Matador Whitsundays
5
Matador Whitsundays
By Matador Whitsundays
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About
Lowest price guarantee
Ages 12-90, max of 21 per group
Duration: 2 days
Start time: Check availability
Mobile ticket
Live guide: English
More
- Overnight accommodation
- All taxes, fees and handling charges
- Environmental Management Charge (Reef Tax)
- Fuel surcharge
- GST (Goods and Services Tax)
- Local taxes
- National Park fees
- Afternoon tea
- Breakfast
- Dinner
- Lunch
- Coffee and/or Tea
- All activities
- Local guide
- Tour escort/host
- Use of Snorkelling equipment
What's not included- Snacks and alcohol are BYO
- Start:
- Coral Sea Marina, 1-3 Shingley Dr, Airlie Beach QLD 4802, AustraliaMeeting Point C
End:This activity ends back at the meeting point. - Not wheelchair accessible
If you have questions about accessibility, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 49148P1- Refunds will not be issued if tour/activity is missed due to late or non-arrival of cruise ship
- Please advise any specific dietary requirements at time of booking
- Subject to favorable weather conditions. If canceled due to poor weather, you will be given the option of an alternative date or full refund
- Most travelers can participate
- This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund
- This tour/activity will have a maximum of 21 travelers
- All sales are final and incur 100% cancellation penalties.
- If you have questions about this tour or need help making your booking, we’d be happy to help. Just call the number below and reference the product code: 49148P1
From
$284.53
per adult
Select date and travelers
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About the operator
Don’t take it from us – here’s what people have to say about this operator:
- Segolenne R0 contributionsAmazing, highly recommend.The trip on the matador was absolutely perfect. The spots we stopped off at were wonderful and the crew was so knowledgeable and kind and made sure we all just had the best time. They made sure we saw all the good spots without the crowds of tourists. Food was great too.Written January 6, 2020
- marcinb7760 contributionsExcelent trip!Amazing boat, crew, food, atmosphere!!!! Love sailing and snorkeling!! Fantastic Time, great expirience! I recommend it 100%¡!!!!!!!!!!Written January 5, 2020
- annamP2817IE0 contributionsBest time ever!Two days of amazing, true sailing on beautiful racing boat and snorkeling in magical spots! If you want to see how sailing really looks - this is the best choice! The Coral Reef is breatchtaking! And George!!!! You have to check by yourself who is this! ;) So kind and caretaking crew! The best two days on our lives! Lifetiming memories! Strongly recommended!Written January 4, 2020
- sarahlY8083WB0 contributionsMagical trip!Our 2 day, 1 night trip was absolutely magical! Obviously whitehaven beach and the Great Barrier Reef are incredible but what made it totally awesome was we often arrived after other boats and had locations to ourselves. The night under the stars was one to remember forever!Written December 17, 2019
These reviews are the subjective opinions of Tripadvisor members and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
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Most Recent: Reviews ordered by most recent publish date in descending order.
Detailed Reviews: Reviews ordered by recency and descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as wait time, length of visit, general tips, and location information.
Popular mentions
5.0
450 reviews
Excellent
397
Very good
31
Average
8
Poor
3
Terrible
11
Malith S
3 contributions
Jan 2020 • Couples
Matador Whitsundays is the best way to visit whitehaven beach and snorkel the reef. Captain Mark Smith was amazing and very professional yet friendly in his approach and communicates all the safety aspects very clearly. Andrew was cery professional abd respectful to everyone aboard and accomadated all our needs. Andrew and Matt compared to other tour guides that took crews at whitehaven beach whom i heard speaking to customers in a rude manner were absolutely amazing and very respectful and fun to hang out with. Food was very well cooked and Matt took time to talk to everyone about special dietary needs and accomadated all of them. Overall the experience was amazing and hands down the credit for this goes to captaim Mark Smith, Andrew and Matt. Hope to come back in the future.
Written January 10, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wow Maliths2020! Guest's like you are why we love doing what we do!
Thank you so much for this wonderful review!
The crew are just going to love reading this! and we're super proud of them in the office too!
Thank you for sharing how wonderful they are with us in comparison to other guides/operators and allowing potential guests to read that our crew are the best!!
We love your photos! It looks like you got to give everything a go! Always welcome back! Anytime! ~ Team Matador.
Written January 11, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
floparsonson
London, UK31 contributions
Had an amazing time exploring the Whitsundays with Matador. Captain Mark and Alex were absolutely amazing throughout the tour and made sure everyone was briefed on safety and itinerary. Alex cooked up amazing food for lunch x2 as well as dinner and breakfast (there was also plenty of food to go around so no chance of anyone going hungry!). We snorkelled at two locations on day one and the reef is not very deep at all so you can see the fish and coral in great detail. Stinger suits were provided and mandatory for safety (and warmth!). We then spent the evening on board the boat stargazing at the amazing sky with no light pollution. Day 2 we all woke up around sunrise (5:30am) with breakfast so we could arrive early at Whitehaven beach (7:30am ish). This was absolutely amazing as it meant we were the first ones at the beach and at the lookout so could get the iconic Whitsundays photo. It also meant it was perfect low tide time for the swirls of sand to show through, not a soul on the beach, and no having to queue for ages for a picture. We were able to spend 3 hours on the beach and as we were leaving, 100s of day trippers were arriving (the tide had already risen so photo wouldn’t be as good plus the wait for photos at the lookout looked mad!). Glad we did the tour with Matador and Captain Mark for that reason alone. Only downside was the sleeping compartment is quite packed and there were only 2 toilets on board which were in the main bedroom compartment and meant it wasn’t the best nights sleep however the yummy food, snorkelling sites and view at Whitehaven Beach more than made up for this!
Written October 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Riordy91
Dublin, Ireland6 contributions
Feb 2020 • Couples
Amazing two day 1 night tour of whitsunday's. Got to do snorkeling in two great spots under Andrews guidance pointing out all the fish and trying his best to spot a turtle pity we were too slow to get to see it. Mark was a great captain with Cosmo great on the stove making us plenty of delicious food. The best thing about it was we got to whitehaven before everyone else to experience the beach on our own.
Written February 27, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Riordy,
Thank you for your 5 Star review of our Matador tip! Will definitely pass it onto Mark, Andrew and Cosmo!
Turtles are quicker than you think haha. Whitehaven is just spectacular! Glad you got to enjoy it to yourselves for a bit (:
~ Team Matador
Written March 5, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
krissikat
Brisbane, Australia36 contributions
Jan 2020 • Friends
Great experience, however I think our trip was made great by the fact we were in a larger group.
Little interaction from other travellers, skipper was great, lots of experience and interesting stories but left ya to our own devices.
Food was amazing, we had multiple dietary requirements and all were catered to with no issues at all to an outstanding level. The “Boat mum” and trainee that were on board were great interacting and trying to get a vibe going.
Cabin was super hot at night, difficult to sleep. Def recommend a battery operated fan. It was raining on our trip so sleeping elsewhere was not an option.
Snorkelling was great, we went to 2 spots and Whitehaven.
It was not mentioned how long we would be left at Whitehaven for, no mention to take stinger suits, snacks or anything. We were expected to be left on the island for 3.5hours unable to swim (due to no suits), no snack and no water. We hailed down a passing boat to assist us to arrange to contact our boat so we could return early as it was raining. And we had nothing else to do. A little disappointed.
Some entertainment, games and maybe interaction on the down times would be a massive improvement. Luckily I was travelling with friends, but those on their own would struggle.
After party was great, that was due to the staff the did attend and brought everyone together.
Special shout out to the cook Matt - outstanding food, easy to talk to and even arranged a birthday surprise.
Little interaction from other travellers, skipper was great, lots of experience and interesting stories but left ya to our own devices.
Food was amazing, we had multiple dietary requirements and all were catered to with no issues at all to an outstanding level. The “Boat mum” and trainee that were on board were great interacting and trying to get a vibe going.
Cabin was super hot at night, difficult to sleep. Def recommend a battery operated fan. It was raining on our trip so sleeping elsewhere was not an option.
Snorkelling was great, we went to 2 spots and Whitehaven.
It was not mentioned how long we would be left at Whitehaven for, no mention to take stinger suits, snacks or anything. We were expected to be left on the island for 3.5hours unable to swim (due to no suits), no snack and no water. We hailed down a passing boat to assist us to arrange to contact our boat so we could return early as it was raining. And we had nothing else to do. A little disappointed.
Some entertainment, games and maybe interaction on the down times would be a massive improvement. Luckily I was travelling with friends, but those on their own would struggle.
After party was great, that was due to the staff the did attend and brought everyone together.
Special shout out to the cook Matt - outstanding food, easy to talk to and even arranged a birthday surprise.
Written January 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Krissikat, thank you for your review. We are so happy that you enjoyed your tour with us! I will make sure to pass on your appreciation to Matt for his cooking skills! Battery operated fan is an idea that I have't heard before! Its a good one! Thank you for your feedback regarding Whitehaven. We are going to talk to our skippers and try and figure out what happened and make sure it doesn't happen again. Safe travels! ~ Matador Crew.
Written February 1, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Sami H
1 contribution
Jan 2020 • Friends
Trip was ok, skipper was nice but very little interaction. Mark didn't explain anything about the islands or that we would be left on the beach in the rain for 3 hours without our stinger suits to even be able to swim. We made the best of the situation and walked up to the look out and along the waters edge. I don't mind rain and I knew it was wet season but still wanted the option to swim. My group of friends definitely made it the enjoyable trip it was!
The food was amazing! Chef Matt did an awesome job catering for all the dietary requirements, definitely a surprise of the quality. I'm coeliac and the food was delicious! No issues.
The snorkelling was fun, recommend taking some entertainment for the down time on the boat like cards or something to get the group interacting. Also extremely hot when trying to sleep so if you don't do well in the heat, take a battery operated fan.
The food was amazing! Chef Matt did an awesome job catering for all the dietary requirements, definitely a surprise of the quality. I'm coeliac and the food was delicious! No issues.
The snorkelling was fun, recommend taking some entertainment for the down time on the boat like cards or something to get the group interacting. Also extremely hot when trying to sleep so if you don't do well in the heat, take a battery operated fan.
Written January 28, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Thank you for your review Samantha! Your recommendation of some board games or cards is a great idea for when there is some downtime on the boat! We are thankful that you though our meals was amazing! We will be sure to pass on the kind words to Matt! I know our crew work really hard to ensure the food is delicious and that we have a good atmosphere on the boat Thanks again for your kind review ~ Team Matador.
Written February 1, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
T33V33
8 contributions
Jan 2020
We had a good time on the Matador. The staff are really wonderful. Captain Mark is very experienced and has plenty of great stories to share. Alex is very professional and knows a lot about the places and the flora and fauna in the area. They took very good care of all passengers, making sure everyone was as safe as possible. The 2 Matts are super fun guys and great cooks. There was always plenty of food and they take very good care to cater for all dietary requirements and allergies. There was a girl with a birthday on board the boat and they even brought out a little cake to celebrate!
Downside of my trip, the weather was TERRIBLE! If you're thinking of travelling to the Whitsundays during the monsoon, you might want to rethink. Despite the terrible weather, the staff really made the best of our trip and tried their best to make us as comfortable as possible. They really were the highlight of the trip.
If I could suggest one improvement to the Matador team, it would be to install some sort of cover on deck so we can stay on deck even when it rains.
All in all, I definitely recommend Matador just cos their service really exceeded expectations.
Downside of my trip, the weather was TERRIBLE! If you're thinking of travelling to the Whitsundays during the monsoon, you might want to rethink. Despite the terrible weather, the staff really made the best of our trip and tried their best to make us as comfortable as possible. They really were the highlight of the trip.
If I could suggest one improvement to the Matador team, it would be to install some sort of cover on deck so we can stay on deck even when it rains.
All in all, I definitely recommend Matador just cos their service really exceeded expectations.
Written January 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi T33_v33 thank you so much for your kind review and big appreciation to our staff! I will be sure to pass on your appreciation to them! We love to hear that the crew were the highlight of the trip! and even that their service exceeded your expectations. Thank you so much.
The rain can sometimes be unforgiving and it is so hard when your on the deck as there really is so shelter to keep you dry.
Thanks again for your kind words! If you are ever back in town and the sun is shining you should definitely try to join us again! ~ Team Matador.
Written February 1, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Nasher R
Leicester, UK1 contribution
Oct 2020
Captain Marks and Andrew were both extremely experienced, friendly and hard working- they provided beautiful meals and made sure we were never hungry throughout the trip. We stayed 1 night and had two full days to experience the islands. They brought us to Whitehaven beach early so me and my boyfriend were the first souls on the beach and they made sure we missed the crowds that arrived around midday. The tour is a mixture of all ages and nationalities and everyone has a lot of fun but equally respectful of all on board and no one is up too late. Accommodation is the best I have experienced on any boat tour, me and my boyfriend had a double bed on a bunk bed which was small but for one night was perfectly fine. I would definitely recommend this tour to anyone and will definitely bring some friends along when I come back in the future :)
Written October 18, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christina D
Copenhagen, Denmark4 contributions
We can’t recommend this trip enough. Outstanding crew who looked after everything we needed and made the trip accessible for everyone regardless of prior snorkeling and swimming experience/confidence, to make sure no one missed out on the spectacular snorkeling and reef.
The food was amazing.
We would definitely choose this trip again and would recommend this trip to everyone- including people who are prone to seasickness.
The boat was spacious and comfortable for the size of the group.
The food was amazing.
We would definitely choose this trip again and would recommend this trip to everyone- including people who are prone to seasickness.
The boat was spacious and comfortable for the size of the group.
Written June 13, 2021
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi,
Thank you for the great feedback, we will pass it onto the crew.
Thanks,
Written July 6, 2021
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
ManonVrg
7 contributions
My boyfriend and I went for a weekend over the whitsundays with the Matador boat.
The captain Mark and his crew member Samy offered us a perfect time there. They adapted the trip to the tides so we could appreciate Whitehaven beach and the 2 snorkelings at their best moments.
You are free to help sailing or just relax, and both of them are more than happy to share their experience and stories with you.
We would definitely do it again, and can only recommend it !
Thank you very much once again !
The captain Mark and his crew member Samy offered us a perfect time there. They adapted the trip to the tides so we could appreciate Whitehaven beach and the 2 snorkelings at their best moments.
You are free to help sailing or just relax, and both of them are more than happy to share their experience and stories with you.
We would definitely do it again, and can only recommend it !
Thank you very much once again !
Written July 15, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi Manon,
Thank-you so much for letting us know about your experience on-board Matador!
Our crew are so great at what they do, so thank-you for recognising Mark and Sam :)
Please get in contact with us directly to organise your next tour.
~Matador Team
Written July 16, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Lauren S
3 contributions
Oct 2020 • Couples
Absolutely loved it! Captain Mark and Captain Andrew made us feel very welcome, they had amazing knowledge of the area and took us to some more secluded locations.. the meals they made were delicious and they had way more than enough. Would recommend taking extra towels to make a bed on deck đź‘Ť We would definitely do it again
Written October 29, 2020
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Hi,
Thank you for the great feedback and 5 star review.
Come back and see us soon! :)
Thanks - OzSail Team
Written November 8, 2020
This response is the subjective opinion of the management representative and not of Tripadvisor LLC.
Outer or inner great barrier reef?
Written March 26, 2020
Where do we sleep on board.. Two 50 something ladies
Written April 18, 2018
Down under. The boat has beds along the sides, a bit like bunk beds. Single or double are available. Easy to get in when you ask for a lower one.
Written April 24, 2018
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