Charter Chatter

Vivid Sydney, a festival of light, music and ideas will be held on May 27 to June 21, featuring the illumination of the Sydney Opera House sails. Seeing this from all angles on a charter boat on the harbour will be even more spectacular than from land. Check out EventsNSW.com.au.

Eastsail offers sailors the opportunity to cruise or race on a Farr designed Beneteau 40 from Sydney to Hamilton Island and back in any one of seven legs. The first leg is to the Gold Coast, the second to Yeppoon and the third to Hamilton Island. The fourth leg is Hamilton Island Race Week and the following legs are the return voyage to Sydney. A RYA Yachtmaster instructor will be on board as cruising director.

Orion Expedition Cruises will this year host voyages starting in November 2010 from Cairns to Sydney, Sydney to Melbourne, and a roundtrip from Melbourne to the Limestone Coast, Kangaroo Island, Eyre Peninsula, and the Fleurieu Peninsula before returning to Melbourne.

The season for Coral Princess’ most popular cruise – along the Kimberley coast between Broome and Darwin – kicks off in April, coinciding with the early stages of the dry season, when the many waterfalls that plummet into dramatic gorges or directly into the sea are at their most spectacular. Responding to popular demand, Coral Princess has added four departures to its 2010 complement, with a choice of vessels: the 48-passenger Coral Princess or the luxurious 72-passenger Oceanic Discoverer.

Captain Cook Cruises’ MV Reef Endeavour departed on her inaugural Fiji Cruise on 6 February with special guests Fiji’s Prime Minister Commodore Frank Bainimarama and his wife. The 73 metre ship, launched in 1994, is the largest vessel to have been built by the Fiji Government Shipyard. Since her launch she operated weekly cruises from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef but has relocated back to Fiji to replace the 120-passenger vessel MV Reef Escape which sustained damage during Cyclone Mick in December 2009.

The addition of studio staterooms on Norwegian Cruise Line’s new Norwegian Epic, due to be launched in July, will set a new trend for single cruisers. The studios are priced specifically for the solo traveller – with no single supplement.

Kimberley Quest II, which spent Christmas in Sydney, is now heading up the east coast and is scheduled to visit the Gold Coast, Brisbane, the Sunshine Coast, Hervey Bay, Gladstone, Mackay, Airlie Beach, and Cairns. When working, during the March to October Kimberley season, the 25 metre nine cabin vessel explores the reefs, gorges, and inlets of the remote Kimberley coastline between Broome and Mitchell Plateau or Wyndham.

Save up to 35 per cent on cabins when you travel on board Spirit of Tasmania on a night sailing before 30 April 2010. All 222 cabins on board have private bathroom facilities, adjustable air-conditioning, and there is a choice of inside or porthole view.

From now until the end of March Whitsunday charter companies are offering great specials on chartering skipper yourself yachts, sailing catamarans and motor cruisers. For example - if you charter for five nights you pay for four, if you charter for seven nights you pay for five and if you charter for ten nights you pay for seven. 

Photograph: David Clare – Vivid Sydney 2009, Brian Enos Lighting the Opera House sails