Sea Kayaking Whitsundays

Whitsundays is at the southern tip of the Great Barrier Reef. It consist of 74 emerald pine forested islands surrounded by white beaches and turquoise water. Most of the islands are undeveloped with only a few scattered resorts. The most popular way to see the islands are through sailing and yacht tours. We chose to go on a seven day independent kayaking tour. What better way to see the islands then to explore it ourselves?

We paddled out of Shute Harbor with all of our camping gear and Parker's fishing gear, seven days of food and water, our snorkel gear and a liter of sunscreen, a copy of Shantaram for me and Noble House for Parker and of course island inspired cocktails. Our 5 km paddle to our first island, S. Molle Island, was a good indicator of the adventure to come. The first couple of days were overcast, windy and the waves were big.


We made it safely to Sandy beach on S. Molle Island. Parker wasted no time and immediately casted out a line. Within minutes I heard him yelling that he hooked on something "HUGE"! We quickly realized that it was a sea turtle. We were worried that the turtle had swallowed the hook. We fought the poor thing for a good 20 minutes. Fortunately Parker only hooked the inside of the shell and we were able to set it free.

Day two was our big day to cross the Whitsunday Passage. The passage is known for it's crazy currents and tides. It was 10km to Henning Island and the weather was not promising. We checked the tide charts and went for it. We knew right away that we were in for a ride. The ocean is so deceiving, the waves were huge. Since I was up front I got most of the action. For the next three hours, I was assaulted by 3-4 foot waves. The nose of the kayak would climb the 4 footer, then it would dive 2ft into the water on the other side of the wave and the next wave would crash over my head. The waves came at me as if in slow motion but there was no escape. Parker and I paddled non-stop for three hours.

The rest of our trip was not as traumatic. We did have a couple of rough patches around some of the points but we were closer to shore. I was in awe of the beauty and danger of the water. We discovered a leak in our boat but we worked around it. Unfortunately, my camera stopped working so I only got a couple of shots. Major bummer. But the weather started to clear and we were finally able to relax on the beach. Our only real concern was checking the tides before we paddle out. Otherwise, we were on "island time". We read, fished, snorkeled and baked in the sun. Parker caught nine fish in one hour. He was in Parker heaven.

We paddled about 80 kms around the Whitsunday Islands. Now we know why people go on a tour or take a barge to the islands but we wouldn't have done it any other way. It was an unforgettable sea kayaking experience. We paddled over the Great Barrier Reef with dolphins, sea turtles and giant Manta Rays. We had most of the islands to ourselves. We had a few visitors during the day but at the end of the day they would pack up and go back to their resorts. At sunset we waved to passing yachts and sailboats from our very own beach on our private island.