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Published: September 29th 2005
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Survived the overnight to Airlie Beach. I found out that the boat that I was meant to be going on was cancelled as there wasn't enough people on it. I was a little concerned as I had heard a few stories of some of the boats just being booze cruises full of people that weren't too interested about sailing so I tried to voice these concerns. As it turned out it couldn't have been better. There were 14 of us on an ex Americas cup racing yacht. We had a couple of nights on the boat and pretty much three full days. Everyone on board was keen to learn a little about sailing and was happy to help out. We sailed out of Airlie Beach Harbour on a perfect morning and headed for the Whitsunday Islands. There were a couple of crew - Pete, the skipper and Chris, the deckie. It was so chilled out on board. We anchored late morning and a few of us went snorkelling (complete with wet suits). Although we could see quite a lot of coral and fish - it was pretty cold so we didn't last too long (I was first out of the water!!).
The sailing part was amazing - the yacht up on its side and pushing throught the really blue waters. This had been one of the main things that I had wanted to do up the east coast. That night we anchored and all chilled out with some wine after dinner and some international card games. One of the dutch girls thought it would be a good dare for the loser to swim round the boat - she joined the poor German guy. Pete was not too impressed and no wonder - I think all their fears of sharks etc in Australian waters had been left on shore!! The following morning we set sail for the infamous Whitehaven Beach - it was truly stunning. After going ashore to see it from above we then sailed around the coast, anchored and spent a great afternoon playing beach volleyball . That night we spotted some dolphins swimming just by the boat as well as a whale in the distance. Our sail to the next anchor point took much longer than we had expected but Pete sailed the boat through quite an array of weather conditions before stopping for the night. The following morning
the weather wasn't looking as promising so we decided to make the most of it and go snorkelling. This time the water was much warmer and the fish and coral were spectacular. The weather then really closed in and it was quite a stormy and we endured a rough sail home. I was even allowed to steer the boat for a while - holding my breath again!! Made it ashore and we all met up later that night for dinner and drinks. Everyone agreed that we had a great trip and a few us resolved to try some more sailing once we got home. We exchanged numbers and I am looking forwards to keeping in touch with some of our boat crew. I ended up staying, unexpectedly(!) another couple of nights in Airlie Beach relaxing and seeing more of the area before I headed further north to Cairns.
Good old overnight Greyhound - a 15 hour extravaganza!! Made it in one piece and spent the day trying to sort out diving and a trip to Daintree. I really should have planned ahead for the diving as the company that I had been recommended to go with was full. I
Skipperette Gill
Terrified in the rain and not in charge!! ended up on a sailing boat (my latest hobby!!) that only went to the inner part of the Barrier Reef. The boat also broke down in the middle of the ocean - memories of Open Water!! I did a couple of dives there and while diving itself is always amazing this area was not a patch on the Red Sea. This was my mistake though as I didn't plan enough - I am quite sure that if I got to the outer reef it would have been stunning - another time... I can however add to my diver's log an eight foot poisonous sea snake.
The following day I took a trip to Daintree National Park and Cape Tribulation. It was a full day but we managed to pack lots in. We took walks through amazing ancient rainforest and wandered along Captain Cook's Cape Tribulation as well as seeing some wild salt water crocodiles basking in the afternoon sun on the Daintree River. The following morning it was time to catch a flight to Alice Springs to meet up with my travelling buddy Sara in the outback!!
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