Charter Chatter

- Up to 6000 whales head up the 'superhighway' along Western Australia's coast to calve in the warm waters off the Kimberley between August and November. Coral Princess extended its Kimberley cruise program last year - and discovered that late season whale watching is 'simply incredible'.

- Macquarie Island, 1500km south-east of Tasmania, is home to nearly four million seabirds and is one of the world's most important seabird nesting habitats. The populations of rabbits and rats on the island have exploded in recent years, leading to extensive erosion and massive landslips that are destroying nesting sites for penguins and albatrosses. Three years after Antarctic cruise operator Peregrine and WWF-Australia won an historic campaign to protect Macquarie Island from environmental devastation, the operational phase of a $24.6 million pest eradication plan is set to begin.

A team of about 20 staff, four helicopters, pilots and equipment set sail aboard Aurora Australis on 21 May for Macquarie Island where they will commence the first operational stage of the plan.

- In the single category for cruising, Orion Expedition Cruises again scooped the Best Cruise Line (Global) accolade ahead of other finalists Cunard, Silversea and The Yachts of Seabourn in the annual Australian Gourmet Traveller awards.

- Celebrating a quarter of a century of operation, Spirit of Tasmania announced that over the years it's vessels have transported more than six million passengers and more than 2.4 million vehicles over the Bass Strait.

As part of its anniversary celebrations the ferry company is now offering $25 fares for Ocean Recliners on night sailings, a saving of 80 per cent.

- 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.

Photograph: Watching whales from the deck of Coral Princess' Oceanic Discoverer in the Kimberley