I found the ultimate Whitsundays family cruise

Budding underwater explorers will love this small-ship cruise on the Great Barrier Reef.

With his hands tightly grasped around the other end of a pool noodle, my son Oliver tentatively sets off from the Whitsunday Explorer’s tender, heading towards the coral reef at Blue Pearl Bay, off the coast of Hayman Island. It’s his first time snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef – after an unsuccessful attempt a year earlier – and he’s understandably nervous. He begins edging closer and closer to me, taking up more and more of the foam flotation device. With his flippers also kicking into the side of my body, it feels a bit like co-sleeping.

After what feels like an eternity, we find ourselves floating above the UNESCO World Heritage-listed natural wonder, peering down at colourful coral illuminated by sunlight streaming through the water. Floating through the sheltered bay, we spot parrotfish nibbling algae off the reef, vibrant blue tang surgeonfish – made famous by the character Dory in the animated Pixar movie Finding Nemo – and humphead wrasse as big as sharks.

“This is amazing!” my six-year-old Octonauts addict cries when he lifts his head out of the water, just like one of the underwater explorers on the children’s animated television hit. “My favourite thing was the clam. It was blue!” Recognising a nearby snorkeller as Charlie, whom he’d befriended on board the Whitsunday Explorer the night before, he lets go and swims off, pushing the noodle – and me – aside. “I don’t want it anymore,” he says. I try not to take it personally.

We are among the last to return to the tender, where we wrap ourselves in towels to stay warm during the ride back to the ship, which is anchored in a nearby bay surrounded by the Whitsundays’ densely vegetated volcanic islands.

We’d boarded the vessel at Coral Sea Marina at Airlie Beach for our two-day cruise the previous afternoon. After settling into our spacious cabin, we’d joined other guests on the deck, sipping prosecco and feasting on citrus-glazed crocodile skewers and Cajun prawn and avocado croutons as we watched the sun sink over the horizon. There is no kids’ club on board, but the children amused themselves playing with a ten pin bowling set in the lounge area near the dining room, and games such as Connect 4, UNO and Pictionary.

It’s my son’s first time snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef and he’s understandably nervous. Picture: Riptide Creative.

Built in Hobart in 2009, the 42m Whitsunday Explorer was custom-designed for overnight cruises in New Zealand’s Bay of Islands. Explore Group, which began offering sailing experiences on former America’s Cup race yachts off the coast of Auckland in 2000, brought the ship to Australia in 2023 to meet growing demand for expedition-style cruises in the Whitsundays.

With just 30 cabins catering for up to 60 guests, it feels more like being on board a luxury boat than a ship. There are individual air conditioners in each cabin, so you can moderate the temperature to whatever suits, and you don’t have to battle thousands of other people at the buffet. Our obliging chef, Jamie, pops chicken fingers in the oven for the kids, while those of us with more mature tastes feast on Moroccan chicken tagine with sun-dried tomatoes and kalamata olives, slow-roasted pork belly with caramelised onion, and braised beef cheeks with honey-glazed baby carrots and herb-roasted cherry tomatoes.

Exploring aboard a small ship means you can navigate islands and access shallow bays that large megaships cannot get to, and provides greater opportunities for interaction with the crew. When dreadlocked guide Jack notices Oliver dawdling during a hike to the lookout at Hill Inlet, he promptly hoists him on his shoulders and gives him a ride the rest of the way, ducking to avoid low-hanging branches. Once at the top, we are treated to views of the inlet’s famous swirling pattern of striking turquoise water and white silica sand crafted by the wind and tides. 

Explore Group bought the 42m Whitsunday Explorer to Australia in 2023 to meet growing demand for expedition-style cruises in the Whitsundays. Picture: Brooke Miles Photography.

Oliver is more impressed by the stingrays gliding in the shallows when we get down to Betty’s Beach at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach, which regularly appears on lists of the world’s best beaches. He is also thrilled to see the crab holes dotted along the shore. “Look! There’s a thousand of them!” he squeals. While he wants to take the dead coral he finds home for show and tell, I remind him that we should “take only memories and leave only footprints”, so he asks me to capture a photo of him holding it to print out instead.

The trip is educational for kids and adults alike. We discover the Dreaming story of the area’s original inhabits, the Ngaro people, who believe Hill Inlet was created by a rainbow serpent slithering its way through Whitsunday Island. We learn that the Whitsunday Passage was named by explorer Captain James Cook (then a lieutenant) when he sailed through on the British Navy research ship HMS Endeavour in 1770, and that the place where we disembark, Tongue Bay, is a breeding ground for green sea turtles.

It’s the first time I’ve been on a small ship expedition cruise since becoming a mum, and it reminds me how much I relish this type of travel. Watching Oliver laugh as we bounce over the waves on the way back to the ship, I’m confident he’s inherited this passion.

The writer was a guest of Explore Group.

When does Whitsundays Explorer set sail?

Weekend cruises aboard the Whitsunday Explorer depart from Airlie Beach and Hamilton Island year-round. Its special two-night Whitsunday Family Escape departs on September 27, 2024.

Originally published as I found the ultimate Whitsundays family cruise