If you’re looking for something new and thrilling to try in 2025, here’s one newbie-sailor’s how-to guide to experiencing the best of Australia’s Whitsunday Islands by boat, writes Annabel Urquhart “If you get into strife, call us on the radio. We’ll probably read back to you what’s in your charter notes. It’s all there,” says Ryan, our fast-talking instructor with a tan and casualness that suggests he knows boats and these islands, like the back of his hand.
We’re seated around a large table on the rear deck of Coralita, the 12m sailing catamaran that will be our home for the next week. Ryan is providing our pre-departure briefing ahead of a seven-night bareboat charter with Whitsunday Escape . READ MORE: Why Mission Beach in Queensland is the new hot spot Island hopping throughout the Whitsunday archipelago is a trip I’ve longed to experience, but always discounted as too expensive, too impractical or simply (I’m not proud of this), too hard.
A chance dinner with old friends 12 months ago set the dream in motion and here we are at Coral Sea Marina in the small tourist town of Airlie Beach..
