The Sealink ferry departs Townsville's Sir Leslie Thiess Drive terminal seventeen times daily, carrying visitors across Cleveland Bay to Magnetic Island in twenty minutes. The service began in 1986, replacing smaller private launches that had shuttled islanders and tourists since the 1950s.
Today the route carries 350,000 passengers annually, operating from 05:45 to 19:15 seven days a week.
Magnetic Island sits eight kilometres offshore, a 5,184-hectare national park where two-thirds of the landmass remains protected bushland. The island holds twenty-three beaches, seventeen of them accessible only by walking track. Captain James Cook named the outcrop in 1770 after his compass needle wavered near the granite headlands, though geologists later confirmed the rock contains insufficient magnetite to affect navigation instruments. The misnamed island became a quarantine station in 1918, a military radar base in 1943, and a declared national park zone in 1974.
Magnetic Island tours from Townsville now bundle ferry passage with snorkelling at Geoffrey Bay, wildlife walks through eucalypt forest, and sunset safaris to West Point. The island's fringing coral reefs support 340 fish species and live coral cover averaging 28 percent. Koala populations here remain chlamydia-free, making Magnetic Island one of Australia's healthiest wild koala habitats with an estimated 800 animals. Rock wallabies occupy the granite boulders at Nelly Bay and Horseshoe Bay.
The township of Nelly Bay holds 2,107 permanent residents, most clustered along the eastern shore where ferry terminals, accommodation and tour operators concentrate. The western coast remains roadless. Tour departures from Townsville coordinate with ferry schedules, allowing same-day return itineraries that include reef snorkelling, wildlife spotting, and coastal walks. Early morning ferries depart at 07:00 and 08:00, delivering cooler temperatures and lighter crowds for island exploration before midday heat peaks.
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