Yacht Hire in the Whitsundays
Submitted: Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 19:10
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Heefers
Good evening all,
I am in the early stages of planning a holiday for myself and a couple of other families. We are looking at hiring a luxury catamaran to sail around the Whitsundays around this time next year. My question is, has anyone done this and do you have any advice or recommendations.
Much appreciated,
Paul
Reply By: pradowolf - Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 19:22
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 19:22
Hi Paul,
i have done this several times but i prefer a monohul because i love a bit of good sailing.
I normally fly into
hamilton and get the boat transfered to there from Proserpine and i have all the provisions done by the charter company and then i go to the local bottleshop which is very
well stocked for a few special bottles.
Normally i get the boat for 7 nights which is plenty and i can only tell you that i will do it again and again because it is such a beautiful part of Australia and if you like the water and snorkeling it is paradise.
You can also pick up a mooring at one of the resorts and use their facilities and have dinner and drinks there and the dingy will find the way
home to the boat , sometimes it takes a bit longer to find after some drinks but we always found
home again.
I highly recommend that type of holiday.
AnswerID:
324696
Reply By: Bushed-Tracker - Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:21
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:21
Done it twice - but a fair while ago now. Went with
Whitsunday Rent-a-Yacht on both occassions. Both magic trips in 34' monohulls.
We had it pre-provisioned to our requested item (they send you a list) Got off the plane, taxi to
Chute Harbour, walk up the jetty,
sign all the papers and twenty minutes later we were almost dipping the lee rail in the water.
They will require to know your level of experience. If zero they will send out a skipper with you - probably half a day - until they are happy.
Boats smaller than 34' are limited to the inner reef. Even so there are hundreds of islands and magic anchorages .
I suggest you talk to all the operators but we had a very good experience with WRY.
Make sure you take fishing and snorkelling gear if you are that way inclined.
Regards
B-T
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Reply By: Blue Gum - Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:40
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:40
I've also done this many times. It's a great relaxing holiday. Beautiful scenery. We usually fly to Proserpine, hire a car, go to the
supermarket, load up supplies and get the bare boat from
Airlie Beach. I reckon its a bit cheaper this way. I reckon you pay a premium going thru
Hamilton but it is convenient thru there. We usually get a 40 foot sloop (monohull) for 10 or 14 days. A cat will also be good with plenty of room. We usually stop at
Hamilton mid way through the trip o resupply and have a few restaurant meals and change of pace. We also organise for scuba tanks/belts to be provisioned on board and bring our own scuba gear. We've also had a windsurfer supplied too. Get a good size tender supplied for shore excursions/diving. A couple of handheld UHF radios may come in handy but not essential. You want to buy a book called "100 Magic
Miles of the Whitsundays" by David Colfelt to learn more and plan your trip. It's the bible. Late September to early November is said to be the best cruising weather. Common sense is required for navigation and anchoring. Our first time we had little experience. You've gotta have a couple of nights at Butterfly Bay and Whitehaven Beach. There's plenty of exploring to be done.
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Reply By: Member - AJB (VIC) - Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:52
Wednesday, Sep 10, 2008 at 21:52
Did it in 1996 with three other couples. It was great. We all met up at Airle Beach and headed off the next morning. Two of the other couples had been before and again since so we got it a bit cheaper and they knew how to sail the thing. Anyway it was probably one of the best weeks we have spent on holidays. It was fairly cheap as I think it was about $3500 for the cat for the week which had all the food on board and we just sent the drink list and paid for that once there. We all had no kids at the time and I think it was the last time we were all "kidless" as a group.
Do it. You'll love it. The cat was good as we had great stability, four smallish bedrooms, bathroom on the port side and small lounge on the starboard but we spent almost all the time up on the deck as it was covered anyway. Went to Hayman, Hamiltion, Whitehaven, Long island and heaps of other
places. Snorkelling, swimming, fishing, beach cricket, drinking, singing, bushwalking yeah we were
young, it was great.
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Reply By: Towie - Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 07:51
Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 07:51
Oh can we come,can we, can we ha.. Go everyone who does just loves it, have to be a misserable bastard not too... Last time we took a 36foot cat out but it was a motorcruiser.
Great just turn the key and go, but its alot dearer and you dont get to sail. First time i would say get them to provision the boat you will have enough to worry about and do.
Fly to Prosipine and bus or hire car to Airlie look around for a day or so and sail East..
mmmm i remember taking an hour and half to find our boat one night in bleep rain.... be careful what they give you to drink at the resorts....very drunk - late at night - pooring rain - boat anchored some several hundred meters from shore - a maze of boats to sort out from ours and 5 of us in a tinny tender..... What a great time we had, then theres all the stuff mentioned by the others - you will want to live there... have fun
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Reply By: TerraFirma - Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 12:12
Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 12:12
Agree with all the comments above, if you have 3 families you will need big cat , make sure you get something with enough room to cater for the group. You haven't mentioned your experience so unless you have some you will not get access to all the boats as self skipper etc. (Crewed boats will be way dearer)
Given your enquiry I will assume you have sailing experience and that you want to sail and not motor cruise you should Google all the companies recommended above as they are all good and start to research which boat will suit your group and budget.
Weather is a crucial factor as it can spoil a holiday, the odd bad day is no big deal, you can anchor plenty of nice coves that are protected.
I have never really sailed a big cat all my experience is with mono hulls and
Sydney to Hobarts etc, so let us know a bit more info as per the above
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Follow Up By: Heefers - Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 22:12
Thursday, Sep 11, 2008 at 22:12
G'day Terra,
We are looking at a Perry 43 cat. By the photos they seem to be roomy enough for 3
young families. As for experience, myself and the other men of the group are in the Navy and all of us have navigation experience in Patrol Boats but limited sailing experience. We are looking at getting a sail guide for a few hours on our first day out just to "show us the ropes". After that I think our plan is to have no set plan and just cruise around for a few days, do a spot of fishing, a bit of snorkelling and a bit of island exploring as we see fit. Do you believe that the Perry will be big enough for 6 Adults and 5 under 3's and do you think that a few hours is enough to learn the basics of sailing a cat noting that we already have a fairly extensive knowledge of good seamanship?
A very big thanks goes out to Terra and everyone who has replied, you guys have cemented what we thought was a good idea and we are now champing at the bit to get out there.'
Cheers, Paul
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Follow Up By: TerraFirma - Friday, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:01
Friday, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:01
Hi Paul, Yes the Perry 43 looks ideal. Good seamanship is the most important issue , if it's too windy you can always motor.
Nail the weather and you'll have a ball.!
http://www.sailaustralia.com.au/perry43.htm
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Reply By: Isuzumu - Friday, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:36
Friday, Sep 12, 2008 at 11:36
Probably the most important thing about sailing in the Whitsundays is "Wind against Tide" always keep in mind when sailing thru, across any of the passages is if you get the wind and tide together it is great sailing, but get the wind against the tide, especially stronger winds and big tides and it can be most uncomfortable. Waiting a couple of hours for the tide you will pick up the time with a nice fast sail.
Also watch the bullets, strong gusts of wind, sailing out of Airlie in a fun race once was hit by a bullet in front of
Funnel Bay, put the spreads in the water and tore the main and head sail funny now but wasn't then hahahaha.
Cheers Bruce
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Reply By: Blue Gum - Monday, Sep 15, 2008 at 09:00
Monday, Sep 15, 2008 at 09:00
Given your experience, you'll be fine to have a couple of hours instruction to learn the ropes. This is without doubt one of the bets holidays you can have.
That being said, I was surprised to hear you say you'll have 5 under 3 kids on board. I think this will be a challenge in terms of safety.You can't be too careful. The parents will need to keep an eagle eye on the kids at all times. Life jackets on all the time when on deck. Is this realistic for 7 days for kids? Consider that many younger kids don't like life jackets and resist. They can also slip out of them too. Also consider that you can be sailing along very pleasantly and then moments later the boat can layed over on its side with a bullet (gust) and kids could be ejected from the cockpit in a flash. Altho, I just remembered you'll be on a cat so this is not likely but certainly is with a monohull. Also consider that it can be rough sometimes and kids could be thrown around a bit....whilst I'm sure it will be fun 99% of time, one moment of inattention from a little one could result in a fall.
The other thing to consider is living close quarters with kids could be a challenge. I'm father of boys 10, 6 & 4. My younger one has had enough of being on a boat after a day and starts whinging. Personally, I have held off bringing the younger kids on my
Whitsunday trips because of the safety issues and also to keep my sanity. Hooray for the grandparents.
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