Charter in Australia - advice needed

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bluedragon

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My wife and I are planning an extended holiday in Australia in 2007 and would like to spend a week or so chartering around the Whitsunday Islands. I'm sure we'll have lots of specific questions nearer to the date, but right now we're wondering about the best time (season) to go? The summer is likely to be too hot I suppose, and we've heard about jellyfish and tropical storms...and we'd like to avoid high season if possible...it's all a bit confusing! Could any of our Aussie forum readers give us a guide as to the pros and cons of the various seasons? Any thoughts on charter companies would be helpful as well. Many thanks.
 
The thread that Bajan sailor refers to is very helpful. I live in Queensland and have chartered in the WhitSundays a few times before I got my own boat and can confirm that it is a great place to sail. As expected, SunSail and Moorings have bases there - they are both on Hamilton Island while all the other local charter companies are on the mainland (20' ferry ride away) at Airlie Beach and Shute Harbour. The advantage of Hamilton Island if coming from overseas is that it has an airport which connects with Brisbane (and elsewhere I think). If you charter from Airlie beach you would either still have to fly into Hamo or, inconveniently, fly to Townsville, Mackay or, God forbid, Proserpine and then hire a car to drive to Airlie (I have usually just driven up from Bris, only 950k which people here seem to think is a short trip). If you haven't made the journey down under before, do not underestimate the jet lag (GMT +10) and the heat and humidity here, especially now that summer has arrived (it will be 35 degrees here in BrisVegas today and very humid, more so up in the tropics).
With Sunsail I guess you get exactly what you get with them elsewhere. I have used WhitSunday Yacht Charters (no connection to me) and have been really happy. They did raise a damage deposit and routinely send a diver down to chack for grounding damage at the end of the charter. They were very relaxed about checking for sailing ability etc and my last charter from there was just me, 16 year old daughter and 2 boys under 10 because SWMBO unexpectedly had to fly to London to see Mum who got sick. They didn't mind and we had a great time - EXCEPT - take the stinger warnings seriously during stinger season. We wore our stinger suits but my 7 year old took his flipper off to get a stone out up in Butterfly Bay and copped a sting which made him sick for 24 hours and gave him an itchy rash for 4 days. The marine stingers pack a punch (and the Irukandjii can be fatal). The sailing though is dead easy (good SE tradewinds in the summer), line of sight, the holding in the anchorages excellent and generally uncrowded. Never tried a catamaran there but perhaps it does give a little more access to some of the shallower spots like Gulnare inlet and I been a little envious of the way they hoon around at great speed.
Best time of year is September through November. By December, it becomes very sultry (look how the England cricketers wilted in the Brisbane heat compared to their better performance in a much cooler Adelaide) and, being the tropics, persistent drenching rain is possible. Worst case scenario from then through to March is a tropical cyclone although they don't regularly reach that far south. In YW in November there was one of those "what was your scariest moment sailing?" interviews with someone and they said being holed up in Nara Inlet (which is bomb proof) during a cyclone when chartering in the WhitSundays. Making further reference to the Ashes tour, look at the sunburned arms of the Barmy Army by say 2 of the 1st Test - the intensity of the sun here has to be experienced to be believed. Queensland has the highest incidence of melanoma in the world (maybe excepting a small area around Nelson in New Zealand) - so never forget slip, slop, slap.
You have to get hold of the 100 Magic Miles guide by the Colfeldts and, if you go, you should spend a night at Palm Bay Hideaway and treat yourself to a meal at the restaurant (although it may have changed hands).
 
Thank you very much Jonf. I have now read the other thread as well. We'd been thinking about Feb/March, but I guess it's the same situation as the Caribbean in the hurricane season (which we have risked on a few occasions!). Sept - Nov now looks perhaps a better option. When is the stinger season? As both of us like to spend as much time in the water as on top of it, we wouldn't like our swimming, snorkelling, diving experiences inconvenienced too much.
 
Check out this website - http://www.qldbeaches.com/stingers.html - which has the relevant info. Afraid I haven't mastered how to set up links but it might work.
It is very easy to get put off coming down under because there is just so much wildlife that can kill you e.g. the poor teenager in Perth last week who lost a leg to a great white. In reality, though, it is very beautiful the locals never seem to worry too much. I would say the roads are more dangerous. In the words of the infamous Australian tourism advert - What the bl00dy hell are you waiting for?
 
I have chartered in the whitsundays quite a few times using Sunsail at Hamilton Is and other companies from Airlie marina. No problems with any of them. I think the best time is Jun-Sept when you don't have top worry about stingers. In June and July you may even need a jacket at night. Sharks are always a worry but I have never actually seen one there. Seen plenty on the NSW coast. Our rule is never swim within 500m of anyone cleaning fish and never swim in cloudy water where you can't see the bottom.
 
I found a copy of 100 magic miles book as suggested in the previous post to give my friends who are flying out there in a couple of weeks. Its appears highly informative and contains good details / chartlets, the only caveat being it was published in 1985. I found it on Ebay for approx £20 including air mail.

I think they are using whitsunday yacht charter BUT this is not a recommendation as I know nothing about them and have had no dealings. If I'm honest I'm still a little unsure about the practice letting complete novices out on 34' yachts after a couple of hours tuition but the post in the other thread by swanson37 is persuasive.
 
I Chartered in the Witsundays with my wife as part of our honeymoon in November 05. We used sunsail from Hamilton island which was very convenient for transport links. I would probably go with the comments in this and the other thread and would add the following:

Check the boat very carefully the sunfast 32 we had needed some TLC, ie the instrument binacle fell off, they had to change the starter motor for us and the outboard motor was empty.

You will be anchoring at peaceful inlets, there are not many marina/ harbour destinations if you crave bars and showers. As a guide we were only given 2 fenders and warps on the pontoon at hamilton were left on the pontoon. I was relieved to find some in the locker but I guess your not expected to use anything other than the anchor.

We were at the very beginning of stinger season and wore rashies but not full suits. They are a serious problem though during stinger season.

Beware of the March flies, big slow but a fierce bite, they spoilt things a bit as they were so aggresive. As a part of a honeymoon it was a nice 4 days of peace & quiet, I'm not sure I would fly to oz just to charter there.
 
Thanks to all for the replies here. Really helpful. We're planning to spend 4-6 weeks in Oz and maybe 1-2 weeks max sailing. The rest of the time is likely to be doing all the usual tourist stuff. The problem seems to be though that to visit the North it's better in winter, and then it's freezing in the South...and when the South is warm the North is unbearable!! There must be a slot in the middle that works for both, and I guess that is perhaps April/May or Sept/Oct?
 
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