I give the Wide Bay Bar a lot of respect. As Simi says, be sensible and you will be fine. But it did not get a tough reputation for nothing, but always settles nicely if you wait. After crossing inbound you then head SSW with breakers on a sandbank to port and breakers on shore to starboard. The channel has plenty of water depth, but with water from the breakers coming at 90° to the tidal current it is a 'confused seas' situation and quite a bit of bobbing around. That section is known as 'the mad mile'.
I have just anchored 1nm south of Bulwer where I found some water shallow enough to anchor in. Trip down the river and across Moreton Bay was 31nm. I'm just to the north of where the main shipping channel heads NW, but there is still a channel running north of me and out into the ocean after a few miles, I'll likely hang with the current given the wind is below 10kn. I'll take that channel in the morning. Pic has a bus from Tangalooma running along the beach to Bulwer, which is just a collection of off-grid beach shacks.
Mr KW. I'll post as I go along. There are several large commercial charter fleets/operations in the Whitsunday region, based out of Airlie Beach. Some can start at Hamilton Island also. They do restrict the areas where you can go:eg you cannot go to the Outer Reef. You need to give radio updates in the morning and again when anchored in mid afternoon. Quite a range of boat sizes, and a lot of sailing cats which are ideal for the area. Its set-up for people with little boating knowledge to enjoy themselves and not get into any trouble, and it mostly works well. For experienced boaters, it can give you a taste of whats there but you might find the terms & conditions too restrictive.
So you might be best to try and source a private charter if you want to have maximum flexibility. How easy it would be to do that, I don't know, but the internet is a wonderful tool! Another option is to stay on one of the Islands. There are a lot of independant boat operators servicing the main resort islands with anything from large RIB's with large outboards, to fast cats taking 100 or so guests on day trips to the Outer Reef for snorkelling or diving. There is a large 'day barge/platform' at Hardy Reef that is an excellent trip (I think from Hamiton Is), and it has capacity for a small number of people to 'camp' (everything supplied) overnight. That maximises your opportunity to dive at slack tide, which is what you need to do. Tidal current flows across the reef can be several knots. I've had my props start turning while at anchor!
For pre-planning, one of the best resources is the book "100 Magic Miles". It is part of the standard inventory on charter boats, and covers a lot of what is good to know before you arrive, as well as detailed resource for when you are there. You can buy a pdf version for an iPad, but the hardcopy can likely be delivered reasonably quickly also.
https://100magicmiles.com/product/1...barrier-reef-whitsunday-islands-12th-edition/
