Reefsuites 

Instead of swimming in the sea you’ll be sleeping under it. Reefsuites is just two ultra-exclusive, all-inclusive cocoons submerged four metres below the surface of the world’s largest living reef.

Your journey starts with a fast cat to Hardy’s Reef’s floating pontoon where your day is packed with adventure - snorkelling, swimming, even an add-on scuba dive or helicopter flight over the hallmark Heart Reef. And after a bite to eat, the best part is still to come. It’s check in time. When the enchantment and the journey deepen. You’re going four metres below the surface of the Great Barrier Reef - that same reef David Attenborough once called so spectacular he momentarily lost his breath. Your suite? Climate-controlled, almost cosmic, but actually very real. The heartbeat of the ocean is all around you and wall-sized windows are a constant stream of fish-world live theatre. Stingray eyeballing you? Perfectly normal. Angelfish pausing for a gaze in your direction? Standard. There’s even a view from the loo. 

In the evening, after top deck canapés, sunset (it’s a beauty here) and a communal gourmet dinner, you retreat back to your underwater sanctuary where the nightlife and your nightlight are the ocean. And when it’s time to drift off, you’ll be counting clownfish rather than sheep.

The lowdown on your stay

You head out on the Cruise Whitsundays boat with the crowd, bound for a dazzling day at Hardy Reef.  Snorkelling and swimming are high on the agenda, but if staying dry is more your style, the  semi-sub tour and underwater observatory also bring the reef to life. At 2.30pm, around 150 guests head back to the mainland and you stay, checking into your Reefsuite beneath the floating pontoon. Up on an exclusive area of the top deck there will be afternoon tea and dinner under the stars shared only with a handful of Reefsleep guests (the ones sleeping in pods under the stars). In the morning, it’s breakfast (suite check out is 10am) and a leisurely few hours back on the reef. Homeward bound happens after lunch, at around 3pm, back on the Cruise Whitsundays boat and dreaming of coral, saltwater and silence forever more.