The longer it is sub-freezing and windy here in New York City, the more I am thinking back to one of the most relaxing, warm and stress-free days of my entire life – at the gorgeous Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands. The Whitsundays are a cluster of small landmasses about 560 miles north of Brisbane, reachable by plane to Hamilton Island (Exhibit A. – minuscule landing strip below):
With Hamilton Island as our hub, we explored the Whitsundays and its unique offerings…one of them being close-ish proximity to the Great Barrier Reef. But we can’t go to the reef everyday (it wouldn’t be as special, and well frankly, it’s just expensive), so an alternative excursion is to spend the day at beautiful Whitehaven Beach.
If you do a Google image search of Whitehaven Beach (I’ll wait…go ahead), two things you’ll notice right away are bright aqua water and glowing white sand. The contrast between these elements is what makes the 7Km strip so famous. That, and the fact it is located on an uninhabited island (Whitsunday Island) make it all the more exotic. Also, no palm trees…kind of weird!
Approaching Whitehaven Beach....with no dock, also wondering how we get from our large motor catamaran to the beach.
But back to reality! What these pictures don’t show…is that getting to Whitehaven Beach is not always a picnic. In fact, it’s pretty much the opposite – especially when there’s high wind in the open seas, as was the case when we were in town. The FantaSea Cruises trip to Whitehaven starts out with a delicious BBQ on the boat, during which the captain explains that there’s a “bit o’ wind” and that it “may be a rough go” for about “30-40 minutes.” The quotes are meant to imply huge understatements.
Cue Karen and James sharing a booth with a young family whose children probably ate more than their weight in chicken kabobs and then, surprise, are feeling a bit woozy from the rocking of the boat. (Rocking? I mean, Perfect Storm movie-type thrashing in the water.)
Cue the staff handing out barf bags to everyone. Oh fun! I don’t usually get seasick, but even this trip bothered me a little after 45 minutes or so. It was hard to accept that the beautiful ocean could be so brutal when it was hot and sunny outside. But unfortunately, it was a bad scene for the kiddos. The FantaSea staff rolled with the punches and were super personable, acting as though it was just another day for them (one of them commented that the boat that went all the way to the reef that day would be dubbed the “vomit comet” – oh…haha!).
James and I left the indoor cabin for some fresh air (a few older folks had even made good use of their barf bags by this point) and we were enjoying the approach to Whitehaven when we heard a splash and I felt a little spray on my leg. Yup, a little kid had puked up his BBQ right next to me and down the back of FantaSea’s pristine catamaran. Sigh.
But then there was this, and it was all better…
Well…until the ride home. But sometimes you have to suffer for beauty, though when that expression was coined I don’t think they were referring to this particular situation.
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Anyhow, we spent the day at Whitehaven taking photos of the beach, of ourselves, of James’ muscles, of my toes in the sand, of the beautiful yachts in the bay, and then of the beach again. We read a little, went for a walk in the perfect sand, dipped in the clear blue water while praying we didn’t get stung to death by jellyfish, and overall just relaxed (except for the worrying about jellyfish). It was probably one of the most prefect days ever!
I wasn't kidding about the pictures of James' muscles! Meet Booth and Oswald, "two deadly assassins."
Some people think all beach photos look the same, but this particular beach is by far my all-time favorite…the pure-white silica sand was so soft, it acted like a pillow. It was so fine – almost like dust – that it blew in crazy formations on the ground (and OK, got stuck to everything in sight, but it was pretty).
Our own private beach for the day...sort of!
Another thing I should mention, which we didn’t get to see because of the tides, is that on the other side of Whitehaven Beach lies Hill Inlet, one of the most famous landscapes in Australia. This aerial shot from Google shows how the water forms beautiful designs in the sand as the tide recedes. If your timing is right, a helicopter over this sight is worth it!
Hill Inlet
Ordinary Life, Extraordinary Travels 