Sailing opens up a new world where everything is about the elements, where dolphin escorts, cruising manta rays, circling sea birds and gentle winds become part of a languid daily routine.
Turtles pop their heads up as you kayak to the nearest island; beachcombing has never been more languid; sunsets and rainbows abound; and there's the chance to go ashore at coastal resorts.
Bareboating (that's yachting-speak for "sail yourself") off the Queensland coast is as easy as renting a boat from one of the charter companies in Cardwell (at Port Hinchinbrook, south of Cairns), Townsville or the Whitsundays. NB: no bareboat charters run from Cairns. Rates vary according to the boat, number of berths, and season. A minimum charter of three nights (or five in peak season) usually applies. The company you rent from will give you some instruction, but a bit of experience is preferred (otherwise there's the option to hire a skipper and/or crew).
Visiting the islands that dot Queensland's coastal waters gives you a whole new perspective. Highlights might include these lovely spots:
Familiar to many Australians who have holidayed at the resort that's been there (in one form or other) since the 1930s,
Dunk Island takes on a different look from the water. Anchor in the popular
Brammo Bay, zip ashore in your inflatable dinghy (or more slowly in a kayak) and join the day-trippers who've come by water taxi from the mainland. There's a dedicated day-tripper area, with a cafe and a small shop.
Dunk is the northern-most of the Family Group, named by the British explorer Captain James Cook, who called Bedarra 'the mother isle' and the 12 other in the group 'her children'. Some of the islands are part of the Family Islands National Park, others — including Bedarra — are privately owned.
Bedarra is best known as the location of one of Australia's most luxurious, exclusive and expensive resorts. But from the anchorage off the island's northwest corner, the only signs of civilisation are a disintegrating jetty and a few derelict buildings among the trees — all that is left of a former resort, closed for nearly 20 years and now being reclaimed by nature.
Officially called Richards Island, the more commonly used name Bedarra was bestowed on the island by author and beachcomber Edmund Banfield, who lived on Dunk Island, possibly as a version of the Aboriginal word Biagurra.
Bedarra's reputation for beauty is not understated; granite rock formations spring from the water, and a sail or kayak around the island reveals high cliffs dotted with luxury private homes.
The once-controversial Port Hinchinbrook marina is the gateway to the World Heritage-listed
Hinchinbrook Island.
Protected since 1932, Hinchinbrook Island is one of Australia's largest island national parks, covering 39,000 hectares.
Travelling along the Hinchinbrook Channel, a protected waterway between the Hinchinbrook Island and the mainland, provides a highlight as you sail alongside the stunning primordial-looking landscape of this huge island of rainforest and granite escarpments. Keep your eyes peeled for the elusive dugong and the green turtles that make their homes in the seagrass beds and fringing reefs of the channel.
The Palm Islands
From the shelter of
Juno Bay, you can explore the rich history of
Fantome Island, part of the Palm Islands group, off
Townsville. A fringing reef runs length of Juno Bay, and the island is part of the traditional lands and sea country of the Manbarra people, which also includes
Pelorus,
Orpheus, and
Great Palm islands.
In the 1930s Fantome Island was a medical clearing station for Aboriginal people being sent to Great Palm under a government resettlement programme. About 1630 people were removed from their homes and sent to Great Palm over 20 years, under the Aboriginal Protection Act of 1897. A leper colony was established on the island in 1939 and was run by Catholic nuns until 1973, when everyone was moved to Great Palm Island and the buildings were razed.
A memorial to those who died on Fantome, consecrated in May 2010, stands in the graveyard. Other relics — old bathtubs and the building foundations — litter the road that runs from one side of the island to the beach on the other side, a few minutes' walk away.
Dramatic granite headlands and rock formations, studded with pine trees, make
Magnetic Island a great place to visit by land or sea. When Captain Cook discovered the island in 1770 he believed it had a strange magnetic force that interfered with his compass. He was wrong, but the name is appropriate — yachties and tourists are drawn here. The World Heritage-listed island has 23 bays and beaches to explore. More than two-thirds of the island is National Park and there's loads of wildlife — rock wallabies, possums, a large koala colony and more than 100 species of bird call the place home. The surrounding coral reefs are great for snorkelling. Go ashore for a walk, fish and chips on the beach at sunset, and a drink at the
Marlin Bar.
Undoubtedly the bareboating capital of Queensland (and perhaps all of Australia), the
Whitsunday waters are protected from ocean swells and provide calm sailing (which is great for the less experienced). And with 74 islands in the group, there are plenty of anchorages and public moorings. The seven resort islands —
Hamilton
,
Hayman
,
Hook
,
Lindeman
,
Daydream
,
Long and South Molle
— also welcome visiting yachts. A reasonable fee includes a mooring or marina berth and the freedom to enjoy the guest facilities of the resort.
Where to charter your boat
- Hinchinbrook Rent A Yacht, at the Port Hinchinbrook Marina, rents houseboats (but not yachts) for up to 10 people to explore the Hinchinbrook Channel and Family Group.
- Tropic Sail is based in Townsville, with a small fleet of yachts, catamarans and motor cruisers offering skippered or bareboat charters around Magnetic Island and the Palms Group.
- There are several yacht charter companies in the Whitsundays, including Whitsunday Rent-A-Yacht , Queensland Yacht Charters and Sunsail , a branch of one of the largest sailing companies in the world, which also runs a sailing school on Hamilton Island.
View all the breathtaking pictures from this sailing adventure below:
Have you bareboated around the Queensland coast? How long did you take and what were your highlights? Enter your comments below.
