Whitsundays Full-Day Sailing Adventure to Whitehaven Beach

Port of Airlie: setting sail from Airlie Beach

The day begins at the Port of Airlie marina on The Cove Road, at the eastern end of Airlie Beach and a few minutes' walk from the main street, where you check in 30 minutes before the 08:15 departure. The catamaran is one of the largest and fastest sailing vessels in the Whitsundays, with wide deck space to lie in the sun, shaded seating, a galley where lunch is cooked and a crew who handle the sails while you watch. Morning tea is served as the boat leaves the marina and the mainland hills drop behind.

Sailing rather than motoring is what makes this Whitsundays day trip different: once the sails are up the engine goes quiet and the boat heels gently as it picks up the trade wind, which is the classic way to experience these islands. Getting to the Port of Airlie is easy on foot from most accommodation in Airlie Beach, and taxis can drop you at the marina entrance.

Through the Whitsunday Passage: Daydream Island and Hook Island

From Airlie Beach the catamaran sails east across the Whitsunday Passage, the sheltered channel between the mainland and the islands. Daydream Island, a small resort island, passes close on one side, and then the long forested bulk of Hook Island rises ahead, the second-largest island in the group, with deep inlets on its southern shore and fringing reefs along its coast. Beyond it lies Whitsunday Island, the largest of all and entirely national park, and the crew point out the bays, lookouts and anchorages as they come into view.

The passage is usually calm in the morning and the crossing to Whitehaven takes a couple of hours under sail, time to find a spot on the deck, watch for turtles and dolphins and listen to the crew's stories of the islands. A sailing cruise through the Whitsundays is as much about this crossing as about the destination, and photographers get their best island shots from the water.

Whitehaven Beach: seven kilometres of silica sand

Whitehaven Beach runs for about seven kilometres along the eastern side of Whitsunday Island and is regularly named the best beach in Australia. Its sand is almost pure silica, so fine and white that it stays cool underfoot and squeaks when you walk on it, and the shallow water over it glows pale turquoise. The catamaran moors off the northern end of the beach and the crew take you ashore by tender, so you should be comfortable climbing in and out of a small boat from the water's edge.

On the beach there is time to swim, float in the shallows and stroll along the sand before and after the walk to the lookout. Whitehaven Beach is the main reason most people come to the Whitsundays, and arriving under sail with lunch waiting on board is one of the most relaxed ways to visit. There is no shade on the sand, so bring a hat, sunscreen and a long-sleeved top for the beach.

Hill Inlet Lookout and the swirling sands

At the northern end of Whitehaven Beach the tidal estuary of Hill Inlet creates the most photographed view in the Whitsundays, where silica sand and turquoise water swirl together in patterns that shift with every tide. The guided walk to Hill Inlet Lookout follows a path through the island's forest that was used for thousands of years by the Ngaro people, the traditional owners of the Whitsundays, and the crew explain their history along the way. The track has some steps and short climbs and takes about 45 minutes return.

The walk depends on the tide, because the tender can only land at the start of the track at certain water levels, so it is included whenever conditions allow. The patterns of Hill Inlet are most dramatic around low tide, when more of the sandbanks are exposed, but the view is worth the walk at any time. Back on board, the BBQ lunch is cooked on the barbecue and served with salads as the boat prepares to move on.

Snorkelling the fringing reef of the Whitsundays

After lunch the catamaran sails to a fringing reef around one of the islands, where the coral grows close to the shore inside the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. You snorkel for about an hour over coral gardens with parrotfish, wrasse, clownfish and the chance of turtles, with masks, snorkels and fins provided and the crew watching from the boat. The site is chosen on the day for the clearest water and calmest conditions, so it varies with the wind and the tide.

Snorkelling in the Whitsundays from this boat is for confident swimmers only, because there are no flotation devices for the snorkel session and you enter the water directly from the vessel. Non-swimmers can relax on deck with afternoon tea and watch the reef through the clear water. The sails go up again for the return crossing, and the catamaran arrives back at the Port of Airlie at about 17:45 after a day of about 9.5 hours.