Anyone chartered in the Whitsundays?

[rowanloh]

Hi
I'm looking for any recommendations of charter yachts/companies for a week in the Whitsundays. Has anyone been there and had a good experience (or alternatively an avoid like the plague experience) with any particular company?
Any other top tips for the area. I have an old copy of Cruising the Coral Coast (Alan Lucas) for planning and assume that any charter boat will have an up to date version.
Thanks in advance.

 

[DanTribe]

Hi
We chartered a Bennie 311 from Airlie Beach a few years ago, can thoroughly recommend the experience.
The Charter company [Cumberland] had a few restrictions which were a bit annoying, but they have to assume that most punters have very limited experience and work around that.
We had to radio in before sailing in the morning and at night to tell them where we were.
We also had to tow a large tinny with a big outboard which slowed us down massively.
The sailing and scenery is magnificent The weather was a mixture of perfect and attrocious, but that was due to the season we went.
We bought a copy of 100 Magic Miles by David Colfelt, well worth having before you go.
We also used the charter company's service to pre order food to avoid having to go shopping before departure, not sure I would do that again.
We will be going again.

 

[Paddy_N_Murphy]

I wanted to this year picking up the BIL and his missus out there now, but the numbers just didn't stack up.
The AUS$ to GBP is crippling right now compared to a good few years ago.
Factor in the flights, and it i cheaper for me to fly them to the Med and pick up a fifty footer !

 

[alan_d]

Yes, chartered from Whitsunday Rent a Yacht at Shute Harbour and had a great week. The requirement to radio in twice a day is, I understand, necessary to get round Queensland's skipper licensing regulations. We too took advantage of the advance provisioning and were very glad we did; the choice for overnight stops is between peaceful anchorages or mooring buoys off uninhabited islands, or a pontoon at an expensive resort which you will have to book in advance. Either way there is little opportunity for topping up provisions.

It is a lovely cruising area except for Hamilton Island which has hideous multi-storey hotels.

There will be a copy of "100 Magic Miles" on the boat, but it is well worth getting in advance.

 

[bikedaft]

as above - 100 magic miles. good to have your own for the shelf - plenty stunning pics in it

we chartered from a private owner for 10 days (was feeling flush after working in outback)

as well as radioing in twice daily we were told on our first day we had to come back on day 5 to shute harbour for the owner to check her over. was not happy but we had no option. distances are not great tho, but this did make a difference to where we could go in 10 days, and we were (?deliberately?) not told about this when we booked the charter.

you can preorder food/vacumn packed meat/beer etc to be on board at beginning holiday, well worth it

weather can be variable, but pissing rain in the whitsundays was a lot warmer than off greenock

 

[mcanderson]

I've chartered 3 times in the Whitsundays. You have two options - pick a company out of Shute Harbour (fly into Proserpine) or one on Hamilton Island (fly direct to island). Provisioning on Hamilton Island is possible, but booking ahead with a few top ups is probably better. Provisioning from Shute Harbour is easier in the local town Arlie Beach.

Places to go-

Nara Inlet, but Marcoona to the East is prettier and you can get it on your own which is just magical. Cateran Bay is fantastic for snorkelling. This whorls be my top two, but it depends on whether you prefer seclusion or mooring of a resort.

Get a copy of 100 magic miles before you go, but don't plan as the weather be a factor. The summer is know as the wet for a good reason, there are also cyclones from Jan to Mar, and these are to be avoided.

As others have said you have to radio in twice a day, but this is part of the fun. Arrive early, anchor up and then enjoy listening to the errors of the day!

You will tow a large rib with an outboard. This is a great tool, but will slow you down.

A tip use to be to book with an Australian company direct as the exchange rate worked in your favour, I very much doubt this is the case now.

Go and enjoy. You will love it!

 

[DanTribe]

A point about pre-ordering food.
We did this and the food was excellent and it saved messing about in a strange supermarket when you want to go sailing.
However, our pack contained a high proportion of delicious seafood and fruit, which was excellent but perishable and less of the mundane but longer life stuff. The fridge capacity on yachts is limited.
As a result we ate like royalty for the first part of the trip to try and use it up before it went off.
The time there went much too quickly and I keep thinking " I wish I'd done this, that & gone there"
Hamilton Island is like Tracy Island, completely artificial but worth a visit just for the experience.

 

[Ex-SolentBoy]

Have a look at www.channelwhitsunday.com

This is a website for the area and is run by a good sailing friend of mine called John Naylor.

John is a bit of a local celebrity as he entered, and then covered for the media, the "best job in the world" thing a couple of years back.

John knows all the local charterers, where to go, when to go etc. Just email him and ask.

 

[Gypsy]

I've chartered 3 times in the Whitsundays. You have two options - pick a company out of Shute Harbour (fly into Proserpine) or one on Hamilton Island (fly direct to island). Provisioning on Hamilton Island is possible, but booking ahead with a few top ups is probably better. Provisioning from Shute Harbour is easier in the local town Arlie Beach.

Correction, 3 choices. Hamilton, Shute or Airlie Beach. Hamilton and Airlie have marinas and are closer to shopping although shopping at Hamilton Is is limited and expensive. The 'local' shopping centre is Cannonvale a suburb just out of Airlie township where you have supermarkets and butchers who will vaccum pack and freeze meet if you can order 24hrs head. Hamilton has the advantage of being in the middle of the island group so it is quicker to get to the various bays/beaches.

Nobody has mentioned Queensland Yacht Charters. A long time established company operating out of able Point Marina at Airlie Beach. No connection with them just good experience.

 

[Juggler7823]

Cost

Sailing in the Whitsundays is a holiday of a lifetime BUT be aware of the cost of everything. A small beer is about £4 and a simple loaf of bread is £3.50. Two years ago we thought that most things were twice to three times the cost in the UK

 

[Mariner69]

We went on the "Whitsunday Magic".

Great fun, no effort on our part but great to relax and watch the crew doing it all. They then rustled up excellent meals with great cocktails.

Will go again once the credit card has recovered.

 

[ocean_groover]

If you charter out of Airlie Beach, this puts you closest to the shopping at Cannonvale - short bus ride.
You can fly in to Hamilton Island and connect with a fast catamaran ferry to the mainland, arriving Shute Harbour, which gives you a nice look at your cruising ground on the way in. 15-20 minute bus ride from Shute into Airlie. Flying in to Proserpine means a 30-40 minute bus ride through the cane fields to get to Airlie Beach. Cumberland Charter Yachts are a good company.
If you charter in the Australian Summer, this is their wet season and while it may not rain, it will be very very hot.
There are nasty stingy octopi and jellyfish in the water and while your chances of a bite are slight, if you plan to swim a lot, hiring a stinger suit might be wise. Some years are worse than others; persistent unseasonal northerlies seem to bring more down into the area.
The Whitsundays are one of the world's great cruising grounds and a great choice for a charter destination. You are spoilt for choice as to where to go. To escape the madding crowd, look for anchorages in the more southern portion of your permitted cruising area.
Being obliged to tow the rib around is how the companies avoid having to keep and maintain a life-raft on every boat. Every charter boat should have 100 Magic Miles on it and it is the definitive cruising guide for the area.
From one who has sailed lived and worked in the area, I applaud your choice.
ps - never worked for Cumberland.

 

[rowanloh]

Thanks for all the replies. After having added everything up, with just the two of us, the current exchange rate it looks like we will have to postpone this trip for a few years until the situation (exchange rate) reverts to something more sensible or we retire to Aus and buy our own boat!!

 

[marko99]

I did a charter on THIS BOAT in late 2008, the company (Charter Yachts Australia) was absolutely first class to deal with. I've done about 10 charter holidays in total in the Seychelles, Greece and Caribbean and this one was definitely one of the best.

As other posters have mentioned, the advance provisioning package is really essential as we hardly touched shore from one end of the charter to the other (we picked up in Abel Point Marina and returned the boat to Hamilton Island). Our particular boat had plenty of fridge and freezer space so we had no problem keeping the food fresh until we needed it.

I hope you get to go eventually !

 

[jamesjermain]

We did this a couple of years ago when we were in Oz for an extended tour. Even excluding flights out and connections, its a very expensive charter. We went with Queensland Yacht Charters because we knew the proprietors (they've since retired). We are therefore slightly biased but we found the office very well organised, the boats seemed to be better prepared than most out there and ours was nearly new.

The Whitsundays had always been on our 'must do' list. I'm glad I've done it; I won't do it again. The cruising is a bit disappointing for a number of reasons and not worth the travel and cost. Having said that there some absolute gems you'll not see the like of anywhere else.

For
*Very isolated, almost deserted and no facilities on the islands
*Lots of sheltered, safe, beautiful anchorages
*Passage distances short. Most passages reasonably sheltered but some seriously open water stretches
*Navigation by eye and no problem for intermediate sailers
*Some fascinating aboriginal archaeology and geology but don't go for local ethnic colour!
*The islands, and particularly Airlie Beach are a great jumping off point for the Great Barrier Reef. Snorkling and diving in the islands, though is only moderate

Against
*No facilities on islands - a couple of beach bars would have been nice. Queensland Government is determined to preserve the ecology of the islands.
*Weather is very hot and dry or very muggy and wet. There is a hurricane season and Airlie Beach has been hit a couple of times in the last 10 years - most recently last year.
*There are alot of large back-packer day and weekend charter boats about (if you ever wondered where all the old Whitbread boats went - they went here).They can fill up the popular anchorages, particularly over lunch and at weekends. Generally they are well run and well behaved (my daughter crewed on them for a season).

Tips
*Buy 100 Magic Miles - it's essential
*Stock up well before you start and plan to eat on board most nights
*You'll be pushed to see all the best sites in a week and bored in a fortnight