Welcome to our Autumn issue of Quickies

Hayley Brien first saw the Great Barrier Reef as a wide-eyed seven year old when her family visited Agincourt Reef with Quicksilver. Twenty years later, she is living her best mermaid life as a professional marine biologist with Quicksilver. Her story comes to life as part of Tourism Tropical North Queensland's new brand campaign for Cairns and The Great Barrier Reef. Check out Hayley's inspiring story in the short video 

At the launch of the new brand platform, TTNQ Chief Executive Officer Mark Olsen said visitors experiencing Cairns & Great Barrier Reef would discover that our place never leaves them. Visitors will:

• See Great – through remarkable experiences
• Feel Great – through making a genuine connection
• Leave Greater – as a person and by knowing that every visit makes a difference.

“Experiencing our great makes visitors greater. From our Great Barrier Reef to our great ancient rainforests and our great Indigenous culture, visitors are transformed for life,” Mr Olsen said.

And we couldn’t agree more with these great sentiments! Quicksilver Group Managing Director, Tony Baker said, "Quicksilver's mission has always been to create ambassadors for the preservation of the Great Barrier Reef, inspiring our visitors to leave as custodians for this very special part of the world. Hayley's story perfectly embodies this and we're absolutely delighted to showcase our great experiences that are truly unique to our destination."

You too can join Hayley and our team of passionate Reef Biosearch marine biologists when travelling with Quicksilver. 

We’re delighted to share up-to-date underwater photography from our incredible array of quality World Heritage Great Barrier Reef sites from this link #GreatBarrierReefToday

In these photo galleries, check out what our visitors have been experiencing – from the Agincourt ribbon reefs to Michaelmas Cay, Green Island, Moore Reef, Flynn and Milln Reefs spanning an area of over 100 km apart.

As advised previoulsy, Green Island Resort’s accommodation services have now been temporarily suspended until 28 June 2020 while works are completed on the Green Island jetty. The works are being conducted by Ports North on behalf of the Queensland Government who are the owners of the jetty. 

In the meantime, it's business as usual for our Green Island day visitor operations with Great Adventures cruising from Cairns and island facilities open. This includes the Resort restaurant, food outlets and bars, the island swimming pool ready for a refreshing dip, day visitor facilities and activities available to enjoy.

We look forward to seeing you on Green Island soon, just 45 minutes from Cairns and a reef and rainforest world away!

It was a special occasion indeed to welcome 63 new inhabitants to Green Island last month.

Green Island has a major green turtle population (of course!) and the island’s sandy beaches provided the perfect nesting ground this breeding season as these tiny green turtle hatchlings made their way to the water's edge, hoping to gain safety.

The survival rate of these creatures is sadly against them with an estimated one in every 1000 reaching maturity or breeding age of 30 years.

An interesting fact about marine turtles is that the temperature of the surrounding sand will determine the sex of the offspring. Cooler sand produces male turtles, while warmer sand produces females. Green turtles can lay up to 100 eggs at a time, which will incubate for up to three months. Several weeks after mating, the females will drag their bodies ashore to dig a hole in the sand above the high water mark to lay their leathery eggs. After the eggs are covered, she will have no further contact with her offspring.

The Great Barrier Reef is home to six of the world’s seven marine turtles and it is estimated that some species, such as the green turtle, can live for up to 100 years. Despite the odds, we wish these little ones a turtley terrific journey ahead.

The stylish architecturally designed refurbishment of Green's outdoor dining facility on Green Island is powering ahead with completion scheduled for June 2020.

Green's new dining area will provide our day visitors with a wonderful all-weather venue as well as an area to enjoy a meal purchased from the various food outlets. The project involves redesigning and re-roofing the existing structure. A lovely feature includes custom-designed screening panels which embrace the island’s reef and rainforest environment.

Green's refurbishment is being undertaken as part of the State Government’s Great Barrier Reef Island Resorts Rejuvenation Program's matched funding, ensuring our beautiful island destination continues to provide first class facilities and sustainable world class experiences for our visitors.

Here’s some trivia! Visitors to Green Island are often surprised to learn that the island’s name is not because of its lush green rainforest, but was in fact named in 1770 after the astronomer onboard Captain Cook’s HMS Endeavour, Mr Charles Green.  This outdoor retreat amid the rainforest is also named in his honour.

Imagine coming face to face with the largest fish in the sea? Well that’s exactly the incredible and rare experience that greeted lucky passengers during a trip to one of our Agincourt Reef sites with dive and snorkel boat Silversonic!

While whale sharks can reach lengths of up to 12 metres (40 ft), this majestic creature was approximately a mere 4.5 metres (15 ft), but still made for a formidable sight, stunning divers and snorkellers while in the water.

Silversonic’s Skipper Cliff Stanaway said it was certainly a special day for our passengers and crew. “We first spotted the whale shark as it swam past a few metres from the boat and created a shadow over the top of the intro divers. It was swimming along the southern end of Agincourt 3 ribbon reefs while we were moored at our site, Coronation Corner and a number of our guests were snorkelling and diving at the time."  

Quicksilver Dive Instructor Kylie McQuie who had two intro divers underwater said, “It was amazing. Not being able to talk underwater and to see this majestic animal swim past – it left everyone speechless literally.  This was a huge motivator for our guests to become certified divers.”

As the largest fish in the sea reaching lengths of 12 metres (40 feet), whale sharks have an enormous menu from which to choose. Fortunately for most sea-dwellers (and us!), their favourite meal is plankton such as krill, crab larvae and jelly fish which they scoop up with their colossal gaping mouths while swimming close to the water's surface.

Here's a small clip of the whale shark captured by the onboard photographer.  Click to watch video

Photo and video credits: Indepth Video & Photography, Kai Cheng.

It was a right royal occasion when Great Adventures’ Reef King met legendary cruise liner, RMS Queen Mary 2 on her recent stopover in Cairns.

As the Queen dropped anchor off Yorkey’s Knob, local sightseers joined Great Adventures for an up-close look at the Cunard Line’s majestic flagship. At 345 metres (1132 ft) the Queen Mary 2 is 12 times longer than the Reef King and towered over 11 stories high. Enough to give a King an inferiority complex!

QM2 was on a New York to New York round the world cruise. While her stopover to Cairns and the Great Barrier Reef was brief, there was plenty of time to welcome many of her passengers to sample the delights of our reef and rainforest home. Great Adventures' Reef Spirit was also kept busy conducting ship to shore transfers.

Launched by Queen Elizabeth II in January 2004, the luxurious Queen Mary 2 can carry 2691 passengers and 1292 crew.

Thanks to Nick Kampjut for the photo of Reef King and QM2.

Nita Strauss is normally at home on a world stage playing lead guitar with legendary rocker Alice Cooper. The crew onboard Silverswift were delighted to welcome her and her partner to their world stage and share an amazing day scuba diving the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef.

Nita is ranked #1 on Guitar World's list of '10 Female Guitar Players You Should Know'. It was an absolute pleasure sharing the Great Barrier Reef with rock royalty.

There's nothing like a sunset from Green Island! How's the serenity? Thanks to Tobi Hellsing for this sensational photo!

We were delighted to welcome aboard tennis legend Boris Becker for a day exploring Agincourt Reef.

Emily’s smiling face may be familiar to many from her previous roles with Great Adventures and Green Island Resort, first joining the company in 2013. After travelling and obtaining a Psychology degree, we’re delighted to welcome Emily back to share her passion for the Great Barrier Reef. Based in Cairns, Emily is your “go-to” gal for Great Adventures’ Reef and Green Island Cruises as well as supporting our sensational Port Doulglas based cruises.

Emily was also part of Tourism Events Queensland's Domestic campaign "Holiday Here This Year", supporting our state's tourism industry following the dreadful Bushfires which affected the southern States of Australia earlier this year. With her short pieces fIlmed on location at beautiful Green Island, why wouldn't you #HolidayHere!

Emily can be contacted at [email protected]