Passengers onboard the Viking Orion will be some of the first cruise visitors to experience the Museum of Underwater Art (MOUA) – Ocean Sentinels, when it docks into Quayside Terminal Townsville today.
With over 835 passengers booked onto shore excursions across Townsville North Queensland, a group of over 45 cruise visitors will join SeaLink North Queensland’s first dedicated MOUA tour to the Great Barrier Reef for the 2023-24 cruise season.
Townsville Enterprise Director Visitor Economy and Marketing Lisa Woolfe said the tour and experiences offering in the region has grown exponentially since the pandemic and is a testament to the innovation shown by the industry.
“Today marks an evolution in the Townsville North Queensland cruise tourism offer with a new large-scale tour taking visitors to enjoy the Great Barrier Reef, and world-first underwater art, from Townsville,” Ms Woolfe said.
“We know that we have a world-class product off our shores, and to be able to share this with international visitors travelling via our growing cruise sector is something we’re extremely proud of.”
“The upcoming cruise season is one of the biggest Townsville North Queensland has ever seen and is a mark of things to come for this growing visitor economy sector.”
The cruise season shore excursion schedule now includes rainforest walks, visits to regional location such as Charters Towers and Ingham and guided and non-guided tours of Magnetic Island and Townsville icons such as Billabong Sanctuary and the Museum of Tropical Queensland.
General Manager of SeaLink North Queensland, Darren Spearman said our new tour for the cruise season was a result of ongoing collaboration with Shorex and was a brilliant way to showcase the diverse natural experiences available from Townsville.
“North Queensland is blessed with a vast backyard of stunning destinations, and unexpected experiences, and Townsville is the perfect springboard to a one of a kind reef experiences,” Mr Spearman said.
“This unique SeaLink Great Barrier Reef snorkelling tour, which will visit John Brewer Reef and the new Ocean Sentinels as part of the Museum of Underwater Art, will be a first for cruise passengers into Townsville, and truly sets this offer apart from any other tours along the length of Queensland’s reef.”
MOUA’s Coral Greenhouse features eight Ocean Sentinel sculptures which form a snorkel trail positioned in the sandy ocean bottom, fringed by the beautiful corals of the reef and are located at a shallow depth making them perfect for snorkellers. The human hybrid form figures are modelled from notable local and international marine scientists, conservationists, and traditional owners, who have contributed and dedicated their life to the Great Barrier Reef to reflect them as being protectors of the Reef.
