The Nist Walkabout: Cruising the Whitsundays

Our "Big" vacation this year, one Clarice has been looking forward to since we arrived in Australia, was spending a week among the Whitsunday Islands and visiting Whitehaven Beach. We waited until August so that we could really enjoy the warm weather holiday during the Aussie winter.

I have no idea why Clarice insists on taking these "We're Off!" photos...

We left Sydney early on Saturday and flew to Hamilton Island - the main tourist island of the Whitsunday group. Almost all of the Whitsunday Islands have been made into nature preserves with people only really allowed on the beaches. There are a few places to tent camp on the islands, but you have to book ahead and schedule your visit. The waterways are also very much regulated to protect the ocean/reef environments. In 1978, a retired couple started charging people a nominal fee and giving tours of the islands on the boat. Now, 30 years later, bareboat chartering is big business along with the reef/island tours run by the resorts and private companies from the mainland. Add in the private boats and the place was not "crowded" per se, but there were always other boats nearby.

After arriving, Russ, the main person from whom we were renting out bareboat, picked us up from the airport and shuttled us out to the boat on the tender since the marina was full.

Our first view of our home for the next week!

After walking us through how to run and maintain the boat (he was pretty comfortable when we knew "port" and "starboard" and explained we were "boat people") he sat us down and walked us through 100 Magic Miles, a guidebook that talks all about the islands, the habitats, the anchorages and generally how to have a fun and safe time in the Whitsundays. Now in its 7th edition, this book is the "bible" of the area and we could not have had such a wonderful time without it. We had ordered our own copy, but it was not going to arrive before we left so we almost cancelled it. I decided it might be a nice souvenir, and now we're really glad we kept it!

We paid a small fee (less than a hotel room) for this one extra night on the boat, so once Russ was ready to leave, we took the tender back into the Hamilton Island Marina, dropped Russ off, and then hit some stores to gather provisions for the trip. Kind of dull, but I would later regret not buying more gummy bears...

Finally - Day 1! We both slept pretty well the first night even though the bed is small and the boat rocked in the light waves of the night. By 8:00 AM we were up and ready to go - not a normal time for me, but we were excited to get started. The first place we were going to stop was the purpose for the whole trip... Whitehaven Beach.

Our Path of Travel - Day 1

We untied from the mooring, started the motors and got underway. First lesson of traveling on the ocean - mind the tides! We knew this, and were readily prepared to take it into account when anchoring, but the tides are always moving and shifting, controlling how fast you can travel across the open water. Since our hired bareboat was governed at 10 knots, we were never going to set speed records so paying careful attention to the tides was something we were going to have to learn. Long story short, our first trip was ride into the path the tides. It worked out well though since we were in no hurry, had plenty of time to get comfortable on the boat and we got to watch the scenery, other boats and lookout for whales (none...).

Some of the resort homes on Hamilton Island

What kind of fish do you catch with a dinghy?

As we turned north and sailed through Solway Passage, we caught our first glimpses of Clarice's year-long infatuation...

Southern End of Whitehaven as we came through Solway Passage

The best spot to anchor is on the southern end of the 6 km long beach. We found a nice wide spot, dropped the anchor, packed up the tender and headed to the beach! Let me tell you, it is no wonder Whitehaven is ranked in the top 10 most beautiful beaches of the world! The beach is huge and the only way to get there is by boat so it is not crowded at all. Lot of room to swim, play, sunbathe, etc.

Clarice had it in her head that she wanted to walk the entire beach, so after a nice relaxing lunch and a dip we started walking. Barefoot. My delicate little feet would be mad at me for days. We knew it was 6 km, but it didn't look that far! We made it generally all the way stopping to take pictures along the way.

The beginning of the hike...

Did I say the only way to get to the beach was boat???

I may have forgotten a few other ways...

I TOLD YOU TO WATCH THE TIDES!

Sand worm - they like the fine, soft sand of Whitehaven

View back down the beach from the dunes at the Northern end. And we had to walk back...

I think Clarice was happy to be there...

Neither of us really wanted to leave, but after spending most of the day at Whitehaven, we had plans for a snorkel across the water at Chalkie's Beach before heading to our first anchorage. Chalkie's was only a short distance away, but it took delicate navigation to get close to the beach through a man-made break in the coral. Then we hopped into wetsuits and dove right in. While Clarice likes snorkeling, it is really more my thing. I bought a waterproof pouch for Clarice camera so I could take underwater photos and it worked great!

Wrasse (100 Magic Miles even has a fish ID section!)

A kind of Butterfly Fish

Bridled Parrotfish - photo does not come close to the colors when the sun is shining bright

Lots of little guys including a Yellow Tang on the left

Clarice snorkelling...

About 3:30 we needed to be heading to our first overnight anchorage. With the winds normally coming out of the S-SW (and that was the forecast) we headed just north of Whitehaven to Tongue Bay, from which we had already planned the next day's adventures!