Charter Chatter

Reef Sprinter offers time-poor visitors to Port Douglas a reef snorkelling experience aboard a 500 horsepower enviro speed boat with speeds of more than 40 knots. The two-and-a-half hour tour travels to the Low Isles’ official green zone, a protected World Heritage site only a handful of operators are permitted to explore because of its vast coral gardens and abundant fish life.

Hervey Bay luxury catamaran Freedom III has introduced a new cruise offering guests a behind the scenes look at pearl farming and the chance to harvest their own oyster shell. The cruise travels across to the western side of Fraser Island to the Fraser Island Pearls, producers of Australian Akoya Cultured Pearls for a demonstration of the art of seeding and opening oysters.

Cunard Line announces that Queen Mary 2 will be based in Australia in 2012 for a history-making circumnavigation, which will see her visit five states and the Northern Territory.

Sunsail Sailing Holidays is offering an additional night cruising the Whitsundays when paying for four nights, two free nights when you book five nights and three free nights when you book for seven nights on departures before 30 April 2010. As a special Easter bonus for the kids, Sunsail is throwing in free use of two kayaks, so they can explore around the island coastlines and fringing coral.

Powerboats are popular with visitors to the Whitsundays who do not have a lot of time and want to see the iconic spots such as Whitehaven Beach, Hill Inlet and Nara Inlet in just a few days. The Moorings’ Leopard 474 PowerCat is a state-of the-art 14 metre luxury vessel that can cruise comfortably and efficiently at 12–15 knots with better-than-average fuel efficiency at higher speeds. A ten per cent discount is being offered for all departures on the 474 between 10 May - 3 June and 6 – 31 July 2010 for new bookings of a minimum of six nights confirmed before the 31 March 2010

EastSail, Sydney, is taking bookings for a 30 nautical mile trip on a Riviera 4000 motor cruiser to view the historic scuttling of the ex HMAS Adelaide approximately two nautical miles off Avoca Beach on 27 March. This is the sixth time a naval vessel has been scuttled in Australian waters, and it is set to become an exciting dive site that will be within easy access to the public. HMAS Adelaide.com.

The Australian Tourism Award for 2009 in Ecotourism went to Bruny Island Cruises which operate wilderness cruises along Bruny Island’s rugged coast off southern Tasmania. The Adventure Tourism award went to Passions of Paradise, which operate day trips from Cairns to the Great Barrier Reef on a 25 meter custom designed sailing catamaran.

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.

Photograph: Reef Sprinter