Fitzroy Island Resort

Fitzroy Island, home to family owned and operated Fitzroy Island Resort, is a 45-minute boat transfer from Cairns in Queensland, Australia. It is surrounded by a fringing reef system that forms part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park, making it a perfect accessible base for snorkelling, diving and exploring the reef.

Fitzroy Island is the perfect spot to visit the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns, and it’s a great land-based alternative to the Barrier Reef pontoon experience with idyllic beaches, such as Nudie Beach (voted 2018’s best beach in Australia) which is one of our starting points to get in the water to enjoy our fringing reef. The sheltered waters are also ideal for swimming and water sports – such as diving and snorkelling. The magic and diversity of the Great Barrier Reef is here at Fitzroy Island.

The Fitzroy Island Resort has a number of different styles of accommodation ranging from camping to bungalows, cabins to resort rooms. It also boosts Foxy’s Bar and Zephyr’s restaurant.

Fitzroy is a continental island 4 square km in size. 97% of the island is National Park, covered in tropical rainforest and freely accessible to the public via an established network of clearly marked walking tracks. The gentle, hilly terrain inland makes for great walking throughout the whole island, including to the two main beaches, Welcome Bay and Nudey Beach, the Summit, the highest vantage point on the island, and the historic lighthouse at the Eastern end.

At different times of the year, you can see humpback whales and manta rays or just regularly shark and rays. Turtles are a daily occurrence.

Fitzroy enjoys a typical North Queensland tropical climate but with the added advantage of the cooling effects of the prevailing south-easterly ocean breezes for the majority of the year. Welcome Bay is sheltered and protected by the Summit. Temperatures range from 24 – 31 C in summer and 19 – 25 in winter.

The Fitzroy Island Sports Hub, affectionately known as FISH, is a resort base water sports, tour facility and a PADI Dive Resort that started in its current format in August 2021. 

FISH offers a range of diving and snorkel activities including a wide range of PADI Dive Course and programs - Discover Scuba Diving - Divemaster.

Added to this we have a number of marine conservation programs, kids clubs and activities. We also have a Turtle Rehabilitation Centre operated through the Cairns Turtle Rehabilitation Centre and a coral regeneration project operated through the Reef Restoration Foundation.