About the Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday Islands

The Whitsunday islands are about 1100km north of Brisbane and about 700km south of Cairns, Australia.

The Whitsunday islands are recognized as one of the most safest and beautiful island regions in the world. The largest island group off the Australian east coast, they are a mountain range partially submerged at the end of the last ice age. Protected by the Great Barrier Reef they are very safe sailing grounds. 74 in number, many of the islands are national parks and uninhabited. Amazing scenery, hills of rainforest, ringed by white beaches and coral reefs. There are many calm bays in which our sailing boats will let you sleep for the night.

The small but bustling tourist town of Airlie Beach is the gateway to access the Whitsunday Islands. Airlie beach can be reached by road or by air. If by air you can select your destination as Proserpine, a small town about 20km inland from Airlie Beach, which is connected by a 20 minute ride in a shuttle bus. You can also select Hamilton Island which is connected to Shute Harbour by a 30 minute ferry ride, which is turn connected to Airlie Beach by a 15 minute bus ride.

All our sailing boats depart from Abel Point Marina, the local marina, only 10 minutes walk from Airlie beach.

Whitsundays Links

The links below are links to other useful Whitsundays sites on the internet. Remember to bookmark us in your favorites before leaving our site, or remember our address: www.mollocharters.com !

Getting to Airlie Beach and the Whitsundays

Flights

For flight schedules check the two airlines at www.virginblue.com.au and www.jetstar.com.au . Proserpine is listed as "Whitsunday Coast".

Proserpine Airport and the Whitsunday Transit bus

The closest airport to Airlie Beach in the Whitsundays would be Proserpine. Proserpine is a small cain farming town and it's airport is about 40km inland from Airlie Beach and is connected to Airlie Beach by a short ride in a Whitsunday Transit bus (see www.whitsundaytransit.com.au) bus that you can buy a ticket for at the Proserpine airport.

Hamilton Island and it's Ferry

Another airport is Hamilton Island which is connected to Shute Harbour by a ferry ride of around 1 hour and Shute Harbour is in turn connected to Airlie Beach by a short shuttle bus ride. Timetables for the ferry can be found at Blue Ferries at www.fantasea.com.au/ferries.htm. We suggest flying to Proserpine instead though as it is closer.

Bus down the Queensland coast

There are two bus companies that travel down the Queensland coast. One is the "Premier Motor Service" at www.premierms.com.au which leaves once a day. And Grey Hound Australia's service at www.greyhound.com.au which leaves about 6 times a day.

Whitsundays Parking

For secure parking in Airlie Beach you could try Airlie Central Secure Parking which can be phoned on 0437 083431. It costs about $40 for 3 days and 2 nights.

The Whitsunday islands holds some of the most beautiful islands and waterways in the world. This map shows the path we visit.

Whitsundays Accomodation

For Airlie Beach accomodation we can recommend Sunlit Waters at www.sunlitwaters.com

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