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Published: January 4th 2006
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Brent and I flew from Brisbane to the Whitsunday Coast on New Year's Eve. We arrived and took a coach transfer to Proserpine, where we were spending the night. We went to the liquor store to get some wine and some alcohol for our sailing trip, and we got some groceries so we would have some snacks and breakfast for the next morning, because we had to leave at 6:00 am to get to Airlie Beach in time to catch the sailboat.
We settled in to our room and then Brent suggested that I call to confirm the sailing trip. I agreed (somewhat reluctantly as I had confirmed it several times before leaving for Australia), and I called the travel agency we used to book it. As soon as I identified myself, the woman on the other end said "Erin! Mate, we've been trying to get in touch with you, your sailing trip was cancelled at 3:00 pm today." This was not a joke, and it was pretty much a complete crisis because we had flown up to the Whitsunday Coast, had nowhere to stay beyond that night (and accommodations were totally booked because of New Year's), and we didn'
Samurai
Our sailboat and home for 2 days and 2 nights. t have a return flight until Wednesday. I was on the verge of total panic.... the woman said she would see if she could get us on another boat. So we had to wait for 40 minutes, not knowing if we would get to go or if we just paid to fly to the Whitsunday Coast for absolutely no reason. She ended up booking us on a 2 day, 2 night alternate trip that was similar to the first one (it went to the same islands).
It was very frustrating, but at the same time there were a lot of good things that came out of it. For starters, 2 days and 2 nights was more than enough sailing time! Also, the new trip included a free scuba dive, so Brent and I got to dive together which was great.
As for the details of the trip... it was a very fun time, but it had its disadvantages too. For starters... our tripmates. There was a family of 6 from Norway who didn't speak English well so we didn't talk to them at all beyond the standard tourist questions (where are you from, how long have you been
Getting the dive gear ready...
Our dive was at Blue Pearl Bay on Hayman Island in Australia, what have you seen, etc). Other than that, there was a guy from Slovenia who smoked like a chimney and snored all night long. Lastly there was a girl from the US who was normal, but she was the only one and she mainly kept to herself. It just wasn't really what we were expecting... but the crew was good at least. There was the captain, 2 dive instructors, a chef and a 'dishie' (the girl who washes the dishes). Another disadvantage was our sleeping quarters. Everyone slept below deck and the sailboat just traps the heat (both from the air and the 29 degree water) so it felt like an oven! I had go up and sleep on the deck the first night because I was way too hot. The second night was much better (aside from the guy who snored, as previously mentioned).
Now on to the highlights of the trip and what made it all worthwhile. The food was incredible... I was not expecting such great cooking! We had steaks, sausages, ham, roast beef, pasta salad, potatoes, vegetables... it was great. Next, the sailing itself was pretty cool, it was so nice to be
out on the ocean... Brent even helped the crew out with putting up the sails.
The scuba diving was great, it was so fun to dive with Brent and there were tons of fish!! Another bonus was that my ears didn't hurt this time and for once I wasn't deaf when I resurfaced, yay! The diving pictures on this blog were taken with Brent's camera (there was no underwater photographer along with us this time... but I think Brent's pictures turned out really well). We also did a lot of snorkelling and that was awesome too. Now onto the sea life!! One morning there were all sorts of sea turtles close to our boat who kept surfacing, it was really cool to see. Brent also spotted a leopard shark as we were sailing, my first shark sighting... I was glad I wasn't actually in the water. We stopped off at Whitehaven Beach on Whitsunday Island (more on that in a minute), and as one of the crew was coming back to pick us up in the dingy to take us back to the sailboat, we were wading out in the water to meet him when there was something thrashing
around in the water between us and the dingy. The crew guy said "it's a shark, cool!" Of course I thought he was kidding until we got closer and saw that it was another leopard shark!! Awesome!!
Whitehaven Beach.... this alone made the trip worthwhile. It was absolutely stunning. The sand is silica and it feels like talcum powder it is so soft. We walked up to a lookout point and took a lot of pictures, the view was unbelievable. We then walked down to the beach and walked along the water. At points we were the only ones on the whole beach which was pretty cool. We had some time to relax so we just sat down in the shade. Brent went for a swim (in a full stinger suit because of the risk of jellyfish stings)! The pictures will do a better job of showing you just how beautiful the beach is… it was unlike anything I have ever seen.
The weather for the most part was great, hot and sunny. However, on the last day as we were sailing back to Airlie Beach, it started pouring rain. It was actually nice at first to have
fresh water to rinse off with (this was day 2 with no shower for us!) and Brent and I were out on the deck in our bathing suits just loving it (the Norweigan family was huddled under a tarp). After about 20 minutes it got a little chilly though!! The sun came out again though so we dried off a little before we arrived back at the marina.
We stayed in Airlie Beach last night. We had showers, got some pizza and had some more wine… I can’t get enough of the Australian red wine…. and just relaxed for the night. We flew back to Brisbane today and got home around 5:30 pm.
Overall it was a great trip, but I’m also happy to be back on the Sunshine Coast again, I love it here!! Only 3 more days in Australia, I can’t believe it…
P.S. I added pictures to the Big Pineapple blog if you want to have a look! 😊
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Karen
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Stinger Suit
Hey Nern, Brent is SOOO hot in that Stinger Suit, I can see why the old ladies flock to him! :)Sounds like you had a great time, it looks beautiful!