Green Island is tiny, but somehow it has everything.
You arrive on a giant passenger ferry, walk down this wonderfully long pier and step onto an island with tropical rainforest, white sand, bright water, snorkeling, crocodiles, a pool, restaurants, a glass-bottom boat and even helicopters coming and going.
It feels almost impossible that so much can fit onto one little island.
If you only have a day, Green Island is an easy recommendation because you are not locked into doing one thing. You can spend hours in the water, wander the trails, look for wildlife, visit the crocodiles, grab lunch and still find somewhere to sit with a drink and stare at the ocean.
Book the Green Island snorkeling and glass-bottom boat trip here.
Green Island and Fitzroy Island are completely different
People tend to group Green Island and Fitzroy Island together because they are both easy ferry trips from Cairns, but they feel completely different.
Fitzroy is an old mountain that became an island. It has hills, granite boulders and proper hikes.
Green Island is a coral cay. The island slowly formed as sand, broken coral and shells piled up on the reef. Plants took hold, birds brought more seeds and somehow an entire rainforest grew on top of it.
That absolutely fascinates me. You are walking through a forest in the middle of the Great Barrier Reef, but underneath you is thousands of years of reef material that the ocean slowly stacked into an island.
On one side you can see the pale, limestone-looking beach rock exposed along the shoreline. It is beautiful and strange and one of those things I could happily poke around looking at for far too long.
The ferry is part of the experience
The same Great Adventures ferry carries people going over for the day and people staying at Green Island Resort. It is a big passenger catamaran, completely different from the Fitzroy Flyer, and the ride takes about 45 minutes from Cairns.
There is something so exciting about leaving the marina with a boat full of people in swimwear, hats and reef gear. Everybody is going to the same tiny dot of green in the middle of all that blue water.
When the island appears, the first thing you notice is the pier. It stretches so far out over the reef that the walk in feels like part of the tour.
Green Island has two completely different snorkeling worlds
This is what I love most about snorkeling Green Island: you are not looking at the same underwater landscape everywhere you go.
Left of the pier: the seagrass world
If you are standing on the island looking down the pier, the left side opens into this huge grassy area.
At first it can look quieter than the coral side, but once you put your face in the water it becomes its own little world. There are tiny fish moving through the grass, shrimp, mantis shrimp and stingrays gliding over the bottom.
I love this kind of snorkeling because you have to actually look. You are not just swimming toward the biggest patch of coral. You are watching the grass for movement and suddenly realizing there is life everywhere.
Around the pier: the giant fish
The pier is where things get ridiculous.
When we visited, we swam around and beneath sections of the pier, and there were massive batfish hanging around the pylons. Not normal-sized, polite little fish. Huge batfish. There were groupers and schools of fish moving through the deeper water, and it felt like swimming through an aquarium that had no walls.
You can also stand on the pier and look straight down into the water. Even if you do not snorkel, there is always something moving below you.
The pier and boat areas can be managed differently depending on operations, so follow the staff’s directions about where to enter on the day. But absolutely take the time to look down—the fish around that structure are incredible.
Right of the pier: coral and deeper water
Farther to the right, the seagrass gives way to more coral and deeper water.
This side feels completely different. The water turns darker beneath you, the reef becomes more dramatic and you start seeing the bigger coral shapes and fish moving along the edge.
I would happily snorkel both sides in one day because they do not feel repetitive at all. One is about finding tiny creatures hidden in the grass. The other is about coral, depth and the excitement of not knowing what larger fish might cruise past.
The water is freezing—and I mean that lovingly
For some reason, Green Island always feels much colder to me than Fitzroy.
Maybe it is the deeper water. Maybe it is because I stay in too long. Whatever the reason, this is absolutely where I want the black zip-up stinger suit.
Yes, it is useful for sun and jellyfish protection, but I wear it because I want to keep snorkeling without my teeth chattering. The suit lets me stay out there longer, which means more time with the batfish, rays and coral instead of giving up after twenty minutes.
The glass-bottom boat is genuinely fun
The linked trip includes a glass-bottom boat as well as snorkeling gear, and I would do both.
The boat gets you over another part of the reef while the crew talks about what is below. When they feed the fish, the batfish come right up close and it is amazing to see how big they really are.
It is also perfect if somebody in your group does not want to snorkel. They still get the colors, coral and fish without putting on fins or getting their hair wet.
Even after snorkeling, I never feel like the glass-bottom boat is repeating the same experience. Looking down through the boat feels completely different from being in the water.
Walk the whole island
Green Island does not have Fitzroy’s big uphill hikes, but it has lovely little walking trails through the rainforest and around the shoreline.
Because the island is so compact, you can wander without feeling like you need an itinerary. Follow the boardwalk through the trees, look for geckos and bush turkeys, then pop out onto a completely different piece of beach.
The bush turkeys are everywhere, scratching through the leaves and occasionally marching around with tiny chicks behind them. They are endlessly entertaining.
I especially love walking toward the rocky side of the cay. The pale, layered shoreline looks so different from the granite on Fitzroy, and it reminds you that this entire island was built by the ocean.
There are crocodiles, because apparently snorkeling was not enough
Green Island also has Marineland Melanesia, with crocodiles, aquariums, a sea turtle, coral displays and a museum collection.
It is wonderfully unexpected. You can spend the morning snorkeling with stingrays, walk five minutes through the forest and suddenly be looking at enormous crocodiles.
If you like animals or need a break from the water, it is a fun addition to the day. It also gives Green Island an advantage for mixed groups because there is plenty to do beyond swimming.
You can even arrive by helicopter
Green Island is one of the few islands near Cairns where you can arrive by helicopter instead of taking the ferry.
Watching the helicopters come in over the reef is exciting even when you are not on one. If you do splurge, seeing the cay from above would be incredible—the tiny green center, the pale sand and all those reef colors spreading around it.
The ferry is the practical option. The helicopter is the option you choose when you want to feel like you are arriving in a movie.
How I would spend one day on Green Island
Go early
Take the early ferry so you have enough time to actually enjoy the island instead of watching the clock all day.
Snorkel first
Get your gear, put on the stinger suit and head for the water while you are excited and energetic. Start in the seagrass, look for rays and tiny creatures, then work your way toward the deeper coral areas.
Warm up on the glass-bottom boat
By the time you are cold, the glass-bottom boat is perfect. Sit down, dry off and watch the reef slide underneath you while the batfish come up around the boat.
Have lunch and wander
Grab something to eat, walk through the rainforest and visit Marineland if crocodiles sound more interesting than another hour beside the pool.
Get back in the water
I would always choose one more snorkel before the ferry home. Green Island is the kind of place where your best sighting can happen five minutes before you finally force yourself to get out.
Green Island or Fitzroy Island?
Green Island is the one I would choose for variety. You get snorkeling, a glass-bottom boat, rainforest, a pool, crocodiles, restaurants and a very easy island to explore.
Fitzroy is the one I would choose for hiking, huge granite boulders and a wilder beach feeling.
I love both, but Green Island is almost like a tropical theme park created by nature. There is always one more thing to look at.
Where to Stay Before a Green Island Day Trip
Green Island ferries leave from the Cairns marina area, so staying nearby is one of the easiest ways to make an early departure feel painless. You can walk down with your beach bag, check in and start the day without organizing a taxi across town.
Shangri-La The Marina, Cairns is my first choice for pure convenience. It is right at the marina, making it especially handy when you want the simplest possible walk to the Green Island ferry.
Check Shangri-La The Marina rates →
Other easy, walkable marina-area options include Hilton Cairns, Pacific Hotel Cairns, Pullman Cairns International and Crystalbrook Flynn.
Check Pacific Hotel Cairns rates →
Check Pullman Cairns International rates →
Check Crystalbrook Flynn rates →
Would we go again?
Absolutely. We LOVE staying overnight too!
I would put on the ridiculous black stinger suit, spend far too long looking for mantis shrimp in the grass, swim toward the giant batfish, climb out shivering and immediately start talking about getting back in.
Then I would walk the island, look at the strange pale rock, say hello to the bush turkeys, visit the crocodiles and take the long pier back to the ferry wishing we had booked a room for the night.
Book the Green Island snorkeling and glass-bottom boat trip here.
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