Latest News
03.02.23 – Baler Snail
The Baler Snail is a large marine mollusc that belongs to the gastropod family Volutidae (volute shells). Of the 200 species of volutes distributed worldwide, around 70 are known from Australia. Many of those are endemic, found nowhere else in the world. The name “Baler shell” was given by European settlers because Aboriginal people were […]
Why should you visit the Whitsundays during the Wet Season?
Wet Season or the Green Season as we like to call it is a special time of year in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. But with a name like Wet Season, it gets a bit of a bad rap! While a bit of rain might put some people off, we have plenty of reasons […]
30.01.23 – Turtle Tracks
Another reason to love the Whitsundays! Summer on the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park means it’s turtle nesting season! 6 out of the 7 species of turtles call the Great Barrier Reef home, and from October to March, the female turtles will drag themselves up on the beaches to lay clutches of over 100 eggs. […]
Reef Protection Initiative
Protecting our patch! The team at Ocean Rafting is proud to be selected to take part in the Tourism Reef Protection Initiative. This initiative allows tourism operators along the breadth of the Great Barrier Reef to conduct in-water Reef Health and Impact Surveys, remove pest species from local reefs, clean marine debris from beaches and […]
18.01.23 – Grass Tree’s
Did you know, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is not just coral reefs? In fact, only 7% of the park is made up of the reefs that make this area so famous! So what else fills the park? Another key habitat is the 600 islands spreading across our 230,000km² playground, here in the Whitsundays […]
12.12.22 – Starry Pufferfish
The Starry Pufferfish (Arothron stellatus) is a very large pufferfish which grows up to 120 cm (47 in) in length. This week our team was lucky enough to encounter this beautiful fish on one of our Reef Protection Days. Its body is oval-shaped, spherical and relatively elongated. The skin is not covered with scales but is prickly. The fins on the […]