Charter Chatter

- Whitsunday Rent A Yacht welcomes a new 40 foot catamaran to its fleet. The French Beneteau Lagoon 400, among only a handful of its kind in Australia, will be available for charter from June 21. The vessel offers spacious and affordable accommodation for eight people, a saloon design, the latest entertainment equipment, and is ideal for couples as each cabin contains its own ensuite. Whitsunday Rent A Yacht has the largest fleet of sailing yachts, motor yachts and catamarans in the region and specialises in skipper yourself charter holidays.

- Townsville in North Queensland averages 300 days of sunshine a year, making it an ideal destination to escape the winter chill. Eight kilometres or a 25 minute ferry ride from Townsville is World Heritage-listed Magnetic Island with spectacular granite boulders and secluded bays. One of the best ways to see the island is on a three hour Adrenalin Jet Ski Tour circumnavigating the island, or take in the top end on a 75 minute tour.

Self- skippered or skippered catamarans and yachts are available from Tropic Sail for cruising the crystal clear and calm waters around Magnetic Island. The whole family can learn the ropes on this sailing adventure as you spot turtles, dolphins and dugongs, snorkel straight off the boat in warm tropical waters and discover fringing coral reefs and the 13 unspoiled islands of the Palms Group.

- 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.

Photograph: Whitsunday Rent A Yacht jetty