Snorkelling and Glass Bottom Boat at Green Island from Cairns

Cairns & the Tropical North, Australia

From $96.86

Select Date and Travelers

up to 24 hours before the experience starts (local time)

5 to 9 hours
Offered in: English

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Overview

Combine a reef and rainforest experience on this day trip to Green Island. Located just 45 minutes from Cairns via catamaran, this island is home to over 120 plant species and colorful birds. While there, take a self-guided walk to discover some of the island's flora. Day visitor facilities include a pool bar, restaurant, and shops. Food is also available for purchase.

Spend the day outside Cairns with this easily accessible excursion
Green Island is the only coral cay on the Great Barrier Reef with a rainforest
Optional activities include snorkeling and a glass bottom boat ride
Choose from half and full day trip options

What's Included

Use of Snorkeling equipment
Glass bottom boat tour
Return fast catamaran transfers from Cairns
Self guided island walk
Morning tea/coffee served onboard until departure from Cairns
Use of island day visitor facilities
Use of island swimming pool, exclusive to Great Adventures
Free beach bag

Hotel pick up and drop off

Meeting and Pickup

Meeting point

1 Spence St, Cairns City QLD 4870, Australia
Important: Please check-in & collect your boarding pass at the Great Adventures Counter inside the Reef Fleet Terminal 45 minutes prior to departure.

End point

This activity ends back at the meeting point.

What To Expect

Green Island

7 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Green Island

5 hours • Admission Ticket Free

Additional Info

Confirmation will be received at time of booking
Wheelchair accessible
Stroller accessible
Service animals allowed

Infant seats available
Most travelers can participate
Snorkelling can be a strenuous activity. We recommend informing crew of any medical conditions.
This tour/activity will have a maximum of 300 travelers

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.

Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
Cut-off times are based on the experience’s local time.

Traveler Photos

Featured review

Elizabeth_A

This was a great tour. Staff friendly. Glass bottom boat was good. Saw lots of fish the guide was very knowledgeable. The island is basic but there was everything we needed. Snorkelling was fun and easy to do with my 6 year old.

Reviews

4.0

271 reviews

Total review count and overall rating based on Viator and Tripadvisor reviews

Reviews by Viator travelers.

We perform checks on reviews

Showing 1-10 of 271 reviews

Expected more

Leon_V, Apr 2024

The snorkelling area that was indicated to us, had hardly any coral and did not see the turtles while snorkelling, could see them from the jetty though. Lots of Fish were on the glass bottom boat, water was murky, colours of coral not clearly visible. Staff friendly. Food on Island good.

Fun times for the family!

Leonard_F, Apr 2024

Excellent fun! Wish we had more time to experience all the activities that were offered. Love to go back when the young kids are older to experience the Great Barrier Reef outer banks.

Great tour.

Elizabeth_A, Apr 2024

Great way to see the barrier reef up close.

Gary_P, Apr 2024

Easy to collect boarding tickets at terminal and smooth trip out to Green Island. Staff friendly & helpful on board (sea sickness bag and/or tablet offered to passengers who needed them). I collected my snorkel, flippers & mask at the dive centre on arrival and paid $12 to hire a ‘stinger suit’ as advised by GA staff due to it being stinger season. Lovely sandy beaches so snorkel from and loads of different brightly-coloured fish to sea near to shore above the sea grass and sea coral. It was easy and so much fun! I didn’t see turtles whilst snorkelling but saw them form the jelly as well as 2 types of shark (reef & brown black-tipped fin sharks). The glass-bottomed boat trip lasted about 40mins and the captain gave a commentary about the reef and the fish & coral that we saw. He made the trip so interesting and we learned a lot about the reef. Food was thrown onto the water during the trip to attract more fish for us to see. It was a great way to see the reef for those who didn’t want to snorkel and for those who did. There’s a short boardwalk that you can do to explore the island or just sit on the beach or have lunch in the food court area. We thoroughly enjoyed the trip and thought it was good value for money.

Terrible experience

Skye_F, Apr 2024

It was pouring with rain, I wasn’t allowed to cancel our booking. My 10 year old daughter threw up on the way over to the island and couldn’t face getting back on the boat to do glass bottom boat and then the earlier ferry at 2:30pm got canceled because “not enough people”, and we had to wait till 4:30pm to go home, even though we were told we might be able to come back early when we checked in. Did snorkeling and the viability was terrible and had to pay for wet suit.

Beautiful Island

Kathy_J, Apr 2024

Lush green island with many birds. Some corals & fish viewable from the glass bottomed boat, though water a bit green on our day. Snorkeling through shallow sea grass beds with quite a few fish. Harder to find the corals. Long ways from the beach.

Great experience with...

NaiChing_L, Apr 2024

Great experience with family and friends for holidays. Easy to approach if you are first time try snorkelling.

Nice day out.

Linda_B, Mar 2024

We enjoyed the glass bottom boat tour, it was a half hour long. We lucked out and the weather was nice. They have lots of options to keep one busy. We walked the trail and rested on the beach. It is what one should do on a vacation.

dirty glass

Lew_V, Mar 2024

Glass bottom boat trip was very disappointing. It was a very short time actually on the water. The glass was dirty and shimmy making it difficult to see colours ...

Response from Host, Mar 2024

Our team is dedicated to delivering exceptional experience during the Glass Bottom Boat Tour. We understand your concerns about the cleanliness of the glass, as it can be affected by natural elements such as salt and weather conditions. Your feedback is invaluable, and we are actively working to improve this aspect for our guests. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to the opportunity to provide you with a more enjoyable experience in the future.

Great day

Robert_J, Mar 2024

A really great day from start to finish did the 5 hour trip which was plenty of time to enjoy the island

Green Island Visit

Andrew_N, Mar 2024

Great memorable day. First time to the island and the barrier reef. Glass bottom boat and snorkelling was a great experience

Commercialize

Bruce_S, Feb 2024

The Island was beautiful and beaches were great, glass bottom boat and snorkeling were disappointing

Best day trip!

Togana_E, Feb 2024

The Glass bottom boat ride was an amazing experience, we learnt so many new things about the Great Barrier Reef. The snorkelling was also an amazing experience would 100% go back to do it again!!

Green Island

Sue_D, Feb 2024

Nice glass bottom boat ride. Water and sand were inviting and lovely to swim in. Island was wet tropical. Good day.

Great Snorkeling

Hannah_S, Feb 2024

Very busy boat trip over so I was worried the island and snorkeling would be way too crowded but it was wonderful! Not crowded in the water and lots of cool things to do and see! We went parasailing, and saw 3 turtles, a stingray, and an octopus! Also had worries about box jellyfish but never saw one!

A very poor tour, not worth the money.

Robert_R, Feb 2024

This tour has too many people, the island was far too crowded, it was like a holiday resort, a bad one. Staff were rude, there was a very unpleasant mess in the toilets. The glass bottom boat tour was rushed, too short and badly presented. Never again!

Beautiful Green Island

Terisa_D, Jan 2024

Loved Green Island, the day started a bit wet but cleared up. Went on the glass bottom boat and seen so many different fish and the gentleman that took us out was very friendly and informative. Had great knowledge of the reef. Beach was absolutely beautiful, water so crystal clear.

Great experience to the Great Barrier Reef

Deanna_D, Jan 2024

The glass bottom boat is a must do as you get to see the great barrier further out where there there is alot of fish, larger fish, schools of fish and more. Enjoyed Green Island and snorkeling from the beach Ended up paying for a lycra body suit rental as I saw some clear jellyfish. Also they said the sting rays were out. Nice staff who also upsell to packages.

Excellent value

Elizabeth_I, Jan 2024

Relaxing in the shade on a picnic table while my husband was snorkelling, dry humid and hot on the beach and the flora was so beautiful and peaceful, the food area so beautifully set up and the boardwalk a pleasure to walk the island. It truly was enjoyable day so clean , organized and so much to experience. Thank you for the experience, we were with Oceania cruise, but did not want to be out for 8hour excursion, this was perfect time. Excellent value. Elizabeth Ichniovsky

Disappointed

Carly_S, Jan 2024

The coral and fish aren’t as good as other other islands in QLD. The island is tiny and only took 25 mins to walk around and it’s rocky with jellyfish everywhere. The boardwalk paths further in from the beach are tidy but there’s not much to see. There’s not many chairs/umbrellas in the pool area and the ground was really hot so we couldn’t relax there. To be honest, we did the half day and we were waiting for 1.5 hours to get back to the boat.

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