkies, tea and coffee, and during this time the crew carry out the safety briefing.
Shaolin sets sail about midday and you arrive at Low Isles at around 1.30pm where you enjoy a scrumptious buffet of prawns, cold meats, salads and bread rolls. Once lunch is finished you get your snorkelling equipment and the crew run through the snorkel safety briefing. Once complete snorkellers, swimmers and sun bathers are transferred to Low Isles by glass bottom boat where the fun begins.
Snorkelling is the easiest way to experience the Great Barrier Reef and Shaolin is dedicated to providing one-on-one assistance to ensure you get the most out of your day. The beach offers easy access and is perfect for those first time snorkellers, and for the more experienced snorkellers there are coral bommies on the fringing reefs surrounding the island.v
The reef around Low Isles comprises 150 species of hard corals, including staghorn and boulder mushroom to name a few, and is dominated by 15 species of soft corals such as spaghetti and sea whips. Living amongst the coral is a large variety of reef fish including parrot fish, giant trevally, sweetlips, fusiliers, coral trout and plenty of Nemos (clownfish). The two resident groupers, which are massive, and the yellow mask angel fish, which are quite unique to the island, are not to be missed.
There are also over 100 green turtles that reside in the lagoon and are sighted daily. A guided snorkel tour is conducted off the beach by a marine naturalist and is well worth doing to learn more about this diverse environment, or, join the skipper for coral viewing in the glass bottom boat.
Discover the history with a heritage walk around the island dating back to 1878 where weather data has been collected since 1887 and it was the base for a scientific survey, which studies the structure and ecology of the surrounding reef. This was the first detailed study of coral reef in the world.
A number of bird species reside on the island so you may encounter pelicans, Honeyeaters, White-breasted wood swallows, Mangrove kingfishers, reef egrets with sea eagles and ospreys wheeling overhead. While I was there two ospreys had paired up and had built a nest on the lighthouse.
If you just want to chill out on the beach under the many umbrellas you can certainly do that because of the later departure of the Shaolin you have the island all to yourself by mid-afternoon.
At 4pm you return to Shaolin for afternoon tea where you get ready for your departure back to Port Douglas. As you sail back the sun sets over the mountains and the view is spectacular. Drinks can be purchased on the boat so I suggest a glass of Chardy for the trip home.
Shaolin is a beautifully maintained and provides the perfect platform to enjoy a unique day of activity and relaxation with spacious comfortable areas for all to enjoy. Shaolin has been recognised as a high standard operator and is one of only 4 permits allowing daily access to this precious world heritage marine park.
