Sailing the Whitsunday’s

The stunning Hill Inlet

Enjoying the sunset with a wine and my kids at Shute Harbour.

Shute Harbour Marina where we left from and spent the night before.

Day 1 – Training & We Set Sail.
As we said, this is a Bareboat Charter which means you skipper the yacht yourself. This of course involves some training before you head out there on your own. Around 3-4 hours in the morning is spent with an experienced yachtsmen who will take you through everything from how to flush the toilet & have a shower, right through to navigating the seas and anchoring safely. By the time you’re done, you’ll be hoisting the main sheet and sailing the high seas. We felt really comfortable with the information and training given to us, to be able to leave Shute Harbour. We were shown how to interpret marine talk and maps as well as a bit of knowledge about The Whitsunday’s and where are the best spots to snorkel and pull up our catamaran for the night!

We leave Shute Harbour super excited and ready to explore for the next 5 days. Our first anchorage is only a few hours away at CID Harbour. A good first stop for us to pull up in the early afternoon and enjoy the sunset.

Epic adventures! This is STONEHAVEN

Day 2 – Blue Pearl Bay
We are up early for sunrise and start planning our day. With wind conditions coming from the East, we stick to the protected side of the Islands in the calm water. Thats what we love about this trip… You pull up and move around according to the winds and swell. This area is full of bays so its not hard to find a protected spot to anchor/moore up.

We explore a few bays on the way to our next anchorage at Blue Pearl Bay. We pick up a mooring, drop the dinghy in and spend the afternoon exploring the beaches. This place is absolutely beautiful with some fantastic snorkelling! A ‘must see’ when you’re exploring The Whitsunday Islands.

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Day 4 – Tounge Bay, Hill Inlet & Chalkies Beach
Another amazing sunrise wakeup & a big day planned. We have some ground to cover and we are heading out around the top of Hook Island into the open seas. Although it looks calm out there, once we get out, we realise it’s a bit rough. I get all the kids to lie down on the lounge on the back deck. I knew if I did this, there was a good chance they wouldn’t get sick. It was an early start so they were happy to have some shut eye and ride out this rough patch.

After an hour we arrive in Tongue Bay & anchor up. It is here you can take the dinghy into the beach and do the walking trail to the lookouts over Hill Inlet. Probably the most Iconic view in the Whitsundays, the shades of blue are really are unbelievable!!! It doesn’t look real and if you see it on a good day, OMG it will blow your socks off!!

We jump back on the yacht for lunch before cruising along Whitehaven Beach & parking on a mooring at Chalkies Beach. We pull up beside this massive, amazing, ridiculously rich looking boat. It is called ‘The Legion’. After a quick google, we find out it is a 15 MILLION dollar Superyacht built in 2019, we even saw them ‘christening’ the boat with the champagne smash thing that they do. So we stop dreaming and our dinghy comes off again and we are snorkelling and playing on the dunes until dinner time.

EXPLORING THE BEACH AT CHALKIES

It was so relaxing and such a beautiful beach right across from Whitehaven. The snorkelling here was excellent too so the kids had a blast with their Ninja Shark masks and spotting fish and coral.

DAY 5 – Our last full day
After a looksy over at Whitehaven Beach, we decide to make our way to Hamilton Island (or Hammo as the locals call it) for our last night aboard. You can book a berth in the Marina for $125 a night & then use the free island transport to explore and use all of the resort facilities. On our way to Hamilton Island we stop in at a pristine spot called Turtle Bay. We explore the secluded beach and swim in some of the clearest water we have ever seen!! The kids spent the whole time making a cubby house from palm fronds and swimming in the beach. We actually felt like we were in the movie Castaway (with Tom Hanks) haha.

Turtle Bay

Day 6 – Heading home (insert sad face).
We leave the berth at 9am and head home to Shute Harbour to disembark and thank the team. We had the guys from Whitsunday Rent A Yacht come out and meet us outside the marina, drive us in to Shute Harbour and park our catamaran. We unload our stuff with these handy trollies that they have available and pack up our car which was parked up at Shute Harbour. We had our caravan in storage at BIG4 Adventure Whitsunday’s in Cannonvale for $7.50 a day.

The girls enjoying the front of the catamaran.

Did any of you get seasick?

No, we didn’t. When heading out around the top of the island we hit a bit of swell. The kids and I (Bec) lay down on the back deck lounge as we felt a bit queasy but otherwise no seasickness.

Were you worried about stingers and sharks?

Not the stingers as I knew we would have the suits on us and we actually didn’t see any but sharks yes. Due to the recent attacks we made sure to swim in more shallow areas

Do you need to have a boat licence or sailing experience?

Whitsunday Rent A Yacht is a skipper yourself. There is no boat licence required and you get all your training on the first morning. Justin has had boating experience so that was handy, otherwise no requirements just a willingness to learn.

How did the kids go on the boat? Were you worried about them running around the deck? Did the doors have locks to avoid any night time wanderers?

We did have an eye on our kids all the times, especially when playing tag around the boat. They weren’t allowed to run around or leave the back deck/inside area when we were trolling and finding our next mooring. This meant we knew they were safe and we could read maps etc. knowing that hadn’t fallen off. The kids loved the trip, slept really well with the slight rocking and didn’t fall or trip at all (surprisingly). I guess they dodn’t want to fall in some were a little more cautious.

Do you have fresh water and tanks on the boat?

Yes, there is tanks and plenty of fresh water for showers.(600litres on this yacht) I’d advise taking your own drinking water though as you wouldn’t want to run out of fresh water.

Did you have to refuel? How?

The tanks were full of fuel and got us around the Islands for 5 days. They advised us that we shouldn’t need to refuel in the time we had out on The Whitsunday’s.

Do you get an itinerary or mooring guide before you head out?

Yes you sure do. They actually send this to you prior to your departure, so you can do some research yourself. However, don’t plan too much as it really depends on the winds that day and they can change overnight. You get an update on the weather every morning via UHF radio.

What is the best time of the year to go?

Apparently around September to early Spring is ideal but you can never judge weather conditions. It’s The Whitsunday’s and most months are ideal.

How much fuel did you use?

We used 99litres of diesel in the yacht and 5 litres of unleaded in the dinghy outboard.