Charter Chatter

- The Sydney whale watching season starts in late May, peaking around the middle of June. Humpback and Southern Right whales leave their feeding grounds in Antarctica at the start of winter and migrate to the warmer waters of the Great Barrier Reef to give birth.

- Some Whitsunday bareboat companies are offering special rates for June and July if you book before 31 May. Standby rates are also available and minimum charter duration has been reduced from five to three nights.

- Orion Expedition Cruises has just released its new, expanded, 2011 Expeditions brochure, which features the company’s two ships, Orion and Orion II, which will be introduced in May 2011. The brochure covers 49 voyages to 17 countries and more than 170 remote and exotic destinations stretching from Antarctica to the Russian Far East.

- Belize on the eastern coast of the Central American coastline facing the Caribbean Sea is to be home to Sunsail’s newest destination. Sunsail’s base located in Placencia is the eighth in the Caribbean and opens in November. The Belizean coast stretches out over 185 miles, where there is an abundance of things to do and see.

- Princess Cruises is reviving the tradition of onboard farewells from the early days of cruising with its Bon Voyage program, giving passengers in Sydney and Melbourne the opportunity to invite their friends and family aboard their ship on embarkation day.

- DescaradA Charters offers guaranteed departures for a minimum of two guests on their two and three night scheduled cruises in the Whitsundays, Queensland. A maximum of eight guests are allowed and their needs are attended to by the full time crew of a skipper, deckhand and chef.

- Captain Cook Cruises High Tea at Sea cruise now departs three times a week with the addition of a Sunday afternoon High Tea Cruise from 16 May to 31 October 2010. The menu includes a variety of savoury and sweet foods such as Crystal Bay prawns on dill blini crème fraiche, porcini mushroom, chili jam and spec pork sausage rolls, caramelized onion, beetroot, goats cheese baby tartlet chervil, mini scones with strawberry jam and vanilla cream, glazed mango and coconut custard tartlets, chocolate dipped strawberries, assorted Petite fours and truffles and 15 different teas to choose from.

- If you are planning to hire a bareboat in the future, boat shows are an ideal place to check out the latest charter boats. Most of the boat builders and importers of the popular charter boats are represented at the major shows, and have boats on the marinas where it is easy to compare and find the type of vessel that suits you. Major boat shows are held around the country throughout the year.

- Funtastic Cruises depart from Yeppoon’s Rosslyn Bay Harbour and offer day trips and extended charters around the 18 islands that make up the Keppel Group. Set on the Tropic of Capricorn in Central Queensland, the Capricorn Coast is accessed via Rockhampton and has an average daily temperature of 25 degrees Celsius. The 60 foot sailing catamaran Funtastic is owned and operated by Hans and Di who have sailed around the world twice.

Photograph: Courtesy of