June 18th-20th: Whitsundays Sailing Trip

---

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29002&l=d14cf&id=503645207
Wednesday, June 18th:
My alarm woke me up at 7:50. Today was the start of the Whitsundays Sailing Trip! I grabbed brekkie as they call it in Australia then check out, putting my bags in storage. Everyone met at a small cafe at the Marina where we received instructions and got our stinger suits. From there we boarded the boat. We had paid a good amount of money to get on this boat (http://www.ozsailing.com.au/vessel.php?name=Avatar) and were rewarded with an awesome boat for the trip. We met our crew which was very interesting. For a group of 22 we had just three crew. A hostess named Jess who was our age, a deckhand named Erin and a male skipper named tristan who was only 22 years of age, yet had already had over a years experience just on water skippering. We left right away, with the skipper choosing to leave the safety messages until we got the sails up. The day consisted of approx. 15 knot winds and light scattered showers. We sailed from Abel Point east to Whitsunday Island and then around the north tip anchoring at Cateran Bay on Border Island. Here was the first place we went snorkelling. WE had to moor the ship about a hundred metres off the coast. The deckhand took groups of us to the reef in a dingy to the reef. When we got there we were still 25 metres from shore. I put on my goggles and got ready for a little commute. When I put my face under water I was shocked! The coral was less then a metre away! The bay we were in was protected by the island from the surf Tristan explained. Because of this you see far more soft coral then you would on the outer reefs. It was cool to see the different kinds of corals. I also managed to find 3 clams which had burrowed into some coral. As you dove down they would close up which was an interesting experience. Once we were done Erin the deckhand picked us up in the dingy and dropped us back at the boat where lunch was already served. This was our first of many..many awesome meals! During lunch tristan kept the boat moving performing some zig zags aka tacks to keep the sails inflated. We arrived at Tongue bay at teh end of our day. tongue bay is the mooring point is the point to go explore the Whithaven beach, the most photographed place of the whole Whitsunday Islands.

Thursday june 19th:

Today I was awoken by everyone eating breakfast. My bed was right beside the kitchen. I was eating within 2 minutes of getting up and within half an hour I was on the walking trails to Whithaven Beach. before you get to the beach and enjoy it we were told to go check out the lookout. I went with the expectation of the beach looking just like the postcards I had seen. It looked like it was high tide compared to the postcards with most of the sand submerged below about a metre of water. Although this was disappointing we went down to the beach and had an awesome time exploring and lying about for a good three hours. The sand is supposed to be the purest in the world at 98 decimal something silica sand we were told. There is no doubt about that fact. The sane was super white!. The water was even clearer then that of Lake Mckenzie on Fraser Island. after enjoying the beach and meeting up with other boats doing the same thing it was time to leave. We left Tongue bay heading north passing between the north part of Whitsunday Island and Border Island on our way to Hook Island. Unfortunately the wind was coming from directly behind us so we were unable to put up the sails. We moored at Manta Ray Bay on the north east part of Hook Island where we did more snorkeling. The coral was very similar to the past site not to discount how captivating the colours and shapes were. The best part of the snorkelling was running into "Wally" a Humphead maori Wrasse (google it)! He was not afraid of human contact at all coming right up to the dingy allowing people to pet him. These fish are interesting as I have been told because there is one male, like Wally and a few females. The females are very reserved and dont enjoy being pet. If Wally were to die the most dominant of the females would change sexes. This means changing from the brown colour they are to the male turquoise colour, growing again although they were full female size, becoming more outgoing and of course getting male "instruments." After the snorkeling the anchor was pulled out of the water and 12 of us helped pulling the main sail up. We sailed west between Hook and Hayman island, North of Langford Island adn then looping around the island anchoring on the west side of Hook Island. Here we had dinner on the deck while watching the sun go down at Baird Point.

Friday June 20th:

I was awoken again by people preparing breakfast. I could get used to this! I got up and had breakfast. Once everyone had finished Tristan motored us NNE to the north east side of Langford Island where we got rides in the dingy to a sand bar. We were allowed about three hours to sunbathe or snorkel. The sandbar was made of coarse coral and sand plus the early morning winter temperatures would not make it nice to lay on a towel so I elected to snorkel right away. The coral began less then 10 metres from shore. There were lots more clams and the best part was five or six green turtles. If you searched for a minute or two you were bound to find one or two. If you waited even longer you could watch them swimming up to the surface. They wern't afraid at all surfacing between groups of 3 or 4 people andletting anwyone pet them.

After snorkelling we went back to the boat where there were cookies and tea prepared. I have got into the tea lifestyle while on this trip being around all these British people who drink more of it then water. At the same time some of us dove off the pontoons into the water. By the time everyone had finished cookies, tea and diving Jess had lunch prepared. After lunch we put the sails up for the final time and sailed back to the marina. We had stronger winds then Tristan had anticipated so Tristan just sailed in different patterns showing us wha the ship could really do. We arrive back in the marina just after 4 O'Clock. Watching Tristan backing a 60 somethin X 50 somthing trimaran into a 60X70 dock wa very impressive and a good way to culminate the trip of a lifetime. Once tied down we all got our stuff said good by and headed off to our respective hostels. Fortunately this was not the final time we would see eachother as you grow close to people spending 70 hours living in such a small space with everyone.

At night everyone at the crew met at the Beaches hostel bar where we got lots of free pitchers and had an awesome time checking out everyones photos.

---