Sailing in October

October is the last month of the tropical dry season and one of the best months in New South Wales and south-east Queensland. It is also the last month before the official Australian tropical cyclone season begins on 1 November, which makes it the end of a clear planning window in the north.

The national picture

The dry season runs roughly May to October, so October is its final month. The trades are easing and the build up to the wet is starting in the far north. In the south-east, spring is well established and New South Wales is in the middle of its September to May window.

In their window

The Whitsundays is very good. Light to moderate trades, warming water, and quiet anchorages once the school holidays pass. This and September are the connoisseur's months for a bareboat week out of Airlie Beach.

New South Wales is at its spring best. Sydney Harbour gets the nor-easter back, Pittwater and Broken Bay is warm and uncrowded on weekdays, the Hawkesbury and Cowan Creek is at its best of the year, and Port Stephens and Broughton Island works when the coastal swell allows.

Brisbane and Moreton Bay is in its spring comfort window, though late October brings the first afternoon thunderstorms.

Melbourne and Port Phillip and the Gippsland Lakes come back on line, with October often the most pleasant Victorian month before the summer heat, if you accept that fronts still come through.

Not their window

The far north is winding down. Darwin Harbour is entering the build up, which means heat, rising humidity and the first storms, and many operators finish their season in October. The Kimberley expedition season ends around now and going late means heat and building cyclone risk.

Port Davey is still out until December. Hobart and the Derwent is in shoulder for day sailing. See weather and seasons.

Price and availability

October is shoulder pricing almost everywhere, which makes it one of the two best value months alongside September. Tropical operators discount to fill the tail of the dry season. Southern operators are still ramping up.

The September and October school holidays overlap the start of the month in several states and lift demand. After that, weekday availability is excellent.

Book Whitsundays bareboats three to five months ahead for October and you will usually get your choice of vessel, which is not true in July. See costs and choosing a vessel.

Better in October than any other month

The Hawkesbury and Cowan Creek. October gives you warm days, cool nights, no mosquitoes to speak of, weekday anchorages entirely to yourself, and enough breeze to sail rather than motor. By December the same bays are full of boats and the afternoons are hot and stormy; in winter the days are too short. For a quiet sheltered multi day charter within two hours of Sydney, October is the peak of the year and nothing else is close.

See the bareboat guide, provisioning, the operator directory and the region directory.