Advertisement
Published: August 1st 2006
Edit Blog Post
Sunset at Luncheon Bay
A beautiful end to our first day. I set off for 3 days of sailing around the Whitsunday Islands, taking in the beautiful scenery from our 80ft ocean racing maxi yacht, 'Siska' (apparently it means boob in russian!) filled with both excitement and trepidation.
As the 22 of us approached the yacht it quickly became clear that it was going to be rather cosy for the next 3 days and this was confirmed once we got below deck. By the end of the trip we were like one big, international happy family 😊
We set off from the marina at 9.30am and started our journey towards the islands. The weather wasn't great as it was a bit overcast and quite windy but we were optimistic that this would improve. As we left the shelter of the harbour, we noticed just how breezy it was and it soon became clear that the boat was going to do a fair amount of rocking and swaying. We also spent the majority of the time when we were sailing with the boat tilting at 30 degrees. Everyone seemed fine though until we ventured below deck for some lunch and they could no longer see the horizon. Suddenly there were several
May and I, post-snorkelling
Can you tell we enjoyed it?! rather green faces and some sprinting back onto deck!!I'm proud to say that i have a stronger stomach than i thought and felt fine for the entirety of the trip 😊 Although those of us that we unaffected by sea sickness also struggled to eat lunch because everything was sliding all over the place!
In the afternoon, we stopped to do some snorkelling along the reef. This was my first time snorkelling and I thought it was brilliant. We saw hundreds of brightly coloured fish, loads of different types of coral, some jellyfish and sea clams - it was just like being in a vast underwater aquarium 😊
We moored at this location for the night and sat on deck watching a beautiful sunset whilst sipping chilled goon! Then it was time for dinner and Clint (our own board cook) had done a fab job considering the facilities/space he had; it was chicken breasts with thai curry sauce and salad. Then we had a few more drinks whilst chatting, playing cards and having a singalong (one of the girls had brought her guitar). Then it was off to bed and drifting off to sleep while being rocked like a
My 'rainbow legs'!!!
3 days post incident. I'm just glad that i've still got 2 fully functional legs :) baby in a cradle.
Day 2 dawned sunny and less breezy. We set sail once again and headed for another snorkelling spot nearby. This time the snorkelling was just as good except we also got to meet 'Elvis'; no, not the dead singer, a friendly 1.5m long hump headed maori wrasse!So cool 😊
Then it was time for more sailing at high speeds (approx 25mph) in the sunshine. We stopped again in the afternoon for lunch and more snorkelling but I decided I would rather soak up some sun and relax rather than getting wet again.
It was then on to Dumbell Island where we were to moor for the night and it was on my way to here that i had my 'little accident'. Firstly, I'll set the scene for you all; dusk is approaching, the temperature has dropped and we are just slowly cruising along towards the island. At this point I decided to change into warm dry clothes because I thought we were nearly there and wouldn't be getting wet from spray again. So ventured back on to deck and sat at the back of the boat chatting to one of the other girls. Suddenly the
Whitehaven Beach
Beautiful even in the far from perfect weather conditions. crew announced we were going to 'tack'(this just means change direction) but on our boat mean't everyone needed to move to what will be the high side of the boat, except if you are at the back and can stay where you are and just move with the boat until you are in a standing position with a small plastic ledge to stand on. Tristan assured us we wouldn't get too wet but Laura suggested I should roll up my trousers just in case. The next thing we know, the boat has severely tilted and there are MASSIVE waves crashing down the boat towards us; the first wave soaked us from head to toe and the subsequent ones swept my feet from under me. Luckily as I flew towards the ocean I managed to grab one of the wire handrails and held on tight. Unfortunately, in the process I managed to mangle my legs in the wires on their way through!! It was all a bit of a shock (to say the least) and I spent the next couple of hours felling v.fragile but some of the other guys on the boat were really great and looked after me. Since
then, I've had rainbow legs with the bruising and swelling changing on a daily basis!! Also, I had no change of clothes so had to spend the entire evening in my pjs!
The following morning I was feeling pretty sorry for myself but then we headed over to Whitsunday Island to see Whitehaven Beach and soon was on top form again. It was a bit drizzly when we got up to the lookout but the views were still sensational. I wasn't surprised to hear that it is the 4th most photographed place in Australia. We were then taken down to one of the beaches and got to see the white sands close up.
Then it was time to start the long sail back to Airlie Beach; by this stage we were all pros at sailing and knew the routine of raising the sails etc and it was an uneventful and enjoyable final sail (we also got to see some whales on the way).
As we got off the yacht, we all began to feel the effects of motion sickness and this continued for a couple of days - not good 😞 but we decided that we would all
Hill Inlet, Whitsunday Island
Check out the white sands and turquoise waters. go out for a few drinks that evening anyway. It was the perfect ending to an exhilarating, unforgettable and occasionally terrifying trip 😊
Advertisement
Tot: 0.054s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 11; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0329s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb
Carly
non-member comment
Ouch!
Well I'm very glad you did'nt get washed away my love! But those bruises are corkers!!! Know what you mean about getting off the boat, strange feeling isn't. Kim will soon be in the know aswell as she is buying a canal barge. Not quite the high sea's but close. Anyway we all send our love. (Corinne is getting really excited now, lucky devil.) Carly and all the birds at Chess.