Does anyone have a recommendation for a skipper and yacht to hire out of Mackay, Queensland, Australia? I'm thinking of a holiday there for a week or two in October and thought hiring a yacht and a local skipper for 4 or 5 days would be a good introduction to cruising yachting in the area. My wife and I would be the only passengers on board. We have 4 years coastal sailing experience on our 8 meter 6 tonne gaff rigged wooden cruiser.
Last time I looked,Sunsail and CYA were about the cheapest crewed out of the Whitsundays. Maddison used to have fully crewed charters but is now sitting for sale in Yeppoon. Why not bare boat from Hammo ?
I am going out to the marina Tuesday, I will ask around for some information to give you. As slainte suggested there would definatly be more choices in the whitsundays but definatley more commercialised than the cumburland group.
Asked around today and seems the Whitsundays is the closest place to get a yacht charter. The islands are a lot closer together and you have good choice of yacht sizes and types to choose from with or with out skippers or a skipper for as long as you like.
Its no problem getting a boat to charter for fishing its just the proximity of over night shelter. The whitsundays are so close and a lot easier to monitor yacht movements with waters that are better protected. I think people go straight to the places that have the greatest amount of anchorages and tend to forget about getting away from the crowd as there are some wonderfull islands down our end. You just need to have your own boat.
In the 0.00001% I guess if I was a punter. I think you know what I mean though. When I was working on boats we referred to our paying passengers as punters.
As salty and slainte have referred to above, chartering in open water areas tends not to survive. Two reasons.
1. Most people do not like being on a small boat (anything less than 1,000 feet long) in anything more than a 1 foot swell.
2. The legislative restrictions on commercial vessels is a lot tougher on numbers in open water areas than in partially smooth waters.
Old Tom McLean pioneered Whitsunday Marine Tourism with his fleet of Fairmiles that he operated out of Mackay under the name "Roylen Cruises".
I worked on them for a while and they were some of the best days of my life. As the old Fairmiles eventually were paid off (put out of service) they did get one or two new catarmaran cruisers but they did not last as a commercial operation.
It is a bit like the backpackers. They see themselves as adventurers but very few of them get off the "Lonely Planet" beaten trail.
The Mackay Marina does not have Charter Yachts and the Charter boats as Cisco said are at Airlie and luckly don't come to the Cumberland Group of Islands which he mentioned much better I think. The Islands anchorages are good on the south easter be prepared to sail in 20- 35kn winds and get a little wet. The best times to come is August -September and it is a truely fantastic place to cruise up here.
You are showing your age cisco. I did a couple of runs to Brampton on the Roylen GT as relief decky with Mick Wisky as skipper and a little time with Scotty Mclean on Tambi 2 before moving on to the whitsundays for a couple of years. I worked as deckhand for Allen Bax up there, I believe he worked on Roylen Viane before it sank in the harbour during a cyclone.
I was engineer on Vianne for about 3 months. I had to pump the bilges on that bitch for 6 hours a day or it would sink.
I don't reckon the cyclone sunk her. Reckon she did it all on her own as nobody could get at her during the storm. The skipper was Bill Clarke. Bit grumpy at times but a good bloke. Said he sailed a Fairmile from WA across the Bight with no superstructure at all and just a steering pedestal, compass and a cane wicker chair on deck. Said the weather was glorious all the way over.
Used to love it when we sent the punters over to collect those beautiful black lip oysters at Macona Inlet. They would bring them back, we would wash the grit out of them, take them to the galley, divide them in two for the crew to take one half home and the other for the punters dinner that night.
Lennie the chef was a classic. You'd be going up the side deck and he would poke his head out the galley and say, "If you see any grapes on the deck, don't step on them!!" "Why is that Lennie??" "They will be me eyeballs!!"
Had a few weeks on Petaj as well. Even had a naughty in Bonnie Prince Charlie's cabin one night in Mackay.
Those Fairmiles were a beautiful boat. met a bloke once who said he saw 20 of them burnt to the waterline in New Guinea after the war.
The Mackay Marina does not have Charter Yachts and the Charter boats as Cisco said are at Airlie and luckly don't come to the Cumberland Group of Islands which he mentioned much better I think. The Islands anchorages are good on the south easter be prepared to sail in 20- 35kn winds and get a little wet. The best times to come is August -September and it is a truely fantastic place to cruise up here.
It certainly is. You don't get a hundred partying bare boats in the anchorages every night.
