5 Tips for Picking the Perfect Whitsundays Sailing Experience
When researching which stops to make along our 2-week Australian road trip, pictures of one place in particular kept popping up across Google and completely blowing our minds. These images were of The Whitsundays...a group of 74 islands off the central coast of Queensland known for their dense rainforest, hiking trails, white sand beaches, and access to the Great Barrier Reef.
Whitehaven Beach is the especially iconic photo you may have come across. Pure white sand bars swirling amidst a bright blue bay — we’d never seen anything like it! The Whitsundays looked like one of the most idyllic places we’d ever seen, and we just knew we had to make it a stop.
Whitehaven Beach…like WHAT? Photos like this one completely convinced us we had to go here.
Sailing trips are one of the most popular ways to see the Whitsundays — but they can kinda break the bank. With tons of tour companies and individual tours to choose from, we were instantly overwhelmed and hesitant to commit to the price. Talk about first world problems. But the beauty of the area just kept bringing us back, and after HOURS of research we decided that a Whitsundays sailing trip would be one of our only big splurge experiences during our 3.5 months of travel. We’re SO happy we made that call.
Our tour included a quirky captain, an awesome crew of fellow travelers, the most unexpectedly delicious meals and snacks prepared by the first mate, days spent sailing and enjoying water activities, sunsets on the water while sipping wine, nights of stargazing, a hike to Whitehaven Beach where we swam with baby sharks and stingrays and basked in the glorious white sand, and several beautiful coral reefs where we snorkeled, kayaked and paddle boarded to our hearts’ content.
And lucky you…we’ve done all the research so you don’t have to. Read on for tips on how to book the best Whitsundays tour for you.
There are five main things to consider when comparing Whitsundays experiences...
1. Tour Company
Starting out your research can be super overwhelming because of how many tour companies there are. We did our sailing adventure with Sailing Whitsundays and had an amazing experience so we can safely recommend starting your search with them if the site looks strikes your fancy! If you’re like us, you like to compare allllll your options before making a final decision, especially for pricier experiences like this. If that’s the case, we’d recommend starting with one site and narrowing down your desired tour using the next steps below. Once you’ve found your favorite tour with one company, you can more easily compare what the other companies offer to see if it looks the same, better, or worse for the price.
2. Duration
This was the easiest factor for us to narrow down on. We knew we wanted more than one day so that we could experience multiple locations in the Whitsunday Islands without feeling rushed, but we felt that we didn’t need anything more than a two-day, two-night trip and started with that as a filter. We’ve seen everything from super quick one-day sailing experiences to three nights or more, so it just depends how much time and money you’re wanting to spend in the area. Two days and two nights was perfect for us!
3. Vibe
In our opinion, this is the most important factor in determining whether your experience will match your expectations. Looking for a party boat where everyone on board is an 18-35yo backpacker? A more intimate small group setting? A luxury yacht experience? A private charter? The Whitsundays sailing world is your oyster, so it’s important to think about what kind of environment you want to be in and who you want to be hanging out with. Personally, we’re a bit past our backpacker partying prime, but not necessarily seeking luxury experiences so we chose a small group tour. We were on the boat with the captain and first mate and eight other guests that happened to all be other couples, and it was a blast! It’s tight quarters so you’re hanging out with these newfound friends constantly, and we felt this group size was perfect for what we were looking for — a chill experience but also a chance to meet awesome fellow travelers.
4. Activities Available
Scuba certified and want to get some diving in? Rather stick to snorkeling, kayaking, and paddle boarding? Really want to try a sea-scooter? You’ll want to make sure the tour you choose has the activities you want available on board. Our boat was equipped with wetsuits, snorkeling gear, life vests, kayaks, and paddle boards. We got the chance to stop in several beautiful reefs to snorkel and do any other water activities we chose. After our less than awesome Great Barrier Reef experience, we were thrilled to see diverse and beautiful sea life and a much more relaxed snorkeling setting in The Whitsundays.
5. Type of Vessel
This is probably the least important decision point, but still something you’ll want to look into. Once we’d narrowed down to a couple of our top choices for tours and checked the availability, the only remaining factor was that one was on a catamaran and the other was on a traditional monohull sailboat. We ended up using the tour company’s chat support to ask about what the difference was, and found that the experience is pretty much the same regardless of the type of vessel you’re on. The monohull’s shape makes for faster sailing if you want to get that more traditional sailing experience — but you get to sail on the catamaran too as well as long as the winds are right. The only other difference we can think of is slight variation in size of the bedrooms, but they’re all small anyway and you’ll only be in them to sleep. We loved the catamaran because we got to spend time with the fellow passengers laying out on the net in front at night, looking up at the gorgeous sky and counting shooting stars.
If you’re going to be in the area, we’d highly recommend considering a Whitsundays trip. We’ll always remember it as one of our most romantic, fun, relaxing, and beautiful excursions. Hopefully this guide helps you narrow down all the options to find the perfect tour for you.
Got any Whitsundays stories to share or tips we might’ve missed? Leave a comment below or on our latest Instagram post!
Happy travels!
