This beach is located in Northern Australia in the Whitsunday Islands. This group of islands is close to the Great Barrier Reef. The sand on this beach is honest and truly white sand. There are a lot of people who call various beaches "white sand beaches" but this sand is not golden or light in color, it is WHITE. The sand is made of a silica material and the theory is that perhaps a meteor crashed here at one time and that it was made of white silica and made this extremely unique sand available in this area. The views from above were taken from an overlook where you can see the bay. The waters coming in and out of the bay cause a swirl pattern in the sand and each day a new unique pattern is made. If you google Whitehaven beach, you will see a variety of patterns in this same bay. It is stunningly beautiful.
The beach is only accessible by boat, seaplane, or helicopter and there is a hike to the overlook to see the view of the bay. The beach where you can swim and enjoy the beauty from below is another boat ride to the other side. We recommend taking a tour to this beautiful place. There are absolutely no services on this beach not even a trash can which adds to the beautiful natural beauty there. There are no hotels, no food vendors, no restrooms or structures of any kind. Just pristine white sand and beautiful clear blue water.
The area on the top side of the sand bar seen above is called Champagne bay. When you walk into the water the water bubbles up around your feet as if it is carbonated. If you sit in the water, it is like a free hot tub for a few seconds at least. It is very unique.
This is the type of boat that we took to get to the island. We flew into Proserpine, a tiny airport south of Cairns Australia. We rented an Airbnb and stayed in Airlie Beach which is on the mainland of Australia and a great place to access the islands. One of the islands is called Hamilton Island. They have an airport you can fly into on this island. The lodging on Hamilton is pretty pricey but is more secluded and houses a lot of beautiful, very expensive yachts. If you are budget conscience, you may want to consider Airlie Beach where you can purchase tours to anywhere you want to see including the Great Barrier Reef tours. Overall our tour to Whitehaven Beach exceeded our expectations. Our tour to the Great Barrier Reef was extremely disappointing. Although there is living coral still on the reef it is mostly dead and looks as if you seeing fish and fauna through a sepia filter. In the afternoon of this day long tour the top of the reef is exposed out of the water and left to cook in the sun. If you would like some great snorkeling, try Big Island Hawaii or Bora Bora. There is also better snorkeling on the Whitehaven beach tour. The guides will stop at a couple of reefs in the Whitsunday Islands and provide wet suits and snorkel gear and you will see some beautiful fish. Unless you simply want to say that you have seen the Great Barrier Reef, I would skip this tour or perhaps try one from the Cairns area where it may still be more viable.
These following photo is of part of Hamilton Island harbor.
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| Hamilton Island Harbor This beach below is in the town of Airlie Beach. The last photo is Hungry Jacks which is the Australian version of Burger King. The food is the same and for some reason it is called Hungry Jacks in Australia. So if you go to Australia and are hungry for a whopper, look for this place. |
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