Hi all,
Down here in VIC, it's currently not the best weather at the moment, so it'd be nice to go somewhere warm for a break.

I've been thinking I might be able to perk up my wife's interest in cruising next summer by doing a week or so bare boat cruising the Whitsundays.
We'd be Sailing, swimming, snorkelling, diving, drinking and just chilling out.
I've checked out Whitsundays Rent a Yacht - www.whitsundays.com.au/cruises-and-sailing , and their rates for a Jeanneau 35,Jeanneau 37 and the like, are acceptable to me.

I'd really like some input on this idea - like...
is now a good time to go?
whats the weather like - air, water temps?
how about average or expected wind & sea conditions?
is this stinger season?
any tips on renting a yacht,
etc....

yep, i'd really appreciate some input...

regards to all,
Allan

totally the best time to go. Tropical Ausrtalia. No stingers, crocs docile, crystal clear days, nice and warm.
Ive no idea why people go up there in dec. From oct onwards, the water gets brown and the place gets sticky. you cant swim without stinger suits either . NOWS THE TIME!

I have used Whitsundays Escape in the past for a bareboat charter. That was about 12 years ago though. I recently passed through the Whitsundays (and Airly) and they were still there.

Have a chat to Gary at www.whitsundaycharterboats.com.au .
Although I have not used their yachts Gary seemed honest and sincere when I spoke with him and has lived and sailed in the area for years.

Give some thought to renting a cat for the Whitsundays. There are quite a few anchorages that are more cat friendly than mono friendly. Bareboats are a bit restricted in where they are allowed to go but there is still a lot of water available. Water temperature is getting cool now, better in april - may but a southern person will think it's OK - just cool for wimpy Queenslanders.

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PhoenixStar said..
Give some thought to renting a cat for the Whitsundays. There are quite a few anchorages that are more cat friendly than mono friendly. Bareboats are a bit restricted in where they are allowed to go but there is still a lot of water available. Water temperature is getting cool now, better in april - may but a southern person will think it's OK - just cool for wimpy Queenslanders.

well...water temp here is 11-12 deg C today. Is it warmer up there?...

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Datawiz said..

PhoenixStar said..
Give some thought to renting a cat for the Whitsundays. There are quite a few anchorages that are more cat friendly than mono friendly. Bareboats are a bit restricted in where they are allowed to go but there is still a lot of water available. Water temperature is getting cool now, better in april - may but a southern person will think it's OK - just cool for wimpy Queenslanders.

well...water temp here is 11-12 deg C today. Is it warmer up there?...

yes!

We chartered a Leopard 40 July/Aug using Whitsunday Escape, nice boat in good condition. For any length of time in the water you want a wetsuit, I used my short leg singlet with a rashy underneath without issues.

Weather was absolutely fantastic for the first 8 days, warm days, cool nights, then a southerly buster came along, 30k gusting 35k so we smashed our way down to Hamo to wait out the worst. Not my call but I bowed to pressure and you do get access to facilities while you stay at the Marina.

The north end of Hook Island was awesome, whales a couple of evenings past our mooring, patting giant Maori Wrasse, basically everything you would hope for. Butterfly Bay really is aptly named, you can shake a tree and 200 butterflies will launch around you.

It was pretty quiet when we were there, we got a great mooring or anchorage every night with occasional motoring in circles to wait for people to leave. During the day there is a 3 hour limit on the moorings, the trick is to play at some of the other reefs until about 3 then head for an awesome spot to overnight when day charters leave.

Best coral we saw was Black Island Reef (might have best survived the cyclone also?), best fish off Hayman and Manta Ray Bay. Saving pennies for a return soon :)

A couple of fun things we found:

Just get a glass of seawater at night, shine a bright light down in it and wow there are so many critters in every glass, things like baby vampire squid and all kinds of cool stuff.

"Sacrificial fishy" - we had a 3w cree focusing head torch, on the west of Hayman there were huge Giant Trevally about 10m down, if you focussed the light on a tiny fish at the surface for a minute or so the Trevally would shoot out of the depths and fly into the air chasing the little fish. Kinda cruel but cool to see...

Manta Ray Bay fishes.


Maori Wrasse

Cid Harbour.

We had a *cough* race against a big swan, we lost by about 3nm over 12nm :)