Sailing Log Week 1 – Self Sailing Whitsundays

Sailing Log Week 1 – Self Sailing Whitsundays

This space has been a great outlet to share international travel experiences and bring a purposeful sense of meaning to my photography habits.

However, unlike most blogs out there, I never intended to write down my personal travel plans or week-to-week happenings.

But after landing in Mackay last week and spending my first seven days doing lots of sailing on Queensland's Coral Coast, I had the idea that sharing a more detailed and personal experience could be beneficial to many, especially those who want to do some sailing in the Whitsundays themselves.

That's why I've decided to create a small series of posts dedicated to my time living on a boat and sailing from Mackay to Daintree.
alt="yourself sailing Whitsundays">

What's the plan?

I flew into Mackay and went straight to the boat harbor to meet my parents. They left their belongings behind in Brisbane and set off to live on Malaika, a 50-foot home-built steel motor sailer.

Malaika and crew have already spent the last two months sailing up the coast from Brisbane, so I'm joining the trip a little later.

The general plan is to accompany the sail from Mackay via Cairns and Port Douglas to the Daintree River.

We're not strapped for time, so it's more about how much we can see and do during the trip than how quickly we get there. However, rough estimates suggest it should take around two months.
alt="Mackay Coast Aerial Photographs">

The ship – Malaika

Malaika was built in my family's backyard starting in 2004 and launched in 2014. She was largely my father's project, but this quickly became a family ordeal, with most of us spending our weekends trying to build her from scratch in some way.

While it would have been much easier to buy a boat, my parents' dream of sailing the seas wouldn't be as epic as building their own boat for the first time.
alt="Aerial drone shot of Malaika ">
She is definitely unique. The heavy steel hull, high helm and scrap-rigged schooner rig will definitely turn some heads and raise a few cameras as she sails by.
alt="sunset drone shot of the sailboat malika">

READ MORE: What it's like to sail up the east coast of Australia

The first week of self-sailing Whitsundays

Aside from the introductions, the first week was mostly spent getting my sea legs. By now the crew, consisting of my parents and two dogs, were already well adapted to life on the water.
old=““>
So far, self-sailing in the Whitsundays has offered calm, sunny and hot weather. This was a nice tropical change from cold and gloomy Sydney. The anchorages offer relatively peaceful protection from the southern trade winds that can blow through.
alt="Self-sailing on Keswick Island">

Keswick and Brampton Island

After arriving in Mackay we sail to Keswick Island, approximately 15 nautical miles away. Keswick and the neighboring island of St Bees are one of the first shared anchorages for cruise ships sailing the Whitsunday Islands themselves.
alt="Sunset on the Isle of Keswick">
The next day we drove to Brampton Island. It seemed as if with every northern nautical mile gained the water became a lighter shade of blue.

Brampton itself was once home to a large and popular resort town. Due to cyclone damage, the owners decided to pack it up and abandon it. For us that meant going ashore and examining the remains.
alt="Brampton Island abandoned resort">
Coconut palms and pristine island huts on the beach remained, but no tourists were in sight.

The anchorage outside the deserted resort was fairly sheltered. However, we still had some strong residual winds and swells at night.

Brampton Island to Outer Newry Island

I was able to get a decent LTE and 4G connection on tiny remote Philippine islands and even in the Everest Himalayan region. But now that I was back in Australia, I couldn't seem to find a bar on Brampton Island.

Since I work an online schedule, we were forced to return closer to the mainland for the weekend. We chose Outer Newry Island for its well-protected anchorage in strong southerly winds and good internet connection.
alt="Outer Newry Island">
alt="Exterior Newry Island drone photo">
We spent the next few days working on a laptop on the boat. We also had time to kayak, fish and explore the seemingly deserted islands off the coast.

Goldsmith – Back to the Islands

After a few days in Outer Newry we were done with the work. This meant we were ready to sail the Whitsundays ourselves again.

It took about five hours of great sailing with 15 knots of southerly wind on our beam to reach Goldsmith Island. Another epic island with gum hills surrounded by turquoise waters.

We spent the day kayaking around the reef, enjoying the white sand beach and solid ground beneath our feet. The next plan is to continue through the Lindeman Group and into Hamilton and the Whitsunday Islands.
alt="Self-sailing on Keswick Island">
alt="Sunset on the Isle of Keswick">

alt="pinterest we are looking for travel pin yourself sailing Whitsundays">
.