Overview
- Features: Beautiful beaches with diving and snorkeling locations offshore
- Opening Times: Any
- Best Time to Visit: June to November
- Duration: Any
- Transport Options: Ferry from Shute Harbour
- Budget: Moderate
- Address: Whitsunday Islands, Queensland, Australia
- Type: Island
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Summary
If you’re looking for a quiet island in the Whitsundays with excellent diving and snorkelling locations a stone’s throw from the beach, Hook Island may be for you. If five-stay luxury accommodation is not your priority and you don’t mind roughing it out a bit, Hook Island is definitely for you.
What Makes Hook Island So Attractive?
The second largest of the Whitsundays, the 53-sq-km Hook Island is predominantly national park and rises to 450m at Hook Peak. There are a number of good beaches dotted around the island, and Hook boasts some of the best diving and snorkelling locations in the Whitsundays. The resort itself is a no-frills, budget place. Many travellers come here enticed by the low prices and have left disappointed because it’s not what they expected. If you want five-star luxury, don’t come to Hook Island…try Hayman instead!
The southern end of the island is indented by two very long fjord-like bays. Beautiful Nara Inlet is a popular deep-water anchorage for yachts, and Aboriginal rock paintings have been found there.
Where is Hook Island Located?
Hook Island is located between Hayman and Whitsunday Islands in the Whitsundays, Queensland, Australia. It is the second largest island in the Whitsundays after Whitsunday Island.
Hook Island Resort
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Hook Island Wilderness Resort is the most basic and the cheapest resort in the Whitsundays. The humble collection of simple, adjoining units each sleep up to six or eight people; the bathrooms are tiny. All units come with fresh bed linens; bring your own bath towels. Tea and coffee facilities are supplied in each room.
What Hook Island Wilderness Resort lacks in creature comforts it makes up for with its location; this affordable resort is based on a white sandy beach from where visitors can enjoy great snorkelling just offshore.
Food is not a priority at the resort. The licensed restaurant serves seafood, steak and pasta, and there is usually a vegetarian option on offer at night; snacks are available during the rest of the day and there is also the Barefoot Bar, which opens at noon.
Hook Island Camping
If the Wilderness Resort doesn’t appeal, the campgrounds on the island might. Hook Island has some wonderful camping opportunities in basic national park camping grounds which are located at Maureen Cove, Steen’s Beach, Bloodhorn Beach, Curlew Beach and Crayfish Beach. There are around 60 camp sites with a superb beach-front location. There’s a camp kitchen strictly for the use of campers only, plus a couple of barbecues.
Maureens Cove Hook Island
Maureens Cove is a popular camping site on Hook Island. Located in the national park on the island, it has some wonderful camping facilities including a camp kitchen, barbecue, toilets. The best part about Maureens Cove is its location on the beach and easy access to the snorkeling and diving sites just offshore.
Hook Island Snorkeling
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The primary reason visitors head over to Hook Island is for its diving and snorkeling locations which are some of the best in the Whitsundays. Their proximity to the beach along with the diverse range of marine life to be seen makes these locations so appealing to visitors.
The most popular of them all, Mantaray Bay is renowned for its range of marine life, from small reef fish and nudibranchs to bigger pelagics farther out. As its name suggests, manta rays also hang around here in November.
If you don’t want to carry your own gear, you can hire snorkeling gear from reception.
Hook Island Observatory
In addition to the wonderful diving and snorkeling sites located just offshore, Hook Island also has an old underwater observatory. While not as nice as some of the more fancy underwater observatories on the other Whitsunday islands, Hook Island observatory is a great way to see the underwater world without getting wet.
Hook Island Transfers
Transfers to Hook Island Resort are arranged when you book your accommodation. Return transfers are by regular tour boat. The Voyager does a daily three-island cruise (Hook Island, Whitehaven Beach and Daydream Island) as well as return transfers to Hook. Transfers to other islands can be arranged.
Island Camping Connections or Camping Whitsunday Islands can organise drop offs to the camping grounds.
Best Time to Visit Hook Island
The best time to visit any of the islands in the Whitsundays is during the winter months of June to November when the weather is warm and pleasant. Winter is the best time to visit as the monsoon season will have past and the stinger season that occurs in the summer months will be over too.
If you’re interested in planning a holiday to Hook Island, take a look at some of our tours and activities for Hook Island. We have one of the most comprehensive lists of tours and activities to help you plan and organise the holiday you want.
Tell us what you think. Have your visited or planning to visit Hook Island? What do you like the best about Hook Island?
We love to hear from you so please leave your comments below.
This post and many other on your page are very interesting.
Thank you Kami.