Ask for the transfer, not the tour. Both companies sailing from Cairns to Green Island sell a boat-only return alongside their packages, and it is the cheapest way onto the island — but it sits below the snorkel deals, the lunch buffets and the outer-reef combinations, and you have to go looking for it.
Great Adventures timetable and fares valid 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027; Big Cat departure times as listed on its website; both read on 24 September 2026 Great Adventures – Green Island ferry transfer · 2026-09-24
Book the boat on its own if the island is all you want. Great Adventures calls it a Ferry Transfer and Big Cat calls it Transfer Only, and both are a plain return crossing from Cairns with your time on Green Island left to you: snorkel off the beach with your own gear, walk the rainforest boardwalk, or find shade and stay put. Everything else on their booking pages — glass-bottom boats, guided snorkels, lunch, the outer-reef pontoon — is an add-on to that same boat.
The two companies run different weeks. Great Adventures sails every day, out at 08:30 and 10:30 and back at 14:30 and 16:30, about 45 minutes each way. Big Cat sails Wednesday to Sunday only, at 09:00, 11:00 and 13:00, and the boat you get depends on the departure: its big catamaran takes about an hour and a quarter, its smaller Reef Rocket about 45 minutes.
The cheapest confirmed fare is Great Adventures' $112 adult return, $56 for children from 4 to 14, with under-4s free. That already includes the Marine Park Authority's $8.50 reef charge, which the operator collects at booking and passes on, so it does not appear as a separate bill.
Keep the boat and the day out apart. Great Adventures' Ferry Transfer is a return trip and nothing else — no snorkel gear, no glass-bottom boat — for $112 an adult. Its Eco and Discovery tours are the same crossing with activities added, and the Green Island & Great Barrier Reef Adventure adds a second boat out to the outer reef. All of them are priced per person, return, from the Reef Fleet Terminal.
One government charge is folded into every ticket. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority's environmental management charge is $8.50 for a full-day visitor, and Great Adventures says it is already included in its fares. The Authority has announced that it rises to $9.00 from 1 April 2027.
| Adult | $ 112 |
| Child 4–14 | $ 56 |
| Family, 2 adults and 2 children | $ 287 |
| Under 4 | Free |
| Full-day visitor | $ 8.50 |
| Part-day visitor, under three hours in the Marine Park | $ 4.25 |
| Full-day visitor from 1 April 2027 | $ 9 |
| Eco Tour | $ 127 |
| Discovery Tour | $ 156 |
| Green Island & Great Barrier Reef Adventure | $ 343 |
| Fuel surcharge on the outer-reef combination | $ 10 |
Great Adventures fares valid 1 April 2026 – 31 March 2027; reef charge as published by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority on 9 September 2026; both read on 24 September 2026 Great Adventures – fares and prices · 2026-09-24
Green Island sits 27 kilometres off Cairns, north-east across the inshore waters of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. It is a low coral cay covered in rainforest and surrounded by reef, and because it lies closer to the coast than the outer reef the crossing is, in Great Adventures' words, shorter and more protected — a point worth weighing if anyone in the group gets seasick. The boats run straight from the Cairns waterfront to the island jetty with no stops.
The two operators do not check you in at the same place. Great Adventures issues boarding passes at its counter inside the Reef Fleet Terminal — its FAQ asks for an hour before departure, its ferry page says boarding starts 30 minutes before. Big Cat has stopped using the terminal counter altogether: you check in at the boat on Marlin Wharf, and the afternoon before you travel it sends a text and email with a marina map. Parking is at The Pier and Shangri-La complex opposite the terminal, and both companies offer coach pick-ups from Cairns hotels.
Boats tie up at the island's jetty on its western side, and from its landward end a boardwalk runs through the rainforest to the centre of the cay. At some tides the gangway ends in a short flight of steps, which matters if you are pushing a pram or a wheelchair. The Guru-Gulu Gungandji people, whose country this is, call the island Wunyami.
Big Cat runs five days a week, Wednesday to Sunday, including public holidays. Early in the week the only boat-only option is Great Adventures, twice a day.
Both companies fix the return time when you buy the ticket. Great Adventures will switch you between its 14:30 and 16:30 at the island counter if there is room; on a busy day there may not be.
Big Cat says it can get bumpy from about 20 knots, and in poor weather it will move your booking free of charge with 48 hours' notice — or refund you in full if it cancels. Great Adventures quotes its 45 minutes as subject to the weather.
Marine stingers can be present in the warmer months, and Queensland Parks posts a standing warning for the island. Lycra suits can be hired on Green Island; Big Cat includes one with its snorkel hire.
Green Island is a national park inside the Marine Park: drones are not allowed without the Authority's permission, fishing is prohibited and there is no camping. Smoking is limited to one designated area near the information desk.
Queensland Parks describes Green Island as one of the most accessible islands on the Great Barrier Reef, and the island's traditional owners, the Guru-Gulu Gungandji people, ask visitors to look after Wunyami while they are there. The rules that follow are simple: no fishing, no camping, no drones, sunscreen that is kind to coral. It is a day-visit island for most people, which is why the return time on your ticket matters as much as the departure.
If you have come to Queensland for islands rather than one island, the pattern repeats elsewhere: the Whitsundays run out to Daydream Island also separates the resort guest's boat from the day visitor's package, and the Horn Island ferry in the Torres Strait is the opposite case — a working crossing with no tour attached at all.
Yes. Great Adventures sells a Ferry Transfer — return boat only — for $112 an adult, $56 a child aged 4 to 14 and $287 for a family of four. Big Cat sells a Transfer Only fare as well, on Wednesdays to Sundays.
About 45 minutes on Great Adventures and on Big Cat's Reef Rocket. Big Cat's 09:00 full-day departure uses a larger, slower catamaran that takes around an hour and 15 minutes.
With Great Adventures, 16:30 from the island, arriving in Cairns at about 17:20. Big Cat sets your return time when you book rather than publishing a timetable.
No. The Environmental Management Charge — $8.50 per full-day visitor, set by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority — is collected by the operator, and Great Adventures says it is already in the fare. The Authority has announced a rise to $9.00 from 1 April 2027.
Only Great Adventures, which sails every day at 08:30 and 10:30. Big Cat operates Wednesday to Sunday, public holidays included, so Mondays and Tuesdays belong to one company.
For Great Adventures, at its counter inside the Reef Fleet Terminal at 1 Spence Street — its FAQ says an hour before departure. For Big Cat, at the boat itself on Marlin Wharf; you are sent directions the afternoon before.
Big Cat will move your booking to another day free of charge if you give 48 hours' notice, and refunds in full if it decides conditions are too rough to sail. Great Adventures describes its crossing times as subject to weather conditions.