In June 2019, I visited my older brother, Jake, in Sydney, Australia where he was living and working at the time. During this 10-day period, I visited Sydney, Melbourne, and Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays. My best friend from college, Caroline, flew out to join me in Australia, so we could travel Southeast Asia together. We had just earned our Open Water Dive certification in Costa Rica that spring, and we thought it would be specular to dive the Great Barrier Reef. Jake had also recently completed his certification, so we planned our trip out to Airlie Beach with a couple of excursions in mind.
Booking the Whitehaven Beach Tour
We were only in the Whitsundays for a weekend, and we knew that we wanted to spend one of those days diving the Great Barrier Reef. After doing some research, we discovered that Whitehaven Beach was a prime destination nearby. This beach is often ranked as one of (if not) the most beautiful beaches in the world. We hoped to find an excursion that could take us to this beach on the other day we had available.
Unfortunately, the weather was not incredible during our selected weekend. Because it was off-season heading into winter, it was a bit cloudy and rainy, so not as many tour providers were going out as usual. My brother managed to find a dive tour to book us on, and I took charge of the Whitehaven Beach tour.
It took a little bit of perusing before I found a tour titled, “Day Sail Snorkeling & Whitehaven Beach” through a provider called Mr. Travel. It was an all-day tour, included lunch, and had all the stops we were seeking (primarily Whitehaven Beach and some snorkeling in the area). It seemed perfect, and I booked it without a thought.
Starting Our Tour from Airlie Beach
On the morning of the tour, I woke up with a migraine and felt like I’d rather do anything else besides get in cold ocean water. Yet, that wasn’t an option. How many times would I visit the Whitsundays in my life?
Rather moodily, I got ready for the day with everything we’d need. I wore a bathing suit and then dressed in pants, a sweater, and a rain jacket over it because of the weather outside. I also brought my GoPro and some other small necessities. We then headed down to the dock area where we’d been told to meet the tour.
After some initial disorganization, we were boarded the Providence V, which the tour called a “sailing vessel.” Jake joked that it looked much more like a “pirate ship” to him. It had a large sail, wooden deck, and cabin below the main deck. It was large enough for the 20 or so people on the tour plus the crew.
We started sailing out of the harbor, and the crew pulled out breakfast. My head still hurt but it was slowly improving. Jake and Caroline were in jovial moods, feeding off each other. The outlook of the day was promising.
Caroline and me on the “pirate ship”
Hitting Rough Sea
We had been sailing for roughly 20 to 25 minutes when the crew announced that we could potentially hit “rough sea.” They put away most of the breakfast items and offered to stow any non-water-resistant items in the cabin below. This should have been the first clue that something may go awry. I had never been on a boat before that took on any type of water, and only seconds before my phone and bag disappeared from the upper deck, large quantities of water were splashing on the deck.
The boat was aggressively rocking back and forth, people were screaming, and we were all drenched within minutes. The breakfast fruit, which hadn’t been put in the cabin, was sitting on the wood platform behind my head. Jake had taken charge of holding it as the boat rocked back and forth to prevent it from dumping on me. Unfortunately, the rocking had become so intense that most people had taken to bracing with their feet and hanging on with both hands to stay steady.
At one point, amid the chaos, we locked eyes and I told him to “Get rid of the fruit!” so he could hold on better.
And he responded, “But what do I do with it?!”
Not wanting to throw it anywhere that would hit someone or potentially pollute the ocean, he ended up throwing it onto the deck where it slid against one of the railings. He ended up holding it there with his foot for the rest of the trip, which was an additional hour out to the beach (1.5-2 hours total).
Enjoying Whitehaven Beach
Whitehaven Beach is located in Whitsundays Island National Park in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef. In addition to being one of the best beaches in the world, it’s also been voted the world’s top eco-friendly beach and Queensland’s cleanest beach. Pictures of Whitehaven Beach are often famous for their impossibly white sand, which is washed by swirls of turquoise, blue, and green water. The sand is 98 percent white silica, which gives it a brilliant (almost luminescent) color.
When we arrived at Whitehaven, we were sopping wet, and everyone was ready to get off the boat. To this day, I wish I looked better on this trip so that I had any photos of me physically on the beach, but all the photos we attempted to take looked like we had been submerged in water (in our clothing) for the past couple of hours. In all honesty, that isn’t too far from the truth.
We spent about 45 minutes to an hour exploring the beach, and Jake even took a dip. For being one of the most famous and beautiful beaches in the world, Whitehaven was shockingly empty. Its remote location is most likely the reason for that.
After we got back on the boat, we headed off to a snorkeling spot where we were able to swim for an additional 45 minutes or so. The visibility was average, and it was nice to have some time off the boat again. When we returned to the boat, the crew had lunch prepared.
I’m always pleasantly surprised by the lunches that are often offered on these boat excursions. This was a bento-box style lunch, and I enjoyed nearly every little compartment immensely.
The adventure was coming to an end, and we were preparing to head back to Airlie Beach.
Returning to the Pirate Life
For the entirety of the trip, Jake joked about the “pirate ship” we were on. And it didn’t disappoint on the way back. We hit rough sea once again and huge waves were once again coming right over the sides of the boat. We did our best to make the most of it — singing the Game of Thrones theme song and any other applicable tunes. Still, we returned to the harbor looking like drowned rats.
The crew thanked everyone for their attitudes and resilience as things “got a little dicey.” You could tell that not everyone on the boat had taken the day in stride. While Jake said it was “one of the most fun experiences he’d ever had,” there were some passengers who had gotten seasick or were terrified of the rough seas. Certainly not their idea of a perfect day.
I guess it won’t be a pirates’ life for them.
The three of us scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef the day after our pirate ship adventure