We are Sailing!

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For all of those who think ive done another rendition of Rod Stewart in the bathtub i'm gonna have to disappoint we did actually go sailing around the Whitsunday islands.

We arrived in Airlie beach with a couple of days to spare before our sail so spent time in the lagoon here. The sea itself is a harbour so they created a lagoon which is actually really nice for swimming and sunbathing around. We also checked out the nightlife but due to financial restraints decided to visit the bottle shop first then head out on the town - from what we remember it was a good night with Jemma on true asbo form!

We booked a three day, two night sailing and snorkelling trip and have just arrived back a little browner okay pinker than before! We set off from Airlie with the sun shining and sailed through the Whitsundays to South Molle island where we had the use of the all the resort facilities. Golf, tennis, pool, spa, however we only managed to find the bar and food, oops! Unbeknown to us it seemed more like a booze cruise than a sailing trip with the drinking games commencing after dinner. Can't complain getting three beers for one dollar although they didn't last long as we had to down each of them. In one game we had to swap tops with the person next to us, fortunately we were smart enough to have cardigans to swap, but that didnt really work in the favour of the massive guy next to me who ended up dancing on the table like a queen in my tiny zip up jumper, bless!

The next morning at some ungodly hour we piled back on the boat where everyone seemed a little subdued after too many drinking games the previous night. After a couple of hours sailing and several bouts of seasickness we arrived at a deserted beach and swam or jetboated across to the beach. Was quite impressed with myself for reaching the shore as fast as the boat but the driver was mincing about a bit in fairness.The weather wasn't entirely favourable so i spent most the time in the clear blue water while the girlies sunned themselves.

The showers soon returned though so we headed back to the boat for lunch and sailed onto to a snorkel site, which was a little disappointing but we knew we had another reef site the following day so kept our fingers crossed. We headed back on the boat to the island for another night of chicken and salad and drinking games. However due to the rain and cold we chose to sneak out after dinner and avoid the 18-30's style games and get an early night.

Our last day we headed out on the boat at silly o'clock and after a couple of hours arrived at a sand strip at the end of another island for our second snorkel. This time we weren't disappointed, incredible reef of all different shapes, sizes and colours, lots of fish including one reef shark and a turtle. However when i first saw the shark i was all alone and must admit to hearing the Jaws tune in my head and getting quite scared so i called Jemma over for back-up - at least i wouldn't die alone!! Even Gina donned the snorkel and had a swim around the coral reef.

After a couple of hours of snorkelling and with everyone much happier we sailed on home to dry land.

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Comments

[JOAN]

Sailing..in the bath or on a boat??????
Hiya I remember your rendition of we are sailing.....at about 4 in the morning.....in the bath How's the liver taking the beating you three seem to be giving them?? Seem to have had a great time on your sailing trip, shame the sun didn't shine on the boat. Snorkelling looked fantastic and nice that you all had a go.....Whitehaven beach looked great - not a person in sight....thats what I like.. keep enjoying yourself as life back here is a bitch...Love to you all Mumxxx

[Jo (nothing like Jem) Harris]

Oi, Asbo!
Hi Girls - Jem actually looks more asbo-like in the picture with the shot glasses/cups on her head! Bet it's a laugh a minute with her around. Though think they're laughing at you Jem NOT with you :-) Sailing looked lurvely on day 2. Shame about the lobsters! Til next time (der ner, der ner, der ner ner ner ner ner ner ner ner...NER! - AKA Jaws comin at cha!) love Jo xx

[Ray Taylor]

Unbeknown - if you believe that !
So you found a boozing trip with a little sailing in between and fell over board a few times - just your style. Very disappointed you didn't manage a picture of Jaws but I suppose you were hiding behind the coral reef - bloody sure I would have been. Heard of Easter Island (somewhere in the Pacific) but not Whitsunday - so little by little my geography improves - off to check the map again. By the way rumour has it that bath water flows down the plug hole the other way round in the southern hemisphere - have you noticed?

[Den and John casey]

What no chips
All those fish and not a chip in site never mind girls you stick to the chicken salad it's much healthier for you (snigger snigger).I must congratulate my daughter on entering the sea to do some snorkelling as we know how much she hates fish anywhere near her.As for Fiona and Jemma well done on not getting eaten by Jaws although it might of been a new storyline in the making for a new Jaws film.The unidentified object under the sea was a bit hard then it came to me - it's that mad driver woman who tried to kill you all in the creek with the air bag still stuck to her.(sorry jem had to be done).It's probably fair to say that while Fiona was swimming to the shore gina and jemma were probably excercising their vocal chords (maybe one a bit more than the other) on getting Fiona to swim faster. Well done once again on the photo's girls you are certainly making Australia look tempting. Continue to enjoy your travels and remember to be careful. Lots of love mum and dad casey xxxxxx