We spent two nights on Great Keppel Island and it might be one of my new favorite places. No one talks about Great Keppel Island anymore. I remember it so well growing up in the 80s and 90s – get wrecked on Great Keppel. The resort closed down years ago and I thought that was the end of it. I only recently found out you can still visit Great Keppel. We stayed at a low-key (in a good way) resort called Great Keppel Hideaway.

The ferry ride over was only about 30 minutes from Keppel Marina (15 mins from Yeppoon). My first impression was this looks like a proper tropical island with all the palm trees and how cute that a tractor picks up our luggage for us!

We had booked a snorkelling tour at 1pm so spent some time checking out our home for the next two nights while we waited.

We were happy to discover there would be an extended happy hour at the Hideaway bar.

Our room was in the Palm Rooms section. The outside is pretty basic but they the room was quite nice on the inside. Definitely not luxury but for an all inclusive special price of $650 for all meals and accom and transfers for two people we weren’t expecting it. Really nice tropical pathways and signs between the accommodation and bar area.

We had our first included meal – so good. The cashier asked if we wanted a drink we said no thanks, then she said it’s included…. oh ok I’ll have a wine. I really didn’t need it but seeings it was free and it’s a holiday… not sure if it was a mistake because there were no free drinks after that but happy to take it!

Snorkelling with whales!

Next came a huge highlight of our whole trip so far – accidently snorkelling with two whales. I have no photos so you will have to imagine.

We were all suited up and given our snorkel and fins etc for our tour. We jumped on a little boat, and our guide said look out you might see whales in the distance. Sure enough, after about 10 minutes into the boat ride, someone spotted whales about 200m away. They looked so big and powerful with their huge splashes. It was pretty cool to see them even from a distance.

We arrived at our snorkeling site and the guide said we are all family we must stay within 20m. He was carrying a big orange round buoyancy ring in case anyone needed it. He said we might see a turtle or dugong or stingray as well as all the fish. There was no mention of whale!

Chris spotted a turtle. We swam over and the turtle slowly and casually swam right underneath us completely unphased. It was so huge and ancient looking and surprisingly graceful under water. I was thinking this is a bucket list item I never knew I needed to experience until now.

We kept snorkeling and saw heaps of beautiful fish in different colours and sizes until our guide told us it was time to head back to the boat.

I was swimming back when I heard a big commotion. Our guide was yelling to come this way. I’ve got to say – when swimming in the ocean far from shore it is a bit disturbing to hear yelling and commotion. Is this good commotion or the not so good shark type of commotion?

Our guide had headed off in the opposite direction towards the sea at a fast pace. So much for the 20m rule haha. I yelled at two others in our group to follow. The guide had dropped the buoyancy ring in the excitement. There were two whales right near us, about 20 metres away. A mother and baby. Some people went right up to them, I was happy to hang back about 20 metres as I’ve heard you are not supposed to swim with whales when there is a baby.

Amazing to be in the water so close to these beautiful creatures. Our guide said that has only happened once before. We were all on such a high. I said and we got to see a turtle too. The guide laughed and said stuff the turtle – he was so excited about the whale it was contagious (I have since realised turtles are everywhere on the reef).

We did other shore snorkelling while we were on Great Keppel but I’m really glad we did the guided tour. Our guide new pretty much every type of fish it was like having our own personal marine biologist with us.

Exploring Keppel At Sunset

After snorkelling it was time for happy hour. I was feeling almost guilty about the great deal we got so thought it was only fair we spend money at the bar starting as early as possible.

Then it was close to the golden hour so I left Chris at the bar and went for a walk.

I wanted to see the old resort that has been left to rot. It fascinates me. It’s just along the beach from where we stayed.

I wanted so badly to climb the fence but I’m too much of a goody goody.

Instead I headed back to the bar it looked so pretty.

Time for dinner. We could choose whatever we wanted off the menu none of this if you are on a package you can choose from these two things rubbish. We were warned it might take a while for meals but it wasn’t too bad.

The staff seem so happy to be working there – a lot of overseas backpackers I think, and they brought their happy vibe with them.

Day 2

First up breakfast. Very good and what a view. By this stage I was totally in love with the island.

You can snorkel straight off the beach. It was windy so we hired wetsuits and asked for the best beach for the day. Lucky the closest beach would be the best. About a 30 minute walk.

This is the view looking down to the beach. Maybe because of the wind the visibility wasn’t as good. Maybe I’ve been spoilt with having a guide right there to call out for sharks, but I was a bit nervous. We were just calling it a day and swimming back to shore when a turtle swam right by us. We loved it!

We decided to relax in the afternoon. Chris stayed reading at the bar and I headed to a different beautiful beach very close to our accommodation.

Our last dinner did not disappoint.

We met some really nice people staying at the same place. It was nice to chat with some different people (no offence Chris haha).

The next day we sadly packed up and were transported back to the mainland. It felt like we had been on the island for way more than two days.

Tips: If you have a caravan, park it at Cap Coast Storage. They are only about 5 minutes from the marina and transfer you to and from as part of the service. Great service, very convenient.

If you travel outside of school holidays and during the week there are some fantastic deals.