Tropical yachting's a breeze in the Whitsundays

BRIAN Johnston hoists sail for the Whitsundays and finds it is possible to run away to a Pacific island and spend your days sailing between tropical bays.

Man, is it Friday?... make like Robinson Crusoe and lose yourself on one of the 70-odd islands of the Whitsundays. Picture: Queensland Tourism

SO, here's your choice. You can set your alarm and have it shriek in your ear on a cold winter's morning. You can wolf down your soggy cereal, wait for a late train, and spend the day with sneezing colleagues and dull paperwork.

Or, then again, you could run away to a Pacific island and spend your days sailing between tropical bays.

You could enjoy a leisurely breakfast of fresh mango as you dabble your toes in the ocean, and not give your boss another thought – well, not for a while, anyway.

How? Get on a plane and head to Hamilton Island off the Queensland coast.

By the time you've ambled out of arrivals at the tiny airport, your baggage is already appearing. A woman in a hibiscus-coloured blouse will whisk you off in a golf buggy (no trains here, thank you very much) and down to the marina in minutes.

Then you clamber aboard a Sunsail yacht and, with a pop of a champagne cork, your bow will shortly be pointing in the direction of some promising green islands and the big blue yonder.

Of course, it may be that you don't know your starboard from your stern, or how to haul a lanyard – if the yacht even has one. Never mind: you have a skipper to sail your 50-foot yacht for you, though you can help him if you like.

(Did I mention you also have a chef to whip up gourmet meals of fresh seafood and steak?)

You don't need to know whether your vessel has an in-mast furling mainsail, though it has. What you really need to know is, does the yacht have a fridge for all your beer? The answer is yes, it certainly does.

In short, if you want to sail but don't know how, then a Sunsail Luxury Crewed Cabin Cruise is the answer to all your troubles.

All you have to do is bring your own alcohol with you. Soft drinks and meals are all provided, as is equipment for snorkelling, windsurfing and kayaking. Cabins have en-suite showers though, frankly, little room to move about.

In any case, you'll spend most of your time in the lounge or up on deck, lolling on the cushions like a pasha as the Whitsundays drift past. There isn't even a fixed itinerary, leaving you to wander as your spirit (or the wind) takes you.

With plenty of sheltered bays to skulk in, not even seasickness is a downside to life on the ocean wave. And with a maximum of eight guests on board, those packed commuter trains will soon be a distant memory.

So off you go into the 70-odd islands of the Whitsundays. There are hundreds of bays, beaches and coral headlands, and the warm waters form a protected marine park.

Only a half-dozen islands are home to resorts, while the rest are uninhabited and covered in dry eucalypt forest where birds nest, colourful butterflies flutter, and monitor lizards bask in the sun.

The first afternoon might bring you to Nara Inlet on Hook Island, where hoop pines and eucalypts are dense on the hillsides. Once anchored in the bay, you can take the kayak off the deck and paddle away on your own.

You're likely to be the only soul in sight as you gaze along a coastline of scalloped rocks, where shoals of finger-length fish lurk. Mangroves dance above the water on long legs.

Next morning, the sky is eggshell blue, and there's no noise but the wind in the trees and the little "plop!" of surfacing fish. The only alarm clock is the screech of a bird from the hillside.

Sit in the breeze on deck and have a pot of coffee with toast, muesli and a freshly prepared fruit salad as the morning sun comes over the hill.

Then haul anchor (well, watch it being hauled, anyway) and sail past Hayman Island to the northern coast of Hook Island. This is often a port of call for some snorkelling. Slip into the water and watch batfish loiter around you, and a huge wrasse cruise along with pouting purple lips.

The night might be spent off Boulder Island, where you can take the dingy onto the coral beach and drink a few beers as you watch the sunset.

As the sky fades, it's time for dinner: antipasti on the deck, then coral trout with ratatouille, baked potato and salad. No need to wash up, of course; the dishes just vanish into the galley, courtesy of your chef.

All you have to do is lie back on the netting at the front of the yacht, listen to jazz music floating up from the lounge, and let the night stars dazzle you.

Every island has its own attractions, but a stop at Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island is a highlight, and almost always on the itinerary.

The water here shines like a Hollywood swimming pool, and the sand is so fine and white that it feels like washing powder under your feet. It even squeaks as you walk along the beach, leaving footprints behind like Man Friday.

The water is very shallow off Whitehaven – a good place to have a go at windsurfing, using the yacht's own windsurf board.

As you heave and struggle with the sail, turtles surface languidly as if wondering what all the cursing is about.

Whitehaven Beach can get busy with day-trippers from resort islands, but this cruise leaves the bay all to you by late afternoon, with perhaps just another couple of yachts anchored at a distance. Time for some champagne on the beach as the sun sets over the purple headlands, turning the waves to pink.

In the morning, the sun comes up over water blue as the sky above it. There isn't a tour boat or a tout in sight. The only crowd here is a shoal of orange-and white striped clownfish sailing sedately over a bed of purple sea urchins: rush hour in the Whitsunday Islands.

The writer was a guest of Sunsail.

The Sunday Telegraph