Hervey Bay Great Sandy Marine Park Twilight Cruise

Urangan Marina and Urangan Pier

The cruise departs from the marina on Buccaneer Drive in Urangan, the harbour suburb at the eastern end of Hervey Bay where the whale and island boats are based. You check in at the jetty 15 minutes before the 16:30 departure, and as the boat leaves the breakwater you pass Urangan Pier, the long timber jetty built between 1913 and 1917 to load sugar, timber and coal onto ships. It once stretched more than a kilometre into the bay, and the surviving section is still a favourite spot for fishing and evening walks.

There is no hotel pickup for this cruise, but the marina is easy to reach by car or taxi from the Esplanade, and parking is available nearby. If you are wondering how to get to Urangan for the twilight cruise, allow 15 minutes from the town centre and a little longer in the holiday season. The boat returns to the same jetty around 18:30.

Great Sandy Marine Park and the strait

Great Sandy Marine Park covers the waters of Hervey Bay and the Great Sandy Strait, the shallow channel between the mainland and K'gari. It is a Ramsar-listed wetland of seagrass meadows, mangroves and sand islands and one of the most important feeding grounds for dugongs and green turtles on the east coast of Australia, as well as a resting place for migrating humpback whales between July and October. The evening cruise explores the inner part of the park close to Urangan, where the water is calm and the wildlife is easy to spot.

The crew's commentary explains how the strait formed behind the world's largest sand island, why the water is so protected and what lives in it. Because the boat moves slowly and the sea is usually flat in the evening, this is a comfortable cruise for people who are unsure about boats, and children can move around the deck safely.

Woody Island and the islands of the strait

Directly east of Urangan sits Woody Island, the largest of the small islands in this part of the strait, with its historic lighthouses dating from the 1860s that guided ships toward the Mary River ports. Nearby lie Round Island and Little Woody Island, low, wooded and fringed by sand at low tide. These islands are the backdrop to the cruise, and the crew tell the stories of the lighthouse keepers, the early settlers of the Fraser Coast and the Butchulla people whose country includes the strait.

Sea eagles and ospreys nest on the islands, and at dusk you often see them returning to roost, while pelicans drift on the sandbanks and terns work the water. Keep your camera ready as the boat cruises past: the islands catch the last of the sun while the sky behind them turns pink.

Dolphins, turtles and dugongs at dusk

The hour before sunset is one of the best times for wildlife in Hervey Bay. Bottlenose and humpback dolphins hunt along the edges of the channels, green turtles surface for air over the seagrass, and dugongs, the gentle sea cows of the marine park, can be seen grazing in the shallows when the water is clear. The crew slow the boat whenever something appears and explain what you are looking at, so even a short cruise becomes a wildlife tour.

Sightings are never guaranteed, because these are wild animals, but the inner strait near Urangan is where they live all year. In the whale season from July to October it is not unusual to spot a humpback blowing further out in the bay as the light fades, a bonus on an already scenic evening.

Sunset over Hervey Bay and the return

The cruise is timed so that the sun goes down while you are on the water, usually on the return leg, with the western sky over the mainland turning orange and gold and the dunes of K'gari glowing to the east before fading to a dark line. This is the best time to visit the strait for photographs: calm water, warm colours and the lights of Urangan coming on as you approach the marina. Food and drinks can be purchased on board, so you can enjoy a snack on deck as the colours change.

Evenings on the water are cooler than they feel on shore, even in summer, so bring a light jacket. The whole experience lasts about two hours and ends back at the jetty around 18:30, in good time for dinner in Hervey Bay.