Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach (Looking North)

The bay at the south end of Whitehaven Beach

Whitehaven Beach looking North towards Hill Inlet and Tongue Bay

Whitehaven Beach has to be the number 1 reason travellers coming to the Whitsundays, join a crewed charter vessel, or charter a bareboat and visit the islands. Sure, our diving is world class, our marine life prolific and the weather is nearly always perfect, but Whitehaven beach gets the focus. Whitehaven Beach images are in almost every pomotional brochure, video and advertisment you'll see and we seem to see the same tourism images pop up time and time again.

So, in an attempt to add some originality back into the magical experience of a visit to Whitehaven Beach, we have included here our original images (And even a Whitehaven Beach video) taken over many years skippering and running dive operations in the area.

(As a footnote, a very high proportion of images within sailing-whitsundays and mr-travel are completely original images anyway !)

 

Where is Whitehaven Beach ?
Whitehaven Beach is on the south eastern side of Whitsunday Island, in the central Whitsundays Islands Group. The beach is about 6km long from end to end and forms a small bay at it's southern end.

Where is Hill Inlet ?
Located at the northern end of Whitehaven Beach, is a long meandering inlet, known as Hill inlet. This breaks Whitehaven Beach into 2 sections. The northern section around Hill inlet, has crystal clear waters for swimming and a short bushwalk leading to Tongue Bay where charter vessels often spend the night. About half way along the short bush walk, another track leads off to a magnificent lookout where most of the promotional images of Whitehaven Beach are taken.

Why is the sand white ?
Whitehaven Beach receives sand from a geological anomaly in the waters at the centre of the bay it forms. The sand is very fine and 98% pure silica. It has a brilliant white appearance and almost a powdery consistency. Many people polish their jewellery in the sand by rubbing it gently back and forth in the dry sand areas.

Can I camp at Whitehaven Beach ?
Yes, you can ! There is a public camp site run by the National Parks service at the southern end of Whitehaven Beach. You must obtain a permit first, and you will need to arrange transport to and from the camp site. There are water taxi's available to run you and your group there and back for around $90 per person. There are basic toilet facilies there, but no water, so you need to bring plenty of supplies for your stay.

The Camping Whitsundays web site is the best place for camping information on the Whitsundays.