Worried about overtourism? This precious Australian icon actually needs you

We're celebrity spotting at Hayman Island. Just up ahead, our quarry, a pouting vision in radiant azure, glides by. Could this be Priscilla? Or maybe it's Elvis. Either way, I'm starstruck by the charisma of Blue Pearl Bay's resident Maori wrasse, beloved marine giants known here by name and for their friendly interactions with snorkellers.

I'm lucky. This one, almost a metre long, grants an audience. She swims close, like a tour guide for the vibrant coral outcrops and their colourful clownfish, damselfish, parrotfish and batfish. We weave through her wonderland until it's time for me to return to the beach. Remarkably, that's less than a lap pool's length away. Blue Pearl Bay's crystal-clear waters, offering some of the best snorkelling in the Whitsundays, embrace the inner fringes of the Great Barrier Reef.

The sheltered bay on Hayman's north-western coast brings the reef right to the doorstep of InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef. Just a short speedboat ride around from the resort marina, and you can slip into Priscilla's spectacular world.

When we step out again, there's champagne chilling on the beach. That's how things roll at an island oasis that's defined Whitsundays luxury for nearly 80 years. In 1950 it opened as Royal Hayman, owned by Reginald Ansett. A few ritzy incarnations later, the 182-room resort was reborn in 2019 under the InterContinental brand, after a $135 million refurbishment.

Last month, the resort's name changed, to include "Great Barrier Reef" for the first time. The rebrand marries the hotel unmistakably with its bucket-list location. "Our name now defines us by our place in the world," says Jayson Heron-Smith, the resort's director of sales and marketing. "It celebrates our close connection with the reef, the reason why many people come."

Sipping bubbles just metres from the planet's most famous underwater landscape, it's easy to understand. But one thought niggles. Is it really OK to be here? In an era of overtourism, any traveller worth their reusable water bottle worries about their impact, especially upon such a precious ecosystem.

Since 2016, five mass coral bleaching events have signalled the Great Barrier Reef's growing heat stress and vulnerability. You could be forgiven for wondering if it's better to leave our national treasure alone.

But you'd be wrong, says Anna Marsden, CEO of the Great Barrier Reef Foundation. She's sharing news from the frontlines of reef restoration as we raise another glass, this time at sunset, on the panoramic balcony of one of Hayman's lush hillside Residences.

"Our strong message is please visit," Marsden says. There's a widespread misconception, she explains, that the natural wonder of the world is too fragile for visitors. In fact, says Marsden, "staying away is the worst thing you can do. We want you to come and see what's happening to restore the world's greatest reef. By coming, you contribute."

In a talk she often gives to Hayman's visiting groups, Marsden reminds us that the reef is the size of 70 million football fields - so vast it can be seen from outer space. While it's important to tread lightly here, the world's largest living organism is simply too massive to be harmed by snorkellers and divers exploring the small, designated zones like Blue Pearl.

The reef's urgent existential threats are rising water temperatures from climate change, the coral-binging predator crown-of-thorns starfish, and diminished water quality caused by land run-off.

While the situation is certainly critical, visiting the reef helps support an array of initiatives that the foundation firmly believes will save its future. The most impressive is "coral IVF", the foundation's widespread project to breed heat-resilient corals.

In the reef's annual coral spawning (which happens in November, right about now), researchers capture excess coral eggs and sperm, rear them in nurseries and release them to repopulate damaged reefs. It's transformative, scale-able technology, already being adopted around the world.

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"Currently, the global coral restoration effort is 100,000 corals a year," says Marsden. "With our technology we expect in four years' time to be planting 10 billion corals on the Great Barrier Reef."

Tourism operators provide financial and logistical support (boats, volunteers). They're also excellent ambassadors for the reef, says Marsden. Hayman is an exemplary foundation partner, contributing donations, initiatives and an array of reef-focused activities that show the resort's new name isn't just lip service.

Whether you snorkel close by as we did, head out 40 nautical miles via jetcat or chopper to the outer reef, sea kayak or paddleboard from the beach or learn about the marine environment from its Indigenous Ngaro people ("canoe people"), the reef shapes your stay.

On return, we transfer back to Hamilton via chopper - a signature Hayman perk - flying a scenic route over 13-kilometre Hardy Reef, where even from on high we can see turtles swimming below. We spot the famous little atoll Heart Reef and soar over snowy Whitehaven Beach.

Gazing down at the lagoons, cays, corals and myriad of blue hues radiating out to the horizon's curve, you can lose yourself in the mind-boggling beauty. These are vistas as exquisite as you'll find anywhere on our big blue planet.

Getting there: There are direct flights to Hamilton Island from Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, then an hour's private boat transfer to Hayman.

Staying there: InterContinental Hayman Great Barrier Reef, the only development on the Whitsundays' 294-hectare northernmost island, has 182 rooms and suites, including new beachfront villas right on the sand. From $499 per night, including breakfast. haymanisland.intercontinental.com

Exploring the reef: Our reef-focussed activities at Hayman, including snorkelling, sunset cruise and helicopter scenic flight, were curated by Virtuoso (virtuoso.com), a global network of luxury travel advisers specialising in personalised experiences, expert trip planning and indulgent extras.

More reef experiences at Hayman include the high-end Reef Renaissance $5000-per-person package, featuring reef tours with marine biologists.

Explore more: tourismwhitsundays.com.au

The writer travelled courtesy of Virtuoso.

Pictures: Getty Images; Tourism and Events Queensland