Thinking of diving Heron Island (South Great Barrier Reef, Australia)
Hi all, hoping to tap into some collective wisdom here about Heron Island diving. I have many questions but if you’ve only got answers to 2 or 3 of them I’d still love to hear from you!
Quick background: I’m an intermediate diver (75 dives, PADI Advanced Open Water). My husband is my dive buddy (285 dives) and we just got back from Lady Elliot Island which we loved. Heron is on our radar because it offers 3 dives a day vs LEI’s 2, and it looks meaningfully cheaper overall. I also have an energy limiting illness which sounds more dramatic than it is for diving — once I’m in the water it’s fine. I just need to rest between dives, which the Heron schedule seems to allow for nicely.
My questions are:
1. Weather and site variety — How weather-dependent is the diving at Heron; does wind typically limit which sites you can access?
2. Mooring lines — Michael McFadyen’s fab diving site mentions Heron had mooring lines for controlled descent in strong currents in 1989 — are they still there?
3. Visibility — I’ve read that the harbour can get poor visibility with certain tides and rough weather. Does this affect the actual dive sites, or mainly just the harbour?
4. Heron vs LEI for diving quality — Is the diving at Heron better, worse or just different ?
5. Is the diving worth it despite the resort reviews? — There’s a fair bit of online commentary suggesting the resort is a bit tired and run down.
Really appreciate any firsthand experience people are willing to share! 🤿