Whitsunday Sailing - Day 1

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Today we were starting out sailing trip. We could only take 1 rucksack each on to the boat so we left our suitcase at the hostel as we checked out and walked down the high street to pick up some boat essentials – sun hats and sun block, before getting some brunch at a café on the high street. At around mid-day we started making away over to the Schute Harbour where we were boarding our catamaran. It was a very hot day, so we took a slow walk as we made our way on the 20min walk along the coast line to Schute Harbour. We found some shade to sit and wait for our boat and watched as the crew cleaned and re-stocked her after her last voyage. Will and Jo (Will’s sister) went off to find some snacks and drinks to keep us going for the 3 days. At 2pm our host, Natalie, came and greeted the group and we were allowed to board the boat.

Once on board the boat we met our captain, Tanya, who gave us a low-down on the rules and where to find our life vests, next it was on to assigning rooms/ beds to everyone. The other passengers were pretty much all UK/ Irish couples, apart from 1 German girl. We hadn’t paid any extra for the private cabins, so Jo (Will’s sister) was given a bunk bed that was converted from one of the sofas in the lounge and we were given what was basically the dining room table, which converted into a double bed also in the lounge. There was also the host, the captain and the German girl also sleeping in the lounge… cosy! But we were later to discover this was probably the best place to be as there was no built in air conditioning on the boat… only a stand-alone air conditioning unit which the captain had rigged up in the lounge!

As we sailed out of the harbour towards Whitehaven, we enjoyed a few late afternoon beers as we got to know our fellow passengers. We docked for the night in a bay at the back of Whitehaven beach so that we would be out of the way from any sea winds during the night. It was then time for dinner which was Green Thai curry prepared by Natalie… and there was even enough for seconds. The evening was spent star gazing and drinking with the fellow passengers. The boat also had underwater lights at the back of the boat which attracted the fish during the night. A couple of the fish got a little too excited and decided to jump on board the boat but with a little nudge they were soon back in the sea with their fishy friends.

The night’s sleep on the boat wasn’t the best as it was very hot and at one point there was a small storm which rocked the boat quite a bit and the captain was running about making sure windows were closed etc. Still not the most calming experience when you wake up to your Captain running through the cabin and the boat rocking quite a bit!

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[Whitsunday Adventurer]

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