It is common practice in the tropics and the Whitsundays to enter a coral anchorage with the sun reasonably high in the sky (between 11-2 o'clock). Early morning or late afternoon approaches can be fraught with danger as it is difficult for the naked eye to pick up the presence of coral owing to the low angle of the sun... Always wear Polarised sunglasses to improve visibility.

The Whitsundays book '100 Magic Miles' breaks all Whitsunday anchorages into logical sequence by areas (a copy is supplied on every bareboat operating as a charter yacht in the Whitsundays). The detail in the charts is first class and little can go wrong if you follow the detailed advice given about each anchorage and follow the charts. Look for those anchorages that are likely to be suitable at the time of year you plan your Whitsunday sailing holidays.

You will notice that in our summary list 'Winter Anchorages, April to September'... the Whitsunday islands and anchorages to the south of the Hamilton Island resort have been deliberately left out. This has been done because the time constraints of a 5 - 10 day cruising holiday make it difficult to visit the southern anchorages if its your first time to the Whitsundays. It's difficult to combine a visit to both the northern and southern sections of the Whitsundays and still have an unhurried and pleasant cruising experience.

If you have 7-10 days, and you're planning a summer cruise (wind is predominately NW to East)... see table Whitsunday Wind Direction... you could make the choice to base your Whitsunday sailing holidays around the southern anchorages - these anchorages are more isolated, and not as frequently visited, so you could often have the anchorage to yourself. As a guide to a 7 day charter trip based around the southern part of the Whitsundays, you could review Cruising the southern anchorages.

For an overview of the Whitsunday Islands anchorages review the following summary Whitsunday maps and pages...

• Map Whitsundays - main reference
• Anchorages by Type
• Winter Anchorages, April to September
• Summer Anchorages, October to March

Leeway

The leeway you encounter on a Whitsundays yacht charter is the sideways movement of a vessel, which is caused by wind when your yacht is underway.

For example when a strong tidal flow ebbing north up the Whitsunday Passage combines with a 10 knot south easterly wind pushing your vessel sideways, you might find yourself in light winds going at 3 knots towards your destination and 2 knots to leeward! Work this into a 1.5 to 2 hour passage from Abel Point Marina to Nara Inlet and you can appreciate how you could end up in Stonehaven, or spending a half hour motoring into wind and tide to make you planned anchorage at Nara Inlet.

Understanding and allowing for leeway on a yacht charter around the Whitsunday Islands can help you get to your anchorage on time and avoid a last minute panic as the sun gets closer to setting. By making allowances of as much as 10-15 degrees on your course you will have a much better chance of sailing the thumb line... and this particularly applies if your charter yacht is a smaller and slower vessel.

Areas of particular note where uncalculated leeway could endanger your charter yacht

• The southern reef off Daydream Island
• Reefs surrounding Langford and Black Islands
• The waters surrounding ; 'The Beak' close to the entrance to Shute Harbour
• Roma Point at the southern tip of South Molle Island

To locate these references, see Whitsunday maps - Offshore hazards and tidal flow.

Tidal calculations

Even experienced navigators can get themselves confused with tidal calculations. So to understand them when you're light on bareboat yacht charter experience requires care. The large tidal range for the Whitsundays (about 4.2 metres in the main islands) means that it is critical that you have a good working knowledge of at least one method you can rely on, to be certain to avoid grounding when anchored and on a falling tide.

All tidal calculations in the Whitsundays are taken with Shute Harbour as the major port. To calculate the tidal range for a given day it is a simple matter to subtract the height at low water from the height at high water.

Extract from Tide Tables - Shute Harbour August 15, 2000

From these tables you can calculate tidal range

If your cruising takes you into areas south of Hamilton Island, a reasonably accurate method to determine tide is to simply add 50% to the Shute Harbour range for all anchorages to the south of Hamilton Island...

Before you can safely anchor you must understand how to use the tide tables to determine the tidal range for high and low water. To read about anchoring, refer to: Boat handling and manoeuvring

Location of public moorings in the Whitsundays

Anchorages by type in the Whitsundays

Winter Anchorages in the Whitsundays - April to September

*=Not available to vessels under 10 metres.
**=Enter and leave on the top half of a rising tide.

Summer Anchorages in the Whitsundays - October to March

Summer Season Wind Direction

*=Not available to vessels under 10 metres.
**=Enter and leave on the top half of a rising tide.