Cruising the Whitsunday Islands on a private Yacht

It’s not often an opportunity to fly up to the Whitsundays to have my own personal tour of the beautiful islands presents itself. The Day after Christmas (2014) I flew up the coast and spent 4 days anchored at a different one of the 74 islands each night. I beat the crowds. I beat the tourism. And best of all, I could not beat the sun.

For the tl;dr version, this snorkelling video is a byproduct of an amazing 5 days cruising the Whitsunday Islands. 

We flew into Hamilton Island and boarded the 54 foot Riviera Cruiser complete with 2 and a half bedroom, 7 beds, 2 bathrooms, full galley and plenty of space to laze around on when you decided that you are done with swimming for the day.

We left port and set the bearing for Airlie beach: a mere 30 minute sail away (or ~$50 on a ferry), but this actually took more like 1.5 hours as we slowly cruised past many islands including Shute Harbour, South, Mid and North Molle Islands, and Daydream Island, which was once a modern and trendy island resort but is now looking very dated.

We dropped anchor off Airlie beach and took the tender to shore where we walked the main street before settling on a place for dinner. Airlie Beach has a very relaxed vibe about it and completely exudes the backpacker atmosphere you would expect from a hip, tropical coastal town. I reckon 85% of the people I saw were on vacation and at least 95% were under the age of 35.

My favourite part of Airlie Beach is actually the open space public pool. Separated into 2 sections by a bridge, it covers about 2 acres and is patrolled 24 hours a day. It’s also very easy on the eye a beautiful blue colour. The following morning we had a very relaxing swim there but not before we perused the markets that happen to be on every Saturday morning. The stalls cover books, snacks and food, vintage clothing, other random crafts and of course a sand modeller sculpting a crocodile.

Days on the boat are very slow moving. After doing a $250 grocery shop (including 3 cases of beer, which we had to lug back to the boat on the very small tender we made our way to Cid Harbour where we swam and did a short walk to Dugong Beach, where more swimming was required as the temperature was well into the 30s (of the celcius variety).

By the third morning, we were getting into somewhat of a routine where we’d wake up to the striking sun, have breakfast, and drive to a new spot. This spot happened to be Langford Island, a very small island but with a very reasonable reef. So on went the snorkel and flippers and down we went.

Coral in the Whitsundays

It was a good day for it so we moved straight to Luncheon Bay on the north side of Hook Island. This spot was much better than Langford – mainly because I had my first ever turtle sighting. I was as excited a kid in a brewery I almost choked on my snorkel. The three of us followed the turtle on the surface for about 10 minutes until he swam under a rock. So we just waited for him to come up for air. This was the one. Gliding through the water. So peaceful.

In the morning (the 29th) we made tracks for Whitehaven Bay, but on the way, we were stopped by more wildlife. Out the front, our captain spotted 2 pods of dolphins of about 10 each. We stopped the boat and floated for a few minutes waiting for another sighting. Sure enough, they reappeared, then disappeared on and off for about 20 minutes. It was by far the most dolphins I’ve ever seen together, and it wasn’t even migration season.

Whitehaven Beach. Now there is a reason it was voted Australia’s best beach in 2014 by the Tripadvisor community. 7 kilometres of untainted white sand bordered by Crystal clear turquoise water. Just incredible.

After a most enjoyable swim and a brief, albeit very hot walk up to the view, we drove around the bay the 7 km back to Hill Inlet. Hill Inlet is often lumped in with being a part of Whitehaven Beach, and to an extent it sort of is, but it more sort if isn’t. I don’t even know it is, or what purpose it serves other than being incredibly beautiful. The short river has many different levels of sand that, reveal pretty patterns of white sand and blue water as the tide changes. Absolutely phenomenal. We timed it perfectly and got there right on mid-tide for this spectacular view.

The day ended with happy hour in our very own swim-up bar, more commonly known as a hydraulic swim-up-ramp at the back of the boat. A Somersby cider was choice of day and nothing else could have been more refreshing.

This was actually our final evening on the boat. The following morning we went for a quick snorkel before heading back to Hamilton Island to catch our flight to Newcastle. 9 hours in Newcastle and we were off to Melbourne for New Years…but that’s a story for another day!

Since this place is all so visually appealing it would be remiss of me not to overdo it. So here is a video of me overdoing it: underwater snorkelling (as opposed to…) with plenty of fish, coral, turtles and other sea life.

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