My Whitsunday Sailing Adventure

The biggest thing to do in Australia seems to be sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, so I jumped on board (pardon the pun).  The Whitsundays actually have a different collective name which I can't remember (but everyone just calls them the Whitsundays anyway so I don't feel that bad about it) with the largest of the islands being Whitsunday Island discovered by Captain Cook on Whitsunday, hence the name.

Due to lack of space on board, we were only allowed to bring on a small beach bag worth of stuff.  So I got all my stuff rearranged, stored my excess with the hostel and trucked over to the sailing point.  After an hour of waiting around we were told that the ship's captain had received some terrible news, couldn't work that day and they couldn't find a replacement.  A disappointment to say the least.  Luckily, I have the benefit of being quite flexible in my schedule and just signed up to go on the rescheduled sailing the next day.

In the time that we were waiting, I got to know one of the other girls that I'd be sailing with (a tiny Irish girl named Natalie) and we made plans to go out for a drink that night.  So at least it wasn't a wasted evening.

Sailing adventure, take two, started the next day and went much better.  We actually got to board the ship (the SV Whitehaven)!  And with no other mishaps, we set sail soon afterwards.

As far as I was concerned, the day was a success as soon as we saw dolphins!  And lots of them - 4 different pods of 3-6 dolphins each.  It was tough to get a good shot of them, but I managed one:

We also had our first snorkel stop that day which was really neat.  Loads of amazing fish and neat coral.  Unfortunately, my waterproof camera isn't so good and knowing how much battery it has left so I didn't get any underwater shots on this trip.  But I will when I hit the Great Barrier Reef!  That night we stayed in a bay in Hook Island just North of Whitsunday Island where we enjoyed a couple free beers as compensation for the inconvenience of rescheduling.  Not quite adequate compensation I'd say, but it was something I suppose.

The next day started early: 6:30am.  Not my best hour.  Not much choice in getting up though as my bunk, along with an unlucky few others, was located in the galley.  The noise of breakfast prep couldn't be ignored.  We started out by heading down to Whitsunday Island to go to the famous Whitehaven beach - beautiful white sands against turquoise water.

En route to the beach from our mooring spot, we had a quick bush walk and talk and learned some interesting things.  Including the fact that green ants were eaten by the Aborigines as a source of vitamin C.  The ants' green bums taste like lime - I confirmed this with a quick lick.

Green ants!  Yum!

We had another amazing snorkel that afternoon.  The guides threw some fish food in the water and they went crazy.  We were completely surrounded by fish.  We had a bit of an unexpected adventure during afternoon tea.  With much of the Whitsunday Islands and surrounding reef being protected natural park, you have to be very careful about how you treat the area and what you leave behind.  While we were all enjoying our coffee, one of the milk caps blew off boat into the water.  The worst possible thing - plastic.  So we got to spend a good 10 minutes driving the boat in small circles trying to catch the milk cap with the fire buckets.  Eventually it was retrieved and we were on our way.  The turtles thank us for that one. :)  That night we stopped in another bay for dinner, beers and bedtime.

Another early morning got us home by about 11am.  We actually sailed part of the way home (usually we just used the motor as the trip is a bit rushed), which successfully made everyone a little queasy.  I, for one, was quite pleased when we switched back to the noisy motor.  Overall, it was a great trip.  Could have had slightly better weather and slightly less obnoxious crew, but you can't win 'em all.

My fellow boaters on our return to Airlie Beach