Sailing in the Wetsunday Islands!!!

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29th January 2009 - ARRIVAL AT AIRLIE BEACH!!!
It was throwing it down as the bus pulled into the coachpark at Airlie Beach. Not the best start after being on a bus all night!!! Hatty lightened the mood as usual with her comment..."I have never been to a place with tropical rain before...........well except for the carrabien." I just laughed as you can't really get any more tropical!!! After waiting for 5 minutes with our backpacks on we realised that there would be no shuttle bus and we would have to walk to the hostel. Rubbish.......especially in the pouring rain!!!

When we arrived I didn't like the feel of the place and neither did Nat, Hat or The Dingo Man. It was far too big, the dorms were crammed, the kitchen was tiny, the sheets were dirty and the room couldn't have smelt any worse even if Stig of the Dump had lived there!!! I was not looking forward to spending the night here or coming back to it following our sailing trip. Once we had dumped our stuff we headed straight out...we didn't want to spend anymore time at the hostel than we had to. The day was spent milling around town, checking in with Tribal Travel for our sailing trip and getting some information about what was what and catching up with things that needed to be done. The weather did not brighten all day and we hoped it would not be the same for the Whitsundays Islands where we were going sailing!! The Whitsundays were supposed to be amazing. The postcards showed amazing views, beautiful white beaches, green sea, blue sky and no clouds.......a real tropical paradise!! I hoped the postcards were right!!

That evening we bumped into Rich and Alex (Met them in Surfers Paradise). They were just back from their sailing trip and invited us to their after party with them. None of us were that bothered but when they mentioned free food we were straight there!! Forget diamonds......free food is definitely our best friend!! The Dingo Man also came to the bar with us. After a couple of drinks and a bit of fodder we headed back to the hostel, got our stuff sorted for our 3 day sailing trip and then went to bed with our fingers crossed for sunshine!!!

30th January 2009 - DAY 1 SAILING IN THE WETSUNDAYS!!!
Not a good start.....it was pouring it down when we woke and the wind was blowing pretty hard. We couldn't change the weather and so once checked out we set off to the marina at 8am to find our boat. The Dingo man was also setting sail that morning and so he showed us the way to the marina. He had booked a boat with only 6 passengers in comparison to our numbers of 30. We took the piss (sorry mum) out of him so much about his boat and how it must be tiny, full of couples, boring, may as well have travelled in a dingy etc etc etc!! I only wish I knew at the time what I know now!!!

We left the Dingo Man at his meeting station and walked around the marina to where people from our boat were meeting. There seemed like a good crowd and we especially clicked straight away with a British couple (Chris & Charlotte) and there were some Irish girls who seemed cool! I was excited for this trip. Once everyone was there were were given a quick briefing and given our stinger suits!! The stinger suits were tight lycra suits with ski pant bottoms.....I don't think I could have looked worse if I had wore a binbag!! Despite them being the most unflattering item ever they had to be worn in the water at all times because of the bloody jellyfish!! Some killer stingers in the sea and I for one did not want to suffer death by jellyfish!! Once the suits were sorted we made our way down the Jetty to 'Apollo' (our boat) where we met the crew and climbed aboard (of the boat ...not the crew)!! There were 4 crew......the skipper who looked like Tim Vincent, Carl the cook, Tano the Dive man (although he didn't come along until later) and Burgo, the First Mate who looked like Brad Pitt in his younger days....nice!!

We were shown our beds and as some of the last on board Nat and I ended up sharing a bottom bunk bed at the back of the boat and Hat was put in a single at the front. Our bed was a joke. The upper bunk was so low we had to do a James Bond Style roll to get in and out, we could not lay on our sides without touching the top bunk and my side near the wall was only 5 foot long!!! It felt like a bloody coffin only worse as even the deceased don't have to lay with their knees bent!! We would have fun sleeping it that bed....that much was certain!! In addition, there were no showers!! Well I tell a lie...you could have a 30 second rinse over the toilet with cold water each day if you wished. Boy I was gona smell and look good on this trip!!

Once everyone was on board the boat set off towards the Whitsundays. It was wet and rainy and the sea was rough with some massive waves hitting the boat. We all donned bright yellow extra large waterproof jackets for the journey which were almost as fetching as the stinger suits!!! With the colour of the jackets and the weather I felt like I was re-enacting 'The Perfect Storm' movie!! I hoped our experience wouldn't end the same way!! After motoring out for a while we picked the Dive man up from another boat and then things really stepped up a notch as the sails were put up. Such fun!! We all sat on the high side as the boat cut through the water on a 45 degree angle. We all got soaked from the waves crashing over the boat and even the skipper looked on edge at times as the low side went below the waves. It was some serious sailing and I loved it!!

Our stop for the day was at Blue Pearl Bay on Haymen Island. Whilst we had been sailing Carl had prepared lunch which was mighty tasty and once eaten we were given a briefing, split into groups and then got our stinger suits on ready to go diving and snorkelling. The visibility was pretty poor due to the weather but we still saw a good few fish and avoided a good few jellyfish!! I was in the second diving group...a brand new experience for me and probably my first and last diving expedition!! After getting tanked up in the non alcoholic sense we were taken underwater for a dive. I struggled with the breathing. As an ex swimmer I kept wanting to turn my head to the side and found the whole idea of breathing underwater very weird. I didn't seem to be able to sink either and Tano kept putting more and more rocks on me to weigh me down. After 5/10 minutes I wimped out and went back. The thought of not being able to swim to the surface when I wanted to, coupled with my non-confident underwater breathing panicked me and I decided to stick to snorkelling in future!!

Once dived (if you can call it that considering I was only 3 metres below the surface at best and then wimped out after 5 minutes), I did a bit more snorkelling with Hatty before heading back to the boat to try and get warm and dry. With the weather as bad as it was, it seemed like mission impossible but Carl the cook had got a pot of tea and cake on the go!! Best sight ever and just the cure...especially as I had just fallen down a full flight of stairs as I tried to get to the bottom deck...it hurt!! Once warmish and dryish we motored back out for an hour or so into the rough ocean before anchoring in another bay for the night where it was a little calmer!!

It wasn't long after anchoring up that tea was ready...Beef Strogonoff with Garlic Bread...and we all tucked in whilst sat on the top deck. The rain had ceased thanfully so we stayed up top until bed and had a few beers, chatted to the other passengers and generally had fun. The yellow macs were worth their weight in gold and kept us warm in the night air as well as making me look like Liam Gallagher when joke dancing below deck. The crew were a little weird in the fact that they kept very separate from us and didn't try and boost morale or encourage team spirit. We enjoyed ourselves anyways and as two of the last up, Nat and I made our way down to the coffin at around 1am. We laughed for around half hour solid when getting into bed. I did a 007 roll to get in whilst Nat did an army trench belly shuffle. Neither of us could roll over and I had to sleep in a step position with my knees bent at a right angle from the bed. I was sure the skipper saw us coming when giving out beds!!! Least we saw the funny side!! Once laughed out I fell asleep in around 30 seconds!!

I liked everyone on board except one guy who I am ashamed to say was English. He thought he was the skipper the way he ordered everyone about and he loved himself more than Rick Waller loves chocolate. He rubbed everyone up the wrong way and I had the feeling that after 3 days I may want to throw him overboard!! I nicknamed him Dickhead though some of the other passengers used other choice expletives to describe him.

The day hadn't been quite as expected. The postcards of the Whitsunday Islands had deceived us. It had rained most of the day, it was cold and grey, the islands were hidden in mist and cloud and the water was anything but calm or clear. Either way I had really enjoyed the full on sailing experience and being on a boat!!! I still crossed my fingers that day 2 would be calmer though!!!

31st January 2009 - DISAPPOINTMENT, BREWING STORM & CRAZY PARTY!!!
Day 2 had pretty much the same weather as day 1. It was calmish where we had slept but we were sheltered by an island. The skipper gave us the bad news that it was too rough to sail to Whitehaven Beach and if he did he would have been putting our lives in danger!! We accepted his explanation though we were all a bit crushed as Whitehaven Beach is the most beautiful place and the reason most of us book this trip!! Carl set out a pretty good brekkie though and we all had a good feed before heading out on the top deck donning our second skin of yellow jackets again.

We did an hours steady motoring in the morning to Maureen's Cove. Once there we were taken in the tender to the beach and did some snorkelling. The visibility was poor as and after snorkelling for around 100 metres and seeing no fish we marooned ourselves on a rock, put our hand in the air and waited for Bergo to pick us up and take us back to the beach...lazy I know!!! Once on the beach we were attacked by a sandfly and when I say attacked I mean he wanted a piece. I used my flipper to fight it and Nat sat there laughing at me and how ridiculous I looked until it started swarming her too. She attacked back with a flipper as well but that boy would not give up the chase. He even got Hat involved who kept diving underwater to take cover only to have him land on her head once she surfaced. He was relentless in his pursuit however I eventually got good aim and swatted it!!! That boy would sting no more!! Once fly dramas were over we had a play in the sea and even recreated the Gemma and Felgi lift though we weren't quite as stable!!

Once horseplay was over we went back onto the beach only for another sandfly to pop up and say hi!! Enough was enough...hands in the air!! We protected ourselves with flippers whilst we waited for Bergo to pick us up and then headed back to Apollo. No tea and cake waiting this time though but Carl did have lunch prepared not long after which was good!! As lunch came to an end the heavens opened again and the rain really came down!! Apollo apparently sails in any weather and so once the skipper staretd the engines we sat on the top deck in the heavy rain expecting everyone else to have to come up soon too. The skip even told us we would be sailing soon though he was lying!! We motored around the island for about 90 minutes getting drenched in the process (those jackets could only hold off so much water) whilst others on board stayed on the underdeck in the warmth!! Even Hatty deserted us at one stage and left us (Nat, Charlotte and I) being fools sat out in the rain!! Damn you skipper!!

We stopped again (before any sailing was done) at Caves Cove...another snorkelling stop. No one seemed fussed about getting in but as usual I felt like I should get the most out of my experience so I struggled into my wet stinger suit (not pleasant) and went across in the tender with about 6 others for a snorkel near the rocks. I saw a few fish and then got stung across both hands by a jellyfish. Why don't they provide stinger gloves too?!! It stung like hell and felt like someone was squeezing lime juice into a fresh open cut!! Not nice!! Hatty, who was with me called the tender over and we were taken back to Apollo. No more snorkelling for me today!! I at least expected a brew when we got back but no....nothing!!! What kind of sailing experience is this?!!!

After an hour or so at Caves Cove we did finally get going. We motored for a little bit whilst the skipper and Bergo explained how rough the next part would be. With both sails up we were apparently going to get smashed!!! We got a good spot near the high side on the back and waitied!! The main sail went up and she tipped to the boat on its side powering through the waves. The second sail went up and boy oh boy...she was off!!! It was tipped to the side so much you couldn't see the edge of the boat. We all whooped and hooted as we clung on to the high side whilst the rain lashed in our faces and the waves came over. Bergo ran around the ship like action man pulling ropes, climbing the sails and tightening ropes whilst skipper looked on with a look of excitement crossed with an 'oh jesus...what am I doing!!" Awesome experience but after 15 minutes or so of hard core sailing they put the front sail down. Apparently the conditions were so bad both sails were overpowering the boat. Apollo is built for speed and does race but these conditions were tough with 26 passengers!! The skipper even had to wear a snorkel mask so he could see for most of the journey!! Awesome!!!

Once the front sail went down it was still pretty intense but not nearly as bad as before. We still had to sit on the high side and the rain and wind were still going strong. The views of the islands were rubbish again. Visibility was poor and all you could see was grey sky with some grey blobs in the distance!! The crew did try and gee things up a bit explaining how we were unique and had had a proper sailing experience!! They even went as far as to describe the sun as boring being "all shiny and shit!!" Nice try boys!! Despite the weather we (Nat, Hat and I) had the best laugh ever as we sailed along telling childhood stories and generally taking the mick out of each other!! We didn't stop laughing for the entire time the boat was moving! At one point Nat did complain about how cold and wet she was and I responded unthinkingly with...."don't worry about it...we're all in the same boat!!" I didn't even realise what I had said until they started laughing. Brilliant!!

We slowed down as we neared South Molle Island...our anchor point for the night. The rain was as harsh as ever so we made our way downstairs where tea and cake was sat on the table wating for us.....finally!! After tea and cake and finally getting dry we chilled around on the boat for a while playing cards and stuff until tea was ready. Poor Bergo had to go up into the rain and cook a load of steaks on the barby whilst Carl set out the mash potato, gravy, veggies and roast sweet potato. Once again...the food was good and we followed it with a beer which was even better after our wet day!! I almost punched Dickhead in the face as he tried to pass me his plate thinking I would wash it.....the cheek!! I threw the cloth at him and advised in no uncertain terms how he should wash his own plate!!

Once tea was over with the night began. We had pulled up near a resort and the plan was to take us across in the tender a group at a time to a bar on the island!! Carl and Tano would come with us with Bergo and the skipper staying on the boat to watch the anchorage. It was still beating down with rain and I didn't really want to go as I had just got dry but as everyone else was going across I put a soaking wet yellow coat on and braved the rain to get on the third and final tender run. I spent the whole time getting across to the jetty in the brace position.....so much for being dry!! It was pitch black too and you really couldn't see your hand in front of your face!! We were walking ankle deep in water to get to the bar and to be honest it was probably a good job it was dark as who knows what creatures were lurking in the water!! If Jeremy Beedle hadn't passed away I would have put money on him jumping out with his camera!!

The lights in the bar had gone out, the roof was leaking, it smelt and yet it was full of people from other boats dancing on tables and getting drunk as the music blared out!! The bar staff were crazy fighting with one another and throwing jugs of water over customers they didn't like!! It was definitely an experience!! We joined in with the drinking and bought a jug of beer or three as well as having a dance. We bumped into Dingo Guy too which was when we realised that our time in the Whitsundays could have been so much better. I suppose it was Karma after we had taken the mick out of Dingo Man and his boat so much before we set off. His boat was huge despite there only being 6 passengers and 3 crew, the crew were mad (in a good way) as they were all out joining in with the party unlike ours who had either stayed on the boat or sat in a corner of the bar. They had swam with turtles and the crew had braved the bad weathers and sailed to 7 places including Whitehaven Beach!! What a joke compared to our 3 mesley stops!! Our boat was a better and faster boat yet our skipper had took the easy option!! None of us were too happy with the crew at that point!!

Despite finding out that our sailing experience could have been better we still had a good night. Hatty was on form with the dancing!! Some of the routines she did were brilliant and must have taken a lot of time practicing in the mirror. Dingo Man was so so drunk (thats what you get when you mix alcohol and antibiotics) and he and Hatty had a dance off.....well worth braving the rain for!!! 11.30 came and Tano gathered us all up to walk back along the Jetty to where Bergo was waiting in the tender to take us back to the boat. I shotgunned a place in the first boat and was back on Apollo in no time absolutely soaked to the bone!! After getting dry and chatting for a while as the others came back I did my 007 roll back into my coffin for the night and went to sleep.

1st February 2009 - CYCLONE WARNINGS & SAILING HOME!!!
I woke this morning to the smell of bacon...mmmmm!! Nat was stioll asleep and so I had to roll over her (very difficult task considering the size of our bed) to get up. I could hear the skipper and Bergo running around the boat and wondered what was up. Apparently a cyclone warning had been given and all the boats had been ordered back. No one had got much sleep as the waves kept hitting the side of the boat making a loud crack and rocking it a lot. I didn't wake up at all but apparently it was really bad and lots thought we were going down!! What an adventure!!

The breakfast was good and just what most people needed. The skipper then gave us our options...we could either sail back early or stay anchored where we were all day and sail back later. The majority went for sailing back early especially as the weather was supposed to get worse what with a cyclone 'n' all. Once brekkie was served and eaten we donned our yellow jackets for the last time and went on deck for our journey back to Airlie Beach. The sailing was good again....pretty exciting and despite the rain lashing down the sun was also shining through. It looked like we would survive where George Cloony had failed (for those of you who don't get it...George died in the movie 'The Perfect Storm'). I suppose we did have Action Man Brad on board though which gave us an edge!!

We arrived in the Marina a couple of hours later, gave the jackets back, gathered all our damp clothes up and said bye to the crew. Apparently any boats due to sail that day or in the next few days had been cancelled. In that respect I thought we had been lucky. I had really enjoyed it and found the sailing really exciting despite it not being a typicl Whitsunday trip. The crew could have put in more effort and given us a bit more but overall ,I had a fantastic time, the food had been good, I had met some nice people (apart from the English dude) and I had a good laugh!! Awesome Trip......not even the rain ruined it!!!

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