Airlie Beach Snorkelling Tour

Are you looking for an Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour? ZigZag Whitsundays has departures leaving every day at 8 am from Coral Sea Marina|Resort in the heart of Airlie Beach. Discover what lies beneath the coral sea around the beautiful Whitsunday Islands. Top-quality snorkel equipment is provided in the price and includes

1. Snorkel
2. Mask
3. Wetsuit
4. Flotation devices if necessary.

As we mentioned above ZigZag visits 1 snorkel location per day, each site consists of around 60 minutes in the water which is plenty of time to discover the corals, swim with tropical fish and hopefully see Nemo and a turtle!

What Snorkel Locations Will You See?

We get asked this question a lot over the phone with our Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour. Unfortunately, there is no definite answer as conditions change daily. Our qualified crew choose the best snorkel sites that suit the day’s tides wind and cloud cover. Let us explain how these affect which location we use.

Tides – This affects the depth of the water from the seafloor to the surface.

Wind – This is the number 1 major feature to where we choose our Airlie Beach Snorkeling location. We pick sites that the wind is not directly blowing towards.

Cloud Cover – while this is the last train of thought, we use this effect in combination with wind direction and tides.

ZigZag Airlie Beach Snorkelling Tour Includes Whitehaven Beach

Airlie Beach Snorkelling Tour Itinerary

** Note – this is a general itinerary for our Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour there are a lot of factors that can change this including tides and wind. ZigZag Departs Coral Sea Marina|Resort in Airlie Beach. Our meeting time is 8 am sharp. Departing from Coral Sea Marina we head to the snorkel location for around 90 minutes. Then off to Whitehaven Beach for lunch and a guided walk to the south Whitehaven lookout. Return back at Coral sea marina at 4 pm

South Whitehaven Lookout

The new South Whitehaven Lookout opened in 2019.
In one direction you will see a spectacular view down the entire 7 km of Whitehaven Beach, and in the other direction, you will see the open ocean and islands leading back to the mainland.
The walk is around 45 mins return (including time at the top) and is beginner grade and you will need a level of low-medium fitness.
In my personal opinion, the South Lookout delivers more wow factor every day of the week while the Northern lookout highly depends on tides and is overcrowded

Snorkeling In The Whitsundays

Whether you have snorkelled before or this is your first time, the Whitsunday Islands are perfect for beginners and advanced alike. With the coral bays sheltered from wind and tide and most coral starting only meters from the beach, this is the ideal location for the whole family to see turtles and visit Nemo in a natural environment. On our Whitsundays Day Trip all the snorkelling equipment, including wet suits are provided along with flotation devices if needed. The qualified crew will watch over everyone on rescue boards so you can feel safe and enjoy the best coral and tropical fish the Whitsunday region has to offer on a Airlie Beach Snorkling Tour

Snorkel Equipment and Trip Price

Top Quality Snorkel Equipment

Proper Snorkel Equipment is the difference between a comfortable experience and an annoying one.
ZigZag Whitsundays uses the best equipment on the market for commercial snorkelling.

Tusa silicone masks
Tusa comfortable snorkel
Turbo Fins
Adrenaline 1ml full wetsuit

Tusa masks are made from real silicon and not the cheaper silitex. They seal nicely around your face minimising water entering the mask
Our 1ml thick wetsuits are used for three purposes, to protect you against jellyfish. Positive buoyancy and to keep warm. We have sizes to suit everybody.

10 Facts About Snorkeling In The Whitsunday Islands 

1.Lots of fish perform sequential hermaphroditism, where they start as one sex & at some point in life change to the other. Maori Wrasse start as females & the alpha female will change to a male if the resident male dies, Clownfish are the opposite, they start as males & switch to female

2. At night time Parrotfish surround themselves in a mucous bubble to avoid detection by predators

3. Starfish regenerate if broken into pieces

4. Some marine worms when they reproduce, swell up with gametes all at the same time, then float in a big group & when they bump into each other they explode

5. Phytoplankton are responsible for 70% of the worlds Oxygen production

6. Hard corals are a significant carbon sink, as they lay down the CaCO3 skeletons they pull carbon dioxide from the seawater

7. The presence of different coral types is an indicator of the environment they are in. Soft corals are found in more turbulent environments as they can survive the impact of strong water flow. Delicate corals such as staghorn & large plate corals are found in less turbulent environments. Mushroom corals are the only type of coral that is a single polyp, all other forms are formed of large colonies of polyps

8. Whitsunday island corals are part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park

9. ZigZag Whitsundays Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour provides you fins where most other companies won’t

10. Turtles are spotted most days on the tour including the snorkeling locations

ZigZag Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour FAQ

In Summary, an Airlie Beach Snorkeling Tour should be on everyone’s list visiting the region. Here at ZigZag, we see a boatload of happy guests when we reach the snorkel location every day, but the only way to see for yourself is to book one of these tours. Hot Tip – if you have thought about seeing the islands and reef from above check out our Airlie Beach Scenic Flight page with 3 different options.

As always if you have any questions about ZigZag Whitsundays Tour , you can head over to our FAQ page or contact us on 07 4813 9007 or bookings@zigzagwhitsundays.com.au