74 Island Wonders, located in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef, on the tropical coast of Queensland, Australia. A visit to the Whitsundays is a feast of the senses, surrounded by natural beauty, dotted with secluded beaches and friendly towns from which to explore. The hardest part is choosing how to fit it all in.
Explore this incredible diversity from the bow of a sailboat… cruise through the islands and drop anchor for a quick snorkel and wake up to a sunrise over world famous Whitehaven Beach. Or enjoy the spoils of a mainland resort with Coral Sea views at Airlie Beach, yet another 74 island wonder.The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some 900 kilometres (560 mi) north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial centre is Hamilton Island.
The term is a mis-nomer, based as it is on Captain Cook’s naming of what is now known as the Whitsunday Passage (in Cook’s Journal, Whitsunday’s Passage) in the belief that the passage was discovered on Whitsunday whereas, because of an error in time-keeping, it was actually Whit-Monday.[citation needed]
Contention has existed as to exactly what islands are within the informally named Whitsunday Islands, in particular as to the southern extremity and the inclusions to the west. What is certain is that they lie within the chain named Cumberland Isles by Captain Cook (now officially approved as the Cumberland Islands) and a reasonably defined section of that chain and surrounding waters have become known world-wide as The Whitsundays based on a contraction of the Whitsunday Islands designation.
Tourism
The Whitsunday islands are a popular tourist destination for travellers to Queensland and the Great Barrier Reef with the area being one of the most popular yachting destinations in the Southern Hemisphere. The island received about 700,000 visitors between March 2008 and March 2009.Components
Listed below are islands of The Whitsundays, divided by group locality. Named rocks and islets can be found listed within the entry for the nearest island to that feature.The Whitsunday Group
- Bird Island
- Black Island
- Border Island
- Cid Island
- Cowrie Island
- Deloraine Island
- Dent Island
- Dumbbell Island
- Dungarra Island
- Esk Island
- Fitzalan Island
- Hamilton Island
- Harold Island
- Haslewood Island
- Hayman Island
- Henning Island
- Hook Island
- Ireby Island
- Langford Island
- Long Island
- Lupton Island
- Nicolson Island
- Perseverance Island
- Plum Pudding Island
- Teague Island
- Titan Island
- Whitsunday Island
- Wirrainbela Island
- Workington Island
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