Sailing to Whitehaven Beach via Hook Passage

There are two practical ways to get around to beautiful Whitehaven Beach on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island.  For those coming directly from Hamilton Island or one of the southern anchorages along the bottom of Whitsunday Island, there is Solway Passage which will bring you to the southern end of the beach.  In stronger southerly conditions or for those in smaller vessels, the northern route down the eastern side of Whitsunday Island is often much more comfortable.  An overnight in any of the anchorages close to Hook Passage makes the trip simple, remembering that there will be about four to six hours traveling involved for most of us.  My personal choice is to anchor in Macona Inlet on the southern side of Hook Island, and start from there.

Approaching the north end of Hook Passage.

Leaving Macona Inlet around daylight is a good way to begin a trip to Whitehaven Beach.  The early morning voyage around the corner and into Hook Passage is beautiful, especially if you have a calm morning.  Exit Macona along the western side past Curlew Beach to avoid the reef at the entrance, then keep well clear of the reef until you turn left into Hook Passage.  From there it is good water all the way past Hook Island Observatory.  Keep your eyes open as you travel north in Hook Passage,  On a clear day when there's no wind and not much tide, you just might see turtles and dolphns here.  I've even seen whales over the reef just at the point where you have to turn to enter the passage.  Take care at the north entrance/exit to Hook Passage.  If the wind is against the tide it can  get rough for a small trailer sailer.  This is rarely an issue early in the morning, but if you are making the trip and you have around twenty knots of breeze against the strongest part of the tide flow, it can be nasty.  If in doubt stay well away from the shore.  At least until you are on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island.

Follow the Whitsunday Island shore for about half a mile and you will make a small turn to the right, You'll see Border Island appear in the distance.  Continue to follow the coast for another mile and make another small turn to the right and you are now around on the eastern side of Whitsunday Island.

Heading down the east side of Whitsunday Island.

From here to the bottom end of Whitehaven Beach is almost nine nautical miles in a straight line.  Just off to port you will see a small island, Dumbell Island.  Steer so that you pass about mid way between that and the nearest point sticking out from Whitsunday Island.  You will be passing four headlands on the way to Whitehaven,  The last has a small island opposite.  This is Tongue Point and the little island is Esk Island.  If you hug the coast down here, you will add perhaps another mile and a half to your journey when you have to go out around Tongue Point.  It is simple to just stay off the coast a bit.

You will recognize Whitehaven as soon as you see it.

You probably won't see much of Whitehaven Beach until you pass between Esk Island and Tongue Point.  When it appears, you won't mistake Whitehaven for anything else.  There is six kilometres of sparkling white sand.  On a sunny day the contrast between the blues of the water, the greens of Whitsunday Island and the White of the sand is astounding. Immediately on your right, Hill Inlet almost cuts Whitsunday Island in half, reaching withing about a mile of turtle bay on the south side of the island.  From Tongue point it is about three and a half miles in a straight line to the southern end of Whitehaven. It will probably be around ten o'clock in the morning by the time you drop anchor at the southern end of Whitehaven beach.  The tourist boats will probably begin arriving a little closer to lunch time.

The water here is usually, though not always, very clear.  The bottom is the same fine white sand as the beach and it holds an anchor very well.  A keel boat can sneak in fairly close, but remember to check your tide.  A number of boats have been left standing or lying off Whitehaven by an outgoing tide.  Obviously a trailer sailer or multihull won;t have the same problem.  Be aware though that the first ten or twenty metres out from the shore can be fairly steep depending on the tide.  Anchor accordingly.

Depending on the tides and the weather you may decide to anchor off Whitehaven for the night, or spend a night in Tongue Bay or if you are in a Trailer Sailer or multihull, perhaps Hill Inlet.  If you left Macona Inlet or Cid Harbour at dawn,

Most people come and spend about four hours at Whitehaven Beach.  I often spend a week or two at a time there.  In another post I will let you in on some of the ways I fill in time at Whitehaven Beach.