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Sustainability

Our Eco Journey

The Great Barrier Reef is a World Heritage Listed Marine Park and one of the Natural Wonders of the World. We are lucky to be permitted to operate our tours in this majestic place.

This is why we make sure that all our tours are minimum impact. We have carefully planned your day to minimise fuel consumption, our biggest source of carbon emissions.

We will guide you to ensure that your impact, while walking, swimming or snorkelling while on board with us, creates minimum damage to the natural environment. You can help while on board by using reef safe sunscreen and ensuring that any of your waste goes securely into the bins provided.

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Why Our Permits Matter 

At Iconic Whitsunday Adventures, we are proud to operate with permits issued by both the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority (GBRMPA) and Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS). These permits aren’t just paperwork – they are a commitment to protecting the extraordinary places we visit every day. 

Choose Us
“At Iconic Whitsunday Adventures sustainability is at the heart of everything we do.”
Nicole and Jeremy Graham

Owner Operators Iconic Whitsunday Adventures

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Whitsunday
Healthy Heart Reef

We are a Whitsunday Healthy Heart Reef Partner. We are measuring our carbon emissions in a collaborative effort to reduce the impact of the Whitsundays tourism sector. Some initiatives that we have taken to date include a massive focus on food and general waste reduction and recycling, using solar power and improving business efficiencies. You can find our more about the regions tourism industries sustainability journey here:
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ecoBiz Queensland

We are participating in the Queensland Governments EcoBiz program. The program gives our business advise to help us plan our sustainability initiatives and keep on track!
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Carbon Offsets

Iconic Whitsunday Adventures is aiming to be carbon neutral well before the Australian Governments 2050 commitments. While technology is developing we are using carbon offsetting to mitigate some of our unavoidable emissions.

Passengers on our tours will soon be able to opt to offset their trip, just like the airlines, to ensure 100% that their tour is carbon netural and know that they are doing their bit to reduce their contribution to climate change and safeguard the reef. Watch this space!

Contribute to science while on board

We encourage all our boat guests to take photos and upload their sightings to the Eye on the Reef ap. Download the app before your trip and help us build our database of Marine life of the Whitsundays.

Going on a bus tour? Download the iNaturalist app before your tour and add any sightings to the app to contribute to our database of wildlife in the Whitsundays.

Sightings uploaded to iNaturalist and Eye on the Reef are shared with the Atlas of Living Australia. This is the database that all scientists and land managers use to find out what is living in the Whitsundays.

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Your safety is important to us

The thought of sharks, jelly fish and snakes may cause concern to visitors of Australia however these native animals are an important part of our Australian biodiversity. While the risk of an encounter with a dangerous animal during your visit is minimal there are precautions that we take to minimise risk of unwanted encounters:
  • We don’t snorkel at fishing locations or throw any food overboard.
  • We provide stinger suits to all passengers for in water activities.
  • We are fully equipped with first aid equipment and all staff are trained to provide first aid.
  • We stay on defined tracks when exploring on land.