Anthony's Maxi Ragamuffin Adventure

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Day 12: Wednesday 3rd August, Maxi Ragamuffin

The day I'd been waiting for, Sailing in the Whitsunday Islands. We got up at 7:00 to get ready to catch the bus to Shute harbour. We went up to the front of the caravan park and waited for the bus. At a bus stop across the road there were school kids waiting for the school bus. Felt sorry cause they had to go to school and I was going sailing. Two other people from our park came up to wait as well. Then a coach pulled up to pick us up and we hopped on board. We made a few stops to pick up some more tourists that were to sail with us. Then we got down to Shute Harbour where the vessel was waiting for us. The beautiful Maxi Ragamuffin. On board we had a safety briefing and an overview of the day. Then we set off. We used the motor to get out of the harbour and the deck hands asked me and dad to pull the main sail up when skipper said. On the cue we tugged and pulled up the sail. We couldn't pull anymore and it was only just over half way up. The other deckhand on the other side of the boat started pulling the end of the rope and pulled the thing up by himself. Everyone on the boat laughed. It was fun. Then we relaxed a bit and enjoyed the sailing. Talking to other people on the boat and stuff it was fun. Suddenly just looking at the water I thought I saw a shark. It jumped out and it was a dolphin. It crossed under the boat and jumped out on the other side. Two of them surfing the waves together. It was beautiful. I couldn't believe it. A real, wild dolphin. I dived under the deck to grab my camera. Went back up and took a few shots. It was hard to get a good picture though. Just watching them, it was beautiful. We kept sailing through the islands. The colour of the water was gorgeous. An aqua blue. We made it to Blue Pearl bay on Hayman island and we anchored there. We dropped off the divers then all jumped in the tender to head to the beach. The coolest thing about the beach was it was all dead coral instead of sand. It hurt under foot but was different. We went snorkelling there. The deckhands went out in the dingy with food to attract more fish. Even without the food though there were hundreds of fish. They were amazing. I've never been snorkelling before but for my first time I thought I was pretty good. It was weird. Swimming with the fish. Like in a school of them like I was one of them. It was pretty cool. Colourful fish as well not just dull fish. Wish I had a waterproof camera. Anyway went back onto the vessel and had lunch. Salad, chicken, ham and bread, great lunch. Then we set sail. The wind was perfect for sailing. The Ragamuffin was at a 30 degree angle for most of the trip back. It was awesome. Everyone was holding on it was so much fun. We pulled into the harbour at low tide. So we couldn't go all the way in. We had to stop and the tender took us in. After all that we got on the bus to take us home. I went home and jumped into the pool then went to the showers. The best day so far I think.

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