⚠ NOT FOR NAVIGATION. Use official charts and tide tables. This page is a planning aid only. Navigate with the current AHO chart, MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice.

Whitsundays cruising guide

No MSQ Beacon to Beacon map covers this waterMSQ's Beacon to Beacon series stops at Keppel Bay. Use the official chart, plus these official maps:MSQ Whitsundays pilotage area map (PDF)Reef Authority zoning maps (all areas)Reef Authority zoning Map 10: WhitsundayWhitsundays Plan of Management
Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and the Whitsunday Islands · 4 guidesLast checked: 27 October 2026Report a correction

The Whitsundays are the reason a lot of boats come north: dozens of steep, wooded islands, short hops between anchorages and the trade wind for company. Airlie Beach is the mainland hub with two big marinas, Shute Harbour has the closest ramp to the islands, and Hamilton Island has a resort marina and an airport. Cid Harbour, Whitehaven and the Hook Island inlets are the classic anchorages. It's all Great Barrier Reef Marine Park with its own plan of management, and it's busy in season.

Map of the Whitsundays region (Airlie Beach, Shute Harbour and the Whitsunday Islands) with a numbered marker for each of its 4 cruising guide pages.
Numbers match the guide list below. Each name links to its page. Positions are approximate. Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors (ODbL). Positions are approximate and for orientation only. Not a chart. Not for navigation.
  1. 1Airlie Beach · Marinas + town
  2. 2Shute Harbour · Harbour + ramp
  3. 3Hamilton Island · Island marina
  4. 4Cid Harbour, Whitehaven & Nara Inlet · Island anchorages

Guides in this region, south to north

Airlie Beach

Marinas + town

Airlie Beach for yachts: Coral Sea Marina, Port of Airlie, ramps, fuel and MRQ Whitsunday. Free planning notes. Not for navigation.

Last checked: 27 October 2026

Shute Harbour

Harbour + ramp

Shute Harbour near Airlie: the ramp and marina, the moorings and a wreck on the flats to know about. Free planning notes. Not for navigation.

Last checked: 27 October 2026

Hamilton Island

Island marina

Hamilton Island Marina for visiting boats: 301 berths, VHF 68, the Dent Passage flight-path rules and the resort ashore. Free notes.

Last checked: 27 October 2026

Cid Harbour, Whitehaven & Nara Inlet

Island anchorages

Whitsunday and Hook island anchorages: Cid Harbour, Whitehaven Beach and Tongue Bay, and Nara and Macona inlets. Depths, shelter and rules.

Last checked: 27 October 2026

Harbours and hazards

  • Airlie Beach: Marina breakwater with lit beacons (NGA). Wreck in Muddy Bay (MSQ 380(T)/2026).
  • Shute Harbour: Islets and reefs in the entrance; wreck and a sunken mooring buoy on the notices.
  • Hamilton Island: Dent Passage flight path: masts over 8 m keep east and don't stop (MSQ 374/2026).

Don't swim in Cid Harbour (Queensland Parks: dangerous sharks). Read the Whitsundays Plan of Management before you anchor.

Neighbouring regions

About these guides

These are planning notes written by a working delivery skipper from public sources: MSQ maps and notices, NGA Pub. 127, the Reef Authority and OpenStreetMap. They are not for navigation. Use the official AHO charts, current MSQ notices to mariners, official tide tables and local advice. Each page shows when its facts were last checked and dates every notice it quotes.

Sources & credits

Maritime Safety Queensland. Contains Maritime Safety Queensland data (Beacon to Beacon guide, notices to mariners, nav-aid open data, port procedures maps, tide information) © State of Queensland (Department of Transport and Main Roads), licensed under CC BY 4.0. Facts restated and summarised in our own words. Not endorsed by MSQ or TMR.

Queensland legislation. Transport Operations (Marine Safety) Regulation 2016 and Transport Infrastructure (Waterways Management) Regulation 2012 © State of Queensland, CC BY 4.0. Summarised; the authorised versions at legislation.qld.gov.au prevail.

NGA. Background from NGA Pub. 127, Sailing Directions (Enroute) East Coast of Australia and New Zealand (2025), U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a US Government work in the public domain. Parts of it are out of date; where a page leans on it, we say so. Not endorsed by NGA.

OpenStreetMap. Map tiles and some facility positions © OpenStreetMap contributors, data available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).

Others. Facts from local authority pages and notices (for example the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Queensland Parks and Defence notices), volunteer marine rescue sites and businesses' own websites are cited for fact only and restated in our own words. Listing a business is not an endorsement.

Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Zoning maps and plans of management are linked, not reproduced; the official maps and the zoning plan prevail.

Spotted something wrong or out of date? Report a correction and tell us what you saw and when.

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