Heron & Wilson Islands

Part of the Capricornia Cays, Heron Island is ranked among the world's finest scuba-diving regions, with a majority of the Reef's fish and coral species found here. Visitors generally come to dive and snorkel the wonderful, 34-sq-km Heron Reef, but the island's rugged beauty is reason enough to stay above the surface. A true coral cay, with excellent beaches, superb snorkelling and turtle-watching in season, it's densely vegetated with pisonia and casuarina trees. There’s a resort and research station on the northeastern third of the island; the remainder is national park. Note that 200,000 birds call the island home at different stages of the year, so there can be a lot of guano at times.