Whitsunday Sailing on Habibi

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13th-15th October

Hello Habibi. On to the boat and our shoes are all confiscated! NO SHOES ALLOWED! We're given a little talk on how to behave etc and then set sail - using the engine.

At this point, the rain was pretty bad and it was more than a little choppy on the water. I quite liked it but I think it was making a few people a bit seasick.

We were allocated our rooms and mine was... interesting. Just enough room for two bunks, no window and no door. They had put me in a room with a rather eccentric German guy named Julian and a French couple Jon and Carolyn (who is pregnant.) We walk into the room which is a little claustrophobic with all four of us in there and Carolyn turns to me and says "actually, we are a couple." I didn't quite understand the point of what she was saying so I was like "so...err...you want your own room?!" This didn't go down too well. She mutters something in French to Jon (who turns out to be lovely) shrugged her shoulders, pouted and stormed off.

"Sorry" said Jon quite sincerely.

"That's ok. I have no idea what she said anyway."

I walked upstairs and started chatting to two German girls. "Where are you from?"

"England."

"Oh. I don't understand people from England."

Not to sure how to respond to that. I couldn't help but get the feeling that this trip was going to be a little hard work. Actually, it wasn't.

I then went and perched myself next to a lovely girl called Emma and had a good chat with her and the Irish couple, Darren and Lauren.

Soon it was dinner time and a BBQ for the meat eaters. Sausages and what they were told were koala steaks. Ha. Better not have been! Accompanied by an array of salads of which I actually ate (excluding the cucumber of course). I'm giving lettuce a chance.

By 9.00pm Emma, her friends Sabrina, Andy and Ryan, the Irish couple and Matty the captain and I were all chatting on the deck. . It was fun but for some reason felt like it was at least 2.00am so like a loser, I went to bed.

6am wake up call for breakfast so that we can beat the crowds to Whitehaven Beach.

"Who's ready to get in the dinghy?"

"I am!"

And so, onto the dinghy I go and I'm the first person off of the boat and onto Whitehaven Beach. Wow. Even with the clouds I can happily say at this moment that this is the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. Clear, aqua-marine water neighbouring the finest white sand you will ever see.

I grabbed my ever-so-flattering stinger suit and ran like a crazy child into the ocean for a little swim. As I did this, the Sun decided to show itself so an hour or so drying on the beach was just perfect.

Time to head back aboard. Not long to go and we're in our snorkel spot. This was cool. The coral wasn't amazing but the fish definitely were, my favourite being the big friendly one with a hump on his head and big Mick Jagger lips.

Phil, the skipper threw yesterday's leftovers into the water so before long, we were surrounded by what seemed like hundreds of fish. One the bigger fish with shark-like teeth got a little too close for comfort.

Back on deck again and time for a feed and more sailing. A few people went back out to snorkel a different site but I used the opportunity to change my clothes in my doorless room.

The Sun quickly set and the night sky was upon us in no time. We were to stay in this spot tonight. The water was calm which I was glad of- it meant I wasn't going to be thrown out of bed and into Frenchie in my sleep.

After food came drink. The rain belted down once again so a rather large group of us were huddled under cover at the back of Habibi. As the rain stopped. the group disbursed leaving only the English, Irish and Swedish at the back and the Germans French and Spanish at the front. I find it a shame the way that tends to happen but they say it's because they worry about their English. I would never judge anyone for poor grammar!

Lauren and Leah had concocted a rather interesting musical playlist for us. Which unfortunately wasn't to one of the German girl's approval but instead of asking to change it, just switched it over to hers thinking that no one would notice. Bad move. It didn't go down too well and was quickly switched back to the original. Funny how something so trivial turns into a drama.

I was rather impressed with myself for managing to stay awake past 11.00pm this time - hardcore! I headed back to my room, jump into bed thinking that no one else is in the room. "Goodnight" says Jon, scaring me half to death. Where did he come from?

Woke up for my last day of sailing and it was a beautiful day. The Sun was shining and the sky was blue.

As we're approaching Airlie Beach, Phil spots a turtle. I was standing next to him so was close enough to hear him say to Matty "Might be a dead one."

It wasn't dead. It just had a disease where air became trapped under its shell meaning that it was unable to submerge. Basically put - shark bait. So they called Marine wildlife who said "catch it and bring it in."

The turtle rescue mission was underway! Phil, Kristy, Ryan and Darren went out in the dinghy, caught her and towed her back to shore safely. It looked like a tough job and she weighed around 70 kilos. Hopefully they'll be able to help her and get her back in the water soon.

Off the boat and back to that wonderful hostel of mine. This time in a nice, clean room with a nice, clean bathroom! And nine other girls all competing for it to get out for 7.00pm!

A night out with the boat people included free pizza and cheap drinks. Phoenix bar, Beaches and then an Irish bar (which I left pretty swiftly. ) And randomly bumped into one of my favourite people...Martyn on the way back. Airlie beach seemed to bring to me almost every person I'd met in Australia!

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Comments

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[Dissatisfied Customer]

BED Bugs
I just came off the Habibi a few days ago and although the crew are very nice and provided us with plenty of food unfortunately the boat itself is not up to the standard it should be to cater for so many travellers. All the beds had BED BUGS which really ruined the trip for me as i am covered in bites and even tough this problem was made known to the staff it seemed to not shock them so i believe the company are deliberately ignoring the issue as i believe the company don't care about their passengers enough to fix the problem and lose out in a bit of money for a few days