Sailing the idyllic Whitsunday Islands is a once in a lifetime trip that had long been on our bucket list. Bareboating from Airlie Beach, we spent nine nights aboard our catamaran ‘Sea Dragon’ with a glorious forecast ahead of us. Whilst weather is everything on a trip like this, we were lucky with sunny skies, kind seas and only a couple of days of high wind which you soon learn how to escape from. You always hear how amazing the Whitsundays are but nothing really prepares you for just how naturally beautiful this region is and it doesn’t take long to realise why it’s one of Australia’s top travel destinations.
Read on for how we spent our days exploring the region, including a day with the highest highs and the lowest lows we’ve ever experienced. To visualise our trip, I created the map below showing our Whitsunday itinerary, including our overnight stays in numbered order and some of the must-see spots we discovered along the way.
☼ Day 1 – Coral Sea Marina ☼
We touched down in Whitsunday Coast airport and got the shuttle organised by Charter Yachts Australia into Coral Sea Marina. We checked in, left our bags with reception and headed into Airlie Beach to check out the town and grab our groceries for the week. Our first night was booked to sleep onboard the boat in the marina, having dinner & drinks at Sorrento Restaurant & Bar. Spending this first night onboard is great to familiarise yourself with the boat as well as plan your next week including where to stay and the route to take based on the forecasted weather.
Night 1 @ Coral Sea Marina
☼ Day 2 – Airlie to Stonehaven Bay ☼
The briefing started onboard Sea Dragon at 8AM. A 3-hour session led by Charter Yachts Australia educated us on everything we needed to know about the boat, sailing, navigation, weather, anchorage vs mooring, radio protocols, safety, electrics and any other knowledge we needed before setting off on our own. Whilst you technically don’t need a formal boating licence for bareboat charters, some general boating knowledge is required. Before leaving the marina, the operator assesses your competency to ensure everything was understood. The instructor then drives the boat out of the marina for you to a buoy just outside where we attempt our first mooring. Once set, Wade drove him back to the marina in the tender before we were on our own and driving into the glorious Whitsunday Islands.
We set up our fishing rods and trawling lures and made the journey across to Stonehaven Bay for our first night, spotting green sea turtles swimming by us on the way. Once moored, we set out in the tender that we named ‘chicken’ for our first snorkel of the trip. Back to the boat, we enjoyed the first of many sunsets from our catamaran. Sea Dragon is fitted with underwater lights and at night they illuminate the water to a brilliant blue that turns the back of the boat into our own private aquarium. The light attracts an array of sea life including fish, squid and even baby reef sharks. At one point we heard the unmistakable sound of a dolphin’s blow before realising a pod had come to play at the back of the boat in the night – magical.
Night 2 @ Stonehaven Bay (mooring)
☼ Day 3 -Stonehaven to Nara Inlet ☼
Easily the best way to start each day was waking up to the sunrise over the water as it shone through our catamaran’s bedroom window. Today we headed south of Hook Island, past Nara and Macona inlet into Hook Passage. The passage is this beautiful blue hue filled with more green sea turtles swimming by. We moored the boat at Cairn Beach, planning a swim from the boat but with the current too strong, we hopped in chicken (tender) to explore the area. We fished, swam and chilled on the sand in front of the abandoned Hook Island Eco Resort before jumping in at Cairn Beach to snorkel and float along the bay and fringing reef.
Back to Sea Dragon, we set off from the mooring and continued through Hook Passage for Saba Bay. With the rods out, it’s not long before we hook and land a long tail tuna with Lachie on the rod. We arrive at Saba Bay, a well known snorkelling spot that looked amazing. We planned this spot for our second night however we find all the moorings had been taken. Without knowing when people might leave, if at all, we have no choice but to head back to Cairn Beach to spend the night. By the time we get back to Cairn Beach we find all 5 moorings have now been taken so we drive to Nara inlet to anchor for the night.
Nara inlet is a safe anchoring spot and a lot more beautiful than we expected. Fjord-like mountains towered over the calm waters of this protected bay. The only downside is no swimming here as it’s known for bull sharks. We anchor up and jump in the tender to explore the inlet. We walk the Ngaro cultural site track on Hook Island, a short walk passing Aboriginal rock art, caves and a viewing platform with great information and history of the area. We head further into the inlet on the tender to see the waterfall but with little rainfall recently it was only trickling. We spend the afternoon fishing, catching mangrove jacks and cod before heading back to Sea Dragon for the night. With our aquarium lights on, we spot a 2-metre bull shark swim past the back of our boat – lucky we listened to the no swimming rule.
Night 3 @ Nara Inlet (anchorage)
☼ Day 4 – Nara Inlet to Blue Pearl Bay ☼
As we undo the anchor in the morning, Lachie takes the opportunity to fly the drone. The bay is absolute glass as we motor out towards Hook Passage, up past Saba Bay and around the headland to our first snorkel and swim spot of the day. Crayfish Bay on Hook Island was stunning. The water and coral was absolutely insane. After snorkelling, the girls explore the beach and campground whilst the boys spearfish along the coast, catching a goatfish which was absolutely delicious. Lunch today was freshly caught long tail tuna ceviche & bbq tuna with rice & salad.
Back on board, we continue our journey past Mackerel Bay and Hook Island Reef before arriving at the pristine Manta Ray Bay. A well known snorkelling spot that many tours visit (and for good reason), we moored the boat and jumped in the tender to explore the crystal clear waters. Jumping in for a snorkel, we almost land straight on top of a giant hump head Maori Wrasse. George is the resident Maori Wrasse and very friendly as he came up to suss us out. Joined by many other tropical fish and even GTs (Giant Trevally’s), we explored the reef before swimming into the white sand beach, enjoying the secluded shore all to ourselves.
We continue on past Butterfly Bay, another great snorkelling spot that we give a miss as we needed to get to Blue Pearl Bay for the afternoon. An absolutely amazing spot with limited overnight moorings, we lucked out as we grabbed the last mooring available. This spot is popular with day trippers that don’t always stay overnight so whilst it gets busy you can get lucky. We jump in chicken tender and motor along the coast exploring Blue Pearl Bay and Castle Rock. Dolphin’s played around us as we watched the sunset on another amazing day in the Whitsundays.
Night 4 @ Blue Pearl Bay (mooring)
☼ Day 5 – Blue Pearl Bay to Cid Harbour ☼
This morning was an absolute glass out. With our fishing rods out, we could see schools of long tail tuna jumping around the boat and it wasn’t long until we had double hook ups whilst still in our pyjamas. Flying the drone, we spot plenty of fish, reef sharks and a manta ray swimming around the coral surrounding us.
We cruise down to Langford island and moored up for the morning. Turtles and sunfish swim around us as we jump in for a snorkel. Langford island changes with the tide so you want to time your visit here. On low tide, the sandbar reveals itself as a narrow pathway of sand that you can walk along but soon disappears as the tide rises. We walk to the top of Langford island lookout to enjoy the views below before more swimming and lunch onboard – I really could get used to this.
We set sail this afternoon to Cid Harbour for tonight’s anchorage as this bay is protected from the wind which started to howl. Trawling our way there, Wade catches his first Spanish Mackerel for the trip. Once anchored in Cid Harbour, we tender across to Dugong Beach. As blue as the water appears here, there’s no swimming in Cid Harbour due to bull sharks and people have sadly lost their lives here. The harbour is full of massive sea turtles, almost bigger than our tender. It’s also possible to see dugongs here although we didn’t get that lucky. From Dugong beach, we walk across to Sawmill beach whilst we watched the sunset. Tonight was a little sleepless as our anchor spot felt a little exposed to the high wind but thankfully by morning it was calm and we were safe.
Night 5 @ Cid Harbour (anchorage)
☼ Day 6 – Cid Harbour to Chance Bay ☼
We awake at sunrise and drive back north through Hook Passage, this time heading south along the front of Whitsunday Island towards Whitehaven beach. The number one beach in Australia and with good reason, we were greeted with the most stunning day to enjoy the views of Hill Inlet. Another spot that also changes with the tide, the colours of the water and the way the sand looks to spiral out of the inlet is nothing short of amazing.
We sail past Whitehaven & Betty’s beach before mooring in Tongue Bay to explore Whitsunday Island including Hill Inlet lookout and lookout beach. A short bush walk to the top provides your own bird’s-eye view. It gets quite busy with tours however most tours have limited time so if it’s busy, just wait it out and soon you’ll have the place to yourself. The views of Hill Inlet and Whitehaven beach are absolutely breathtaking. We moor up at Whitehaven beach for a swim before passing through the Solway passage for Chance Bay for our anchorage for the night.
‘A day with one of highest highs and lowest lows we’ve ever experienced.’
Chance Bay is on the backside of Whitehaven, a beautiful little cove where we explored by kayak, swam, fished and enjoyed the afternoon. The boys go out for a fish on the tender whilst the girls enjoyed cheese & wine on Sea Dragon. Whilst we were a fair way from the beach, Beth & I could hear yelling and notice a man is lying on the beach and a woman is running over to him as she is screaming for help. We try to get the attention of the boats around us but no-one can hear us or the woman. There is no way for us to reach the beach, the boys are in the tender out of view and there is no reception or way to call them back. We tried radioing the sked but it’s past 5pm and appeared no-one was on channel. We ring 000 but as there is no reception, the connection kept cutting out. We see the boys driving back to us and we scream for them to go to the beach. Other boats have now heard us and are heading to the beach to assist as we wait for emergency services to arrive. The boys began performing CPR and as the sun starts to set it’s sadly not looking good. The paramedics’ boat arrives in the dark and the boys finally come back to the boat but sadly the man had passed away with a suspected heart attack. A helicopter lands on the narrow beach in the dark, sand blowing everywhere as he was airlifted to hospital. We finally get to bed & start falling asleep when we hear banging on the door. The police have come to get a statement and to say thank you for our help. It was a sombre feeling as we just enjoyed one of the best and one of the worst days all in one.
Night 6 @ Chance Bay (anchorage)
☼ Day 7 – Chance Bay to Turtle Bay ☼
It’s an eerie morning for us at Chance Bay yet the beach appears to show no signs of what happened the night before. We went for a little fish in the morning as we waited for the AM sked. We head back through the Solway passage, past Whitehaven beach for Haslewood Island to snorkel Chalkie’s Beach as we didn’t get the chance yesterday. This spot was one of the best snorkelling spots we’d visited on the trip as we were joined by friendly sea turtles, plenty of fish and bright, healthy coral.
We continued our journey back past Chance Bay, exploring Crayfish Bay by boat & snorkel before anchoring at Turtle Bay for the night. We tender to shore to try and explore the island however there’s lots of sea lice & small biting flies in the shallows so we fish from the tender instead. We spend the afternoon fishing and enjoying the sunset. Another sleepless night tonight as it’s an anchorage spot between two shallow reefs (no moorings) and of course, an unpredicted southerly decides to come through in the night making our boat spin around in a different direction and triggering our anchor watch alarm. Wade & I monitor the anchor during the wind, praying that we don’t come unstuck and hit the reef but thankfully all was ok as morning came.
Night 7 @ Turtle Bay (anchorage)
☼ Day 8 – Turtle Bay to South Molle Island ☼
From Turtle Bay we trawl past Hamilton island & Qualia on the point, passing Henning island and massive schools of tuna swimming around us once again. We skip Hamilton Island this time as we wanted to explore places you can’t access without a boat. Today is spent fishing and enjoying the water before we arrive at South Molle island for our final night so we are closer to Airlie Beach for the morning. We kayak to the island and walk along the beach made entirely of shells. So many turtles in the bay this afternoon as we enjoy our last sunset and night onboard.
Night 8 @ South Molle Island (anchorage)
☼ Day 9 – South Molle Island to Airlie Beach ☼
After breakfast we clean the boat and pack our bags before the final cruise back to Coral Sea Marina. We refuel the boat and tender which was surprisingly cheaper than we thought it would be before departing the boat and saying our goodbyes to Sea Dragon. With access to facilities, we shower and freshen up before our return shuttle to the airport for home.
With unforgettable scenery and nine nights spent floating in absolute paradise, it’s hard to imagine a better holiday. The memories we made with great mates, the places we explored and the experiences we shared will stay with us for years to come. It truly was a once-in-a-lifetime trip. Over and out, Sea Dragon.
