Broad Horizons

Whitehaven Beach

It's a glorious morning so we motor across Whitehaven Bay and anchor Bristol Rose off the northern end and dinghy to the southern corner of Whitehaven Beach where we see some kayakers preparing to leave.  We strike up a conversation with a couple from the Marquesas.  Their business is Kayak Polynesia.  Their companion is Zack Kruzins.  Yep that really is his name, pretty easy to remember as he's cruizin around in his kayak!

Crossing an ocean in a sailboat is one thing.  Paddling a kayak across the ocean, even island to island in the Whitsundays, is entirely different.  These adventurers have my utmost respect.  I wonder about the little things such as comfort levels, energy levels, keeping well hydrated and managing basic bodily functions over long periods of time.  Best not to think too much about it!

We can check the boxes from one exotic location to the next but travel is more than the sights.  For me it's about the people we meet along the way and the experiences shared.  Spending even a short time with someone who looks at life and the life around us from a different perspective can broaden our horizons.  I love how travel presents opportunities to meet some amazing people along the way.

Chalkies Beach and a Classic View of Whitehaven Beach

Bristol Rose anchored off Whitehaven.  Note the rock & roll, pretty typical around these islands.

Chalkies Beach on Haslewood Island is an easy anchorage in white sand.  We can see the bottom in crystal clear water 20 feet (6 metres) below us.  It feels like we've really arrived in the idyllic tropical Whitsundays.  There's the long white sand beach, the over-powering scent of flowering melaleuca trees in the air, the screeching of Rainbow Lorikeets and Cockatoos, people paddle boarding just off the shore, sailors relaxing onboard, and across the bay, an equally inviting but somewhat longer, more crowded white sand beach.

In any other place Chalkies would be deemed magnificent but here, this special spot plays second fiddle to another.  We are watching the tourist boats spill hordes of day trippers on the opposite shore.  Everyone wants to walk along this iconic beach, to check it off their list of gotta sees.  I can't say we are any different.  The fine, powdery silica sand beach stretches seven kilometres along the South East of Whitsunday Island.  It's the truly magnificent Whitehaven Beach.  Soon the white sand is littered with people walking, lying, playing.  It's the classic picture of a fun day at the beach.  But this is the beach dreams of made of; reputed to be the most photographed beach in Australia.   The sand really is that white, the water that blue and that clear.

Tonight we pay the price of anchoring in such natural beauty.  Bristol Rose rocks and rolls all night as the currents move around with the change of tides.  Small price to pay really.