Airlie Beach is a locality in the Whitsunday
Region of Queensland, Australia. At the 2011
census, the suburb of Airlie Beach itself had a
population of 7,868. Airlie Beach is one of many
departure points for the Great Barrier Reef.
Near latitude 20 degrees south, Airlie Beach,
Proserpine and the nearby Whitsunday Islands
enjoy a tropical climate and lifestyle. Airlie
Beach is a tourist destination, extremely
popular with backpackers. Its beach is small
and the sea is inhabited by marine stingers, the
box jellyfish (Chironex fleckeri) from November
to May. In order to provide somewhere for the
visitors tourists to swim, the local council, has
built a small – medium-sized swimming
lagoon on the foreshore, similar to the lagoon
found in Cairns. The Airlie Beach Lagoon is
4,300 m2 and 4.5 million litres of fresh, self
chlorinated water.
The Great Barrier Reef is easily accessible from
Airlie Beach, with an array of different types of
tours available. Majority of these tours depart
from Abell Point Marina but a few depart from
the recently completed Port of Airlie. The Abell
Point Marina contains 507 berths