Thursday, August 24, 2023

Issue:

Mackay and Whitsunday Life

Great Barrier Reef Festival Set To Cruise

The Whitsundays’ annual celebration of living in the Great Barrier Reef typically brings the reef to Airlie Beach, but this year plans are to take Airlie to the reef instead.

The Great Barrier Reef Festival’s four days of mainland activities will be paralleled by tours aboard Cruise Whitsundays, beginning with the launch of a vessel travelling to the company’s Reefworld facility in an “unprecedented” tour.

The tourism operator snapped up this year’s festival naming rights and have doubled down on their partnership by offering an exclusive Cruise Whitsundays and Master Reef Guide-hosted outer Great Barrier Reef experience.

It will be the first time a group of Master Reef Guides will collaborate for an on-water community engagement event, and just one of the company’s special tour offers over the festival calendar.

Beginning on festival launch day, August 4, the Cruise Whitsunday partnership hopes to “increase the Whitsundays community’s connection with the Great Barrier Reef”.

Cruise Whitsundays Sales and Marketing Manager, Renee Branton-Brown said the opportunity for festivalgoers was “unprecedented access to some of the company’s flagship products and ultimately the outer reef.”

“The likes of which has never been seen across the entirety of the reef,” Ms Branton-Brown said.

“Our Reefworld facility at Hardy Reef will be dedicated to the festival, providing a boutique, intimate reef encounter for those aboard our custom vessel travelling direct from Airlie Beach.

The tour will host at least 10 Master Reef Guides onboard.

Great Barrier Reef Festival committee member and Master Reef Guide, Crystal Lacey said guides have never met for the “specific purpose of delivering an immersive, story-telling experience for the general public.”

“From our perspective, this is going to be an invaluable opportunity for us to share knowledge and understanding of one of the world’s natural wonders,” Ms Lacey said.

The edu-tourism event is capped at 200 guests for a full four hours at the platform and includes activities like snorkel safaris, semi-submersible adventures, Eye On The Reef monitoring experiences and practical, in-water photography and videography sessions.

Tickets cost $220 per adult and include lunch, morning and afternoon tea, and all activities except scuba diving.

Renee Branton-brown from Cruise Whitsundays, Margie Murphy from the Great Barrier Reef Festival and Crystal Lacey from Little Fish Tourism Development Consulting

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