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Published: October 25th 2014
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This morning I was awake early for a change lol as I was heading off to the Whitsunday islands for assailing trip for a couple of days. I had per packed npmy little backpack the night before in readiness for my trip and I was leaving my big ruck sack at the hostel for a couple of days whilst I was away, but had to pay $6 for the pleasure!
I got ready had breakfast and checked out and walked up to the meeting point and was 30 minutes early, but better to be early than late :-) there were other people there also meeting for boat trips so it was obviously the main meeting point for the boat trips going from the marina.
Whilst I was waiting I bumped into Natalie and Rachel my two roomies from Fraser island were also going on the same trip Whitsunday trip as me. It was nice to be with people I knew again. Justin one of the crew came to collect us all and checked us off his list, there were 14 of us in total. We made our way to the red and white sailing boat
called the Siska. Apparently back in the day. She won 22 awards/races and competed in the Whitbread round the world race. Our captain was Mike and our host/cook for the trip was Whitney.
We took off our flip flops and put them in a bag ready for later as didn't need them when we were on the boat. We then went downstairs and were allocated bunks/beds, very cosy I have to say lol. We went up on deck and had our H & S briefing and what would be happening on day one. We then all got prepared for sailing as we had to sit on one side of the boat as once the sails we up we would be leaning to the left as we had a good 7 knot wind to help us along. We used the engine to bet us out into open water and then unfurled and hoisted the sails with the help of some of the passengers :-)
There was a guy called Charles who was French, a German couple called Carmen and ? two American girls from Colorado, 3 girls from the UK, two of which were sisters
and their friend Paige, Michelle from Ireland, and French couple who were just friends. It was a nice small group and we all chatted and got to know each other.
The water was very choppy and those of us sitting at the front were frequently sprayed with sea water from the waves which came up over the bough. Each time it happened there were screams as it was so cold and unexpected. Later when our clothes and our skin dried you could see the salt marks left where the water had dried off.
We sailed for about an hour and a half and then anchored off Whitsunday island. We saw a few turtles as we sailed into the bay of the island, bobbing around in the water popping up for air before diving beneath the waves again. We had lunch and made ready to head over to the island. We all climbed into the dinghy and gently made our way over to the island. When we landed there were a couple of other boats also there unloading passengers so it was a little busier than I thought it would be, but we soon thinned out.
We walked into the island and up to a look out a point so we could see the amazing white sands and the beautiful turquoise waters, stunning! We then walked back down and over to the beach we had just been looking at. We had a paddle in the shallow waters where we could see stingrays basking in the waters, we could get within a few feet of them if we walked slowly through the water. We also saw large fish which were lemon sharks fish but were not dangerous.
We chilled out and sunbathed on the beach until it was time to head back to the dinghy and the Siska. Once on board we set sail to the place where we were to stop for the night, and which would be our first snorkel sight for the night.
Whitney made us nachos with all the usual gubbins which was just what we needed as we were all hungry and gratefully ate them above deck as we sailed along. Then we broke out the tinnies lol. As we arrived at our destination we sat and watched a beautiful sunset and then had dinner. After eating people
did their own thing, some on deck star gazing, I did go up too, the night was so clear and there were hundreds of stars out, no night pollution here :-), some read and some played cards. It got to around 9pm and I was so tired I had to go to bed lol and Michelle wasn't far behind me, us oldies just can't take the pace :-)
I didn't sleep too bad but in the night I got too warm and felt a bit claustrophobic so had to move beds and dope out in the kitchen/dining area until about 5.30am when I went back to my bunk.
Xxx
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