Sailing in the Whitsundays

We spent the last 3 days and 2 nights sailing around the Whitsunday Islands on an 80 foot racing yacht. (Thanks Chris Adams for suggesting this outing!) Needless to say, an awesome experience. There were 19 passengers and only 3 crew (a skipper and 2 deck hands) so we got to help out quite a bit with hoisting the sails, using the grinders and even steering the boat (I steered for about an hour one afternoon and my arms were so sore afterwards - hard work!). The Whitsundays are so named because it was during Whitsunday week (also known as Pentecost) that Captain James Cook first sailed through this 74 island group in the Coral Sea. The islands are mostly uninhabited national parkland. Formed by volcanic activity, they're mountainous, covered in trees, and end abruptly in cliffs that lead straight down to the sea. There are a few lovely beaches though including Whitehaven Beach which is pure white silica sand, where we stopped to sun one morning. We also made two snorkel stops during the trip - my first time and it was a lot of fun. The reef was teeming with schools of zebra fish, rainbow colored fish and others who didn't seem bothered by our presence at all. The sleeping bunks on the boat weren't that comfortable and it was colder than I thought it was going to be, especially at night, so we could have packed better for it, but overall it was a very nice trip and the food wasn't even that bad considering the tiny kitchen and all the mouths they had to feed (it's amazing how you can work up an appetite when all you're doing is lying on the deck of a sailboat all day.)

After the trip was over almost everyone was staying in Airlie Beach for one more night (except for us, our bus and train left for Cairns at 3 am that night...) so we met up with our new friends (including the crew) for dinner and drinks in town. After dinner a few of our friends stayed up with us until we had to meet the bus. I was impressed with the effort considering our usual bedtime on the boat (and for G and me in general) has been about 9 or 10 pm at the latest. Anyway, it was loads of fun and a nice send-off before our final few days in Australia which we'll spend in Cairns up in tropical northern Queensland.

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Part of trip: Summer Travels 2006

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