Great Keppel Island Hideaway delivers a relaxed, barefoot island escape on the largest continental island in the Southern Great Barrier Reef. Nestled within Keppel Bay and surrounded by 17 neighbouring islands, this back-to-basics resort offers a wonderfully calming atmosphere steps from pristine white-sand beaches and sparkling blue water. The heart of the resort is its Bar & Bistro, where guests can enjoy casual dining, a fully licensed bar, and spectacular sunset views over the bay.
Resort Facilities
Guests can expect a simple, comfortable island experience with everything needed for a carefree stay. Resort facilities include a beachfront Bar & Bistro, shaded outdoor seating areas, and accommodation options ranging from beachfront cabins to glamping tents. A certified PADI dive centre, Keppel Dive & Snorkel, is located nearby, offering convenient access to both equipment and guided underwater experiences. Kayaks and stand-up paddle boards are also available for hire, allowing guests to explore the calm surrounding waters at their own pace.
Dining Options
The Great Keppel Island Hideaway Bar & Bistro is open daily for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Dining guests—whether staying at the resort or visiting on a day trip—can enjoy a selection of indoor or outdoor seating with uninterrupted views over Putney Beach and Fisherman Beach. The bistro offers casual dining, drink specials, meal packages for in-house guests, and is also a popular venue for weddings and events.
Activities
Great Keppel Island is an adventure playground, home to 17 pristine beaches, fringing coral reefs, and a network of bushwalking trails that lead to secluded coves and spectacular lookouts. Popular island activities include:
- Snorkelling straight off the beach
- Scuba diving and PADI courses
- Kayaking & stand-up paddle boarding
- Bushwalking through native flora and fauna
- Wildlife encounters
- Exploring Aboriginal cultural sites, including one along the track between Long Beach and Monkey Beach
Whether spending the day exploring or relaxing by the water, the island offers something for everyone.
Staying Connected
Great Keppel Island Hideaway prioritises a simple island experience, and while limited connectivity may be available in parts of the resort, guests should expect a “digital-detox” style escape. This unplugged atmosphere is part of the island’s charm—encouraging travellers to slow down, soak up the scenery, and embrace nature.
What We Think…
Great Keppel Island Hideaway is all about nature, simplicity, and stepping away from the rush of everyday life. The location is breathtaking, the atmosphere peaceful, and the access to diving and snorkelling outstanding. It’s an ideal choice for travellers seeking an uncomplicated island holiday with some of the Southern Great Barrier Reef’s best fringing reefs right on the doorstep.
Great Keppel Island is located off the coast of Yeppoon in Central Queensland on the Southern Great Barrier Reef. The island is accessed via a 30–40 minute ferry ride from Rosslyn Bay Marina, with daily services operated by Keppel Konnections and Freedom Fast Cats. Travellers can fly into Rockhampton Airport and reach the marina by road in around 40 minutes before boarding the ferry to Putney Beach, just a short walk from Great Keppel Island Hideaway.
Beachfront Cabins
Located directly on Putney Beach, these cabins boast stunning views of Middle Island. Each cabin includes a separate queen bedroom with air-conditioning, a living area with single or bunk beds, kitchenette, private ensuite, and a relaxing outdoor seating area facing the ocean—perfect for family stays or couples wanting unbeatable beachfront access.
Island Cabins
Set just behind the beachfront cabins, Island Cabins share a similar layout, with a queen bedroom, additional single or bunk beds in the living area, air-conditioning, private ensuite, and kitchenette facilities. Two cabins cater specifically to larger families by offering two sets of bunks. Each has an outdoor seating area surrounded by lush tropical greenery.
Palm Rooms
These motel-style rooms are ideal for couples or solo travellers. Each features a queen bed, air-conditioning, private ensuite, and bar fridge with tea and coffee facilities. Though they don’t include cooking amenities, the Bar & Bistro is just a two-minute stroll away.
Putney Place Studios
Fresh and modern, these studios feature a queen bed, sofa, private ensuite, and a fully equipped kitchenette. Outdoor seating provides the ideal spot to enjoy the island ambiance.
One-Bedroom Putney Place Studios
More spacious than the standard studios, these one-bed units offer a separate queen bedroom, bunk bed in the main area, kitchenette, private ensuite, and outdoor seating—perfect for families or those wanting more room.
Glamping Tent-Style Cabins
Combining nature with comfort, these air-conditioned glamping cabins include a queen bed, a side room with bunk bed, a tiled bathroom, bar fridge, tea and coffee facilities, and a timber deck with outdoor furniture. Glass sliding doors blur the line between indoors and the surrounding island gardens.
Great Keppel Island is surrounded by vibrant fringing coral reefs, protected bays, and abundant marine life—making it an excellent destination for both beginners and experienced divers.
The island’s waters are known for their clear visibility, healthy hard coral systems, friendly turtles, colourful reef fish, and easy, relaxed diving conditions. With many sites close to shore, Great Keppel is ideal for family diving holidays or those wanting to learn in a calm, beautiful environment, and has Queensland’s first All Abilities dive boat.
Keppel Dive & Watersports centre provides:
- Discover Scuba Diving experiences
- Open Water certification courses
- Guided boat dives
- Eco-guided Reef Protection Dive
- Snorkel tours
- Gear hire for independent exploration
Eco-guided Reef Protection Dive
Keppel Dive’s Eye on the Reef monitoring and assessment program enables visiting divers to the Great Barrier Reef to contribute to its long-term protection by collecting valuable information about reef health, marine animals and incidents that is then used to understand the bigger picture and inform how the Marine Park Authority manages the Reef.
Join Keppel Dive on an Eco-Certified Reef Protection Dive and do your part to help monitor and protect the Great Barrier Reef.
Come and get involved and record your own sightings and enter these into The Eye on the Reef app, which is then uploaded onto the GBRMPA Database.
Great Keppel Island offers a diverse collection of dive environments, from shallow fringing reefs perfect for snorkellers and beginners, to offshore walls, bommies and drift dives for more experienced divers. Below is a curated selection of signature sites grouped by experience level for easy planning.
Beginner and snorkel friendly sites
Monkey Beach Reef: A calm, sheltered bay with excellent fringing reef, Monkey Beach Reef is ideal for snorkellers and new divers. Its shallow coral gardens are home to turtles, butterflyfish, parrotfish and giant clams. Easy access and consistently clear water make it a favourite for families.
Shelving Point Reef / Monkey Reef: This conveniently located site offers shallow water, gentle conditions and bright coral formations. Its proximity to the main beach makes it perfect for long, relaxed snorkels or introductory dives.
Clam Bay: Clam Bay features a sloping reef with large colourful clams, abundant schooling fish and frequent turtle encounters. Its gentle depth and sheltered layout make it popular with beginners and underwater photographers.
Butterfish Bay: A tranquil cove offering scattered bommies, soft sandy patches and vibrant coral life. It’s an inviting site for snorkellers and divers who enjoy slow-paced reef exploration.
Long Beach Reef: This extensive reef system parallels one of the island’s most iconic beaches. Inshore sections are shallow and calm—perfect for snorkelling—while deeper coral slopes further out offer enjoyable, easy diving. Turtles, reef fish and healthy coral cover make it a rewarding site for all levels.
Intermediate Reef Sites
Man & Wife Rocks: A scenic dive with rocky outcrops, bommies and soft coral gardens. Marine life is plentiful, and turtles are often seen gliding over the terrain. Conditions are generally mild, making it suitable for divers with a little experience.
Keppel Bommies: A cluster of coral bommies rising from sandy seabeds, this site offers a maze-like environment ideal for navigation practice and photography. Each bommie supports colourful corals, anemones, macro creatures and swirling schools of fish.
Big Peninsula Reef: A broad reef system wrapping around one of Great Keppel’s major headlands. This site features sloping gardens of hard coral, sandy areas frequented by rays and pockets of reef fish sheltering among coral formations. Suitable for divers who enjoy relaxed, scenic mid-depth dives.
Passage Rocks:A visually engaging mid-depth site with rocky reef, soft corals and consistently good visibility. It provides a satisfying variety of terrain without challenging conditions.
Advanced and Offshore Sites
Egg Rock: Regarded as one of the Keppels’ premier dives, Egg Rock features steep walls, bommies, occasional swim-throughs and excellent hard coral cover. Pelagic species such as trevally, tuna and mackerel are common, along with wobbegongs and rays. Depth and currents make this ideal for experienced divers.
The Gulch: A renowned drift dive between islands, The Gulch delivers movement, energy and an impressive range of marine life. Spanish mackerel, trevally, kingfish and stingrays sweep through the channel, and manta rays appear on occasion. Best suited to confident divers due to varying currents.
Outer Rock: Encircling a small rocky islet, this site offers dramatic ledges, rocky walls and colourful coral outcrops. Pelagics like trevally and barracuda often patrol the perimeter, while macro enthusiasts can spot nudibranchs and small reef dwellers among the crevices. Can present mild currents depending on tide.
Middle Island Wall: A striking site known for its sheer drop-offs and multi-level wall diving. Large reef species including sweetlips, batfish and coral trout cruise the wall, while soft corals and fans decorate the vertical slope. Clear water and depth variation make it an excellent site for experienced divers.
Pricing for Keppel Island Hideaway and Keppel Dive
| Valid to March 2027 | AUD | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Nights Palm Room (Double or Twin) with 10 Boat Dives | 2080 | ||
| 7 Nights Palm Room (Single) with 10 Boat Dives | 2606 | ||
| 7 Nights Putney Place Studio, Glamping tent style Cabin or Island Cabin(Double or Twin Share) with 10 Boat Dives | 2312 | ||
| 7 Nights Putney Place Studio (Single) with 10 Boat Dives | 2945 | ||
| 7 Nights Beachfront Island 3-bedroom Cabin (Sleeps 4 pax) with 10 Boat Dives. Price based on Quad share. | 1980 | ||
| Inclusions: Accommodation as specified, 10 boat dives, tanks, weights, boat, and dive guide, half board meal plan and return airport transfers Note: Surcharges apply to Peak Periods |
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| The per person pricing above is indicative only: we show 7 night with 10/12 dive packages at high-end and lower-end rooms (singles & doubles) for the purposes of comparison. We can give you a price (and availability) for any combination of nights/dives you wish to undertake, which will include any discounts due to you as part of that package, and any exclusions, or items payable at the resort. Please use the [Enquire Now] tab to give us your exact requirements and we'll give you the best deal we can. |
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