When thinking about Australia, if you’re picturing gorgeous white sand beaches with bright blue water, snorkeling with vibrant fish and coral, and picturesque scenery, you’re picturing Whitsundays, a picture-perfect Australian coastal town located in Queensland, Australia.
Although being a small town, Whitsundays attracts tourist from all over the world for its amazing beaches and perfect scenery. One of the main attractions of Whitsundays is sailing around the Whitsundays Islands. Whitsundays is comprised of 74 islands, nearly all of them being inhabited, so to be able to explore the stunning area, sailing trips have become the go-to in Whitsundays.
My partner and I were able to sail around Whitsundays for a 2-night, overnight sailing adventure with ISail Whitsundays. ISail Whitsundays is a family-owned and operated company. They differentiate themselves with being known for their intimate sailing experience and truly having you experience the islands and the people you’re traveling with. The sailing groups are under 10 individuals (plus 2 crew members) which truly allows for an intimate, more personal sailing experience around the Whitsundays area.
We were aboard the Entice Catamaran for our two-night sailing adventure. We stayed in the private double room with an attached ensuite. There are a few different options for different style rooms for different needs and budgets. There are more affordable accommodations in the “shared” accommodation with triple or double beds and a shared bathroom, along with a more family-style suite with multiple beds and a private ensuite as well.
The rooms were obviously not large, but they were bigger than what I was expecting for a sailboat. There was plenty of storage for our items and we were told ahead of time to only pack lightly in a small, soft bag. We were able to drop off our hardshell luggage at the travel agency prior to boarding the sailboat so we didn’t have to worry about bringing all of our possessions with us on the trip.
Our sailing adventure started at the Coral Sea Marina around 3:30 PM where we were told to meet prior to boarding. While waiting, we were able to meet the other passengers of our sailing adventure, which was great to start to get to know everyone’s background, where they’re traveling to, etc.
Having a small intimate group of people for a sailing adventure not only makes the experience more personal, but I personally think, makes it so much more enjoyable.
Since we were such a small group, the boat didn’t feel crowded and we were able to spend time getting to know everyone, eating dinner together, and playing games with everyone on the sailboat.
After boarding, we were showed our rooms and given a small tour of the catamaran. Along with the bedrooms, there was a sitting area out the back perfect for dining and lounging while sailing, stairs to get on and off the boat, paddleboards and canoe for water sports, and a large area upfront perfect for sunbathing and taking in all the amazing scenery. The front was definitely a popular spot in our group, where we all like to gather and watch the sunrise and set each day.
For the first afternoon, we sailed to our first location where we’d stay for the night. We sailed for a few hours until we put the anchor down for the night. For the rest of the evening, we ate a delish salmon dinner and played a few card games with everyone on board.
The next morning we woke up fairly early to watch the sunrise. Breakfast was around 7 am both days, so early mornings are a norm on the sailboat. After breakfast, we headed to the Hill Inlet Lookout, a popular short hike to see Whitehaven Beach. On the boat, it’s a barefoot boat, meaning you don’t wear shoes at all onboard for safety reasons. You are told to bring flip flops for the Hill Inlet hike, although there are pebbles on the walk, it’s a short enough walk on a mostly-dirt trail, that I decided to walk barefoot on the trail as well.
The sailing itinerary is always changing due to tide and weather conditions, however, the Hill Inlet and Whitehaven Beach is always a set destination for the ISail sailing trips, which is great because Whitehaven Beach is something that should not be missed at all.
If you haven’t heard of Whitehaven Beach, you might have seen pictures of it before as it’s the Second Most Beautiful Beach in the World and it is truly breathtaking. With its bright blue water and white sand beach, it’s someplace that you cannot visit Whitsundays or even Australia in my opinion, without seeing.
There are day trips that you can take out and sail to Whitehaven Beach, but with those being time-restricted and expensive, the overnight sailing trip allowed us to spend plenty of time exploring this beautiful beach. There were a few groups at the lookout when we were there and exploring the beach for a little bit, but due to the tides and restrictions on where boats can anchor, they were only able to be there for a short amount of time.
After exploring the lookout, we headed to Esk Island for our first snorkel stop. All equipment needed for snorkeling is included in the sailboat. This includes wet suits specific for the season, (in the Summer jellyfish are out so the suits protect against stings, while in the Winter when we went, they’re thicker to protect from the cold). That being said, although the temperature outside was perfect and sunny, the water was cold, so wearing a suit was definitely essential for snorkeling.
There are also life jackets available for both kids and adults. I chose to use a life jacket because I find it so much easier just to float along and view the coral and fish. If you like to dive down and get a closer view, obviously you wouldn’t want a life jacket.
After snorkeling for a bit, we were greeted with a delish chicken lunch. One of the things that surprised me on the sailing trip is how delicious the food was and how much there was of it. We were told that you can BYO alcohol and snacks, and we brought a bit of both, but we didn’t really touch our snacks because we were never hungry with the plentiful of snacks throughout the day and large satisfying meals for lunch and dinner.
After lunch, we headed back to Whitehaven Beach for some water sports. We were able to swim out to the beach, paddleboard, or take the small boat over to the area to spend a couple of hours.
This is definitely something you don’t get with the day tours to Whitehaven.
We had practically the whole beach completely to ourselves as day tours had already come and gone from the area.
Our time on Whitehaven Beach was some of the best memories that I had of the trip. Not only is this beach literally breathtakingly beautiful, but having the whole beach entirely to ourselves was unforgettable. The ten of us enjoyed the afternoon using the paddleboards as surfboards and caught some waves, going on walks, and sunbathing. Having this time to spend in the places we as a group wanted, is definitely only something you can get with a small sailing group.
After our afternoon on Whitehaven Beach, we headed out to our next anchor spot for the night. During our journey, we were able to spot some whales since it was whale season, which was pretty amazing. I remember hearing from one of the guests on the boat saying that this was one of their top 5 days ever and I have to admit, it was a pretty awesome day.
This night we all slept really well from being exhausted from our day’s activities. Every room has windows so you’re able to get fresh air and cool down the room at night. Especially with it being Winter, packing layers was definitely needed to be comfortable as soon as the sun went down and with the wind.
The next morning, we woke up to stunning views of islands all around us. That’s the amazing thing about sailing, you don’t know how stunning the area is around you at night until you wake up in the morning. After breakfast, we spent some time doing water sports like paddleboarding and the see-through canoe, which was really cool to get to see the reef. We then had another snorkeling session in an incredible reef. The first spot we were able to see some really cool fish and coral, but this second spot was amazing with the amount of wildlife there. We were able to also see some sea turtles in the water too which was a highlight as well.
After snorkeling for as long as we wanted, we made our way back to Coral Sea Marina. This was a couple of hours journey and we enjoyed it with sunbathing, taking in the scenery and also taking turns sailing the boat, which turns out to be a lot more work than I expected!
At the end of our journey, we exchanged emails with our sailing group and left with tons of amazing memories.
Sailing around Whitsundays is extremely popular and the best way to see the Whitsundays area. Although day packages may seem more financially doable in the moment, especially for younger couples or families, the experience and the inclusions you get with the ISail Sailing Adventure is not only definitely worth the price, but actually extremely cost-effective too.
With accommodations for two nights, all food, snorkeling tours, Whitehaven Beach tours, paddleboarding etc, all those items added up would end up costing a lot more, let alone would be likely with much larger crowds and shorter tours of the area.
For a very reasonable price, you’re not only getting so much more with ISail Whitsundays, but you’re getting to experience Whitsundays in a truly personal way with snorkelling as long as you want, input with the destinations you’d like to see, hands-on sailing experience with helping set up the sails and sailing the boat, and doing the activities that your group wants to do instead of a super-structure plan.
Along with the value for the money and the personal aspects, the crew was amazing as well and super friendly. Isabella and Inny were our crew for our sailing trip. Isabella and her husband own the company and because it’s a family-owned company, they’re really hands-on and you can see, truly care about the experience of their guests. Isabella was able to answer any questions we had about sailing and the Whitsundays area and both Isabella and Inny made the experience extra memorable with their friendly conversations and joining in in our group dinners and game nights.
With sailing being one of the most popular options in Whitsundays, there are a lot of different companies you can choose from. With our experience of our whole trip, I definitely recommend the ISail Sailing trips for anyone looking to experience Whitsundays in the best way possible.
Things to Note:
Packing: Packing lists were provided to us beforehand. Especially in the Winter, packing warmer clothes is definitely essential since when the sun goes down, it gets pretty cool on the water. We were also told to pack in a small, soft bag as there isn’t any room to store suitcases.
Along with standard items like bathing suit and shorts, I recommend packing the following for your sailing adventure:
- Reuseable water bottle
- Camera
- Sunscreen
- Hat with strap
- Sunglasses
- Beach towel
- Jacket
- Pants
- Alcohol or any drinks you want during your trip
Motion Sickness: To be honest, I was a little nervous about our sailing trip. During my previous reef tour in Port Douglas earlier this year and whale watching, although I took natural ginger tablets, I still felt extremely nauseous the whole trip. I talked to my doctor before the trip and got prescribed motion sickness medicine and didn’t feel at all sick during the trip. The trip was fairly smooth, but if you’re at all worried, I would rather be safe than sorry and talk to your doctor beforehand. If you’ve never suffered from motion sickness before, I wouldn’t worry about getting sick at all as conditions aren’t bad at all.
Weather: We sailed in Winter, which I think is a great time to go. Not only in Winter do you not have to worry about jellyfish (although getting stung is pretty rare), but sleeping at night is great because of the cool breeze. Although with Winter you have to make sure to pack layers for as soon as the sun goes down, during the day, the weather was absolutely perfect being around 75-80 degree F and sunny. So just because you hear that it’s Winter in Australia, don’t think that you’ll be cold.
Not only do I highly suggest if you’re planning a trip to Australia or if you live in Australia, visiting Whitsundays, but definitely recommend adding a sailing trip around the Whitsundays Islands to your itinerary. We had the best time with ISail Whitsundays and I cannot recommend them enough. If you would like to see more from our Whitsundays Adventure, make sure to subscribe to my blog and you can also check out highlights from our Whitsundays Trip by checking out my Instagram Highlights.
Our Wandering Mind got the amazing opportunity to partner with Whitsundays Tourism and ISail Whitsundays for our Whitsundays Adventure. As always, all thoughts and opinions are completely my own.
