Great Barrier Reef Luxury Expedition Cruise cabin booking 7 days 6 night

Depart Hamilton Island Marina & sail to Cid Harbour, a magnificent calm anchorage on the western side of Whitsunday Island. The crew will take you ashore for a bushwalk through dense rain forest from Sawmill Beach to Dugong Beach. This is a one way walk because the crew will pick you up at the second beach.

At this location as the tide abates, a massive drying reef joining two islands and a sand spit is revealed. Those wanting to take advantage of Lynne’s expertise in nature will be guided around the reef before we all enjoy a superb lunch on the aft deck next to this coral cay. Turtles are often seen at this location both in the water and those that have been stranded on the reef at low tide.

Lunch is served while under sail and we arrive at Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island to snorkel over the wonderful coral reef.

John steers us skilfully over the crystal clear water and colourful corals, whilst Lynne explains the names of the numerous fish and corals, before we excitedly leap overboard to take an even closer look!!

On arrival, we dinghy ashore for a stroll amongst the dense tropical foliage and thick canopy of native trees behind a white coral beach to see thousands of butterflies which fascinate our guests…and yet another snorkel for those inclined over exceptionally colourful corals. Lunch is served on the aft deck in this stunningly beautiful bay.

we visit Manta Ray Bay where the corals are spectacular and hundreds of fish are so friendly that they gather around under our glass bottomed boat on arrival to welcome us. We watch with excitement when “Albert”, the friendly resident Maori Wrasse (over 1 metre long) stares up at us through the glass bottom, together with hundreds of Sergeant Majors, Fusiliers, Moon Wrasse and many other extremely colourful fish.

we will sail to Bait Reef, which lies on the Outer Reef, and is about three hours from Manta Ray Bay. Our guests relax under sail comfortably either lying on the air bed or on the inflatable armchairs, occasionally looking up to see if there are whales leaping out of the water or dolphins swimming at the bow.

we see humpback whales (mother & calf) & the mother is teaching her calf how to leap out of the water. It is an awesome experience to be so close and we feel privileged to watch nature at its’ best! Some guests love to learn navigation and are ably assisted in lessons from the Captain! On arrival at Bait Reef (in the middle of an open ocean) we proceed through an opening between the coral boulders into a perfectly protected lagoon. The water turns from deep blue to bright turquoise as we move to a mooring in shallower waters.

TripAdvisor has rated this beach to be amongthe ten best beaches in the world

One of the most photographed views in Australia, a must for all visitors.

We will return to Hamilton Island around 10 am or earlier if any guests are on an early flight