Media Releases
Fantasea Adventure Cruising for Great Barrier Reef experience of a lifetime!
14th June 2007
Proudly Australian owned and based in the Whitsundays, Fantasea Adventure Cruising is the largest day cruise operator in the region. Its fleet of air-conditioned, high-speed catamarans provides a smooth and comfortable passage to the World Heritage Great Barrier Reef and throughout the Whitsunday islands.
Established in the early 1980s with a sailing yacht ferrying passengers around the Whitsunday islands, Fantasea Cruising now carries more than one million passengers annually - making it the country's third largest ferry operation. The company employs about 180 staff, pumping more than $10 million into the local economy each year, and has won a string of Whitsunday, Queensland and Australian tourism awards. Fantasea Adventure Cruising is now part of leading Australian marine transport group Riverside Marine, which was founded by the Campbell family in Brisbane in 1926.
As well as operating daily ferry services to Hamilton Island, Daydream Island and Long Island resorts, Fantasea Cruising hosts a range of daily tours to icon destinations.
Fantasea Adventure Cruising's key attraction is its floating adventure platform, Reefworld, which offers supervised snorkelling and diving, an underwater observatory, a semi-submersible, a sun deck and a souvenir shop. Located on a channel at inner Hardy Reef, Reefworld gives visitors the opportunity to come face to face with marine life and stunning corals. Reefworld's resident maori wrasse is the star attraction and its giant Queensland groper sometimes makes an appearance!
Fantasea Adventure Cruising also offers guests the opportunity to stay overnight at the world's most exclusive hotel, Reefsleep.
Additionally Fantasea Adventure Cruising brings holiday makers to the dazzling Whitehaven Beach - six kilometres of white silica sand located on the eastern side of the uninhabited Whitsunday Island.
Fantasea Adventure Cruising's Whale Watching Tours are popular and take place July-September when the amazing humpbacks arrive on their annual migration north, with the females choosing the calm shallow waters around the islands to give birth to their calves.
Fantasea CEO Hume Campbell is a passionate protector of the marine park. "We owe it to future generations to preserve and enhance this incredible natural environment," he said. "Fantasea Cruising is an advanced eco-certified operator offering a genuine eco-tourism experience. Each year, we allocate more than $100,000 through the Fantasea Foundation to aid invaluable research into the health of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park in which we operate."
Fantasea Adventure Cruising is also a great supporter of the land-based community, providing generous sponsorship for local groups and hosting the annual Whitsunday Fantasea Reef Festival. This year's festival will be held from October 24 to November 4.