Strathdickie residents Barry Brant and Lorraine Alexandrou have a self-skippered five-night sailing trip in their sights, as winners of the official competition to name the Whitsundays’ baby white whale.
Mr Brant’s suggestion of “Chalkie” for the white whale calf’s name was selected by a panel of judges from a total of 599 unique and creative entries, submitted to Tourism Whitsundays over the past two weeks.
Mr Brant said he chose the name because of the colour of chalk.
“I just thought that chalk in its natural state is white and I thought it was cute,” he said.
Tourism Whitsundays CEO Peter O’Reilly said the judges particularly liked the name because of its relevance to Chalkie’s Beach on Haslewood Island, which along with Whitehaven boasts beautiful white, silica sand.
“Ultimately we chose Chalkie because of it’s double meaning – with chalk being white like the baby whale, and also there is a Chalkie’s Beach in the Whitsundays with stunning white sand near where the whale was first spotted,” Mr O’Reilly said.
“While a number of entrants suggested a similar name, the spelling ‘Chalkie’ was chosen to be the same as the beach, and Mr Brant was the only entrant to suggest the name spelt that way,” he said.
Mr Brant owns a motorboat but has never been sailing before and says he is looking forward to the “peace and serenity – just getting away from it all”.
Whitsunday Escape General Manager Trevor Rees said there was even a chance Mr Brant might spot Chalkie during the charter, which will take place in July/August next year.
“Sailing through the Whitsundays is beautiful any time of the year, but we really hope that Barry and his friends are able to spot ‘Chalkie’ on their trip, during what is some of the best weather of the year in the Whitsundays and peak whale watching season here,” he said.
There are now plans to establish a Facebook fan page for Chalkie so that whale watchers can post their photos and track sightings of the rare and unique whale as it grows up.
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