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Published: April 25th 2008
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Am in the Whitsundays - woo hoo! Had a very early start on Tuesday morning (the earliest so far) and set off to Hamilton Island on a very tiny plane with just two propellers (and I had my doubts whether or not it had an engine until we did the ‘engine tests’ on the runway before takeoff). Flying conditions were actually perfect and so could see the Great Barrier Reef from above, such a stunning sight. Arrived in the Whitsundays and hopped on the Fantasea ferry to Shute Harbour. Sat in the sunshine drinking Nestle Green Tea (my new favourite drink) and waited for the ‘green hull’ of Windjammer to arrive (as that’s how the woman who I booked my trip with told me I would be able to identify the boat!). Duly enough she (aren’t all boats a ‘she’?!) arrived and boarded the boat to the usual sarcastic comments about the weight of my suitcase (ok, jokes wearing a bit thin now... It’s only 22kgs which I know is heavy for a boat but still, I’m a girl and have half of Boots in my bag!).
Set sail (by engine) and headed past Long Island, then it was time
to unleash the sails of Windjammer - wow, what a sight. I volunteered/was volunteered to help pull up the main sail which was pretty heavy (so gawd knows how you would have coped Sister, what with your ‘strong arm’ and everything!). Looking like a ‘proper’ tall ship now, we set off in the direction of Whitsunday Island. Was a lovely sail (if that’s not a weird thing to say...) and ended up at Cid Harbour, where we dropped anchor for the rest of the day. Took a dingy to shore (as the boat needs at least 3 metres of depth) and en route saw my first turtle (yippee! - mission accomplished, I can go home a happy traveller now!) and a rather large sting ray (ok, so maybe I will wear the stinger suit when snorkelling this time around, unlike in the great barrier reef !) Walked through the rainforest track, if you can call it that with all of the fallen trees you had to ‘mount’ to climb over, and saw ‘smoking’ fungi (basically very large mushrooms with what looked like steam coming off of them) a massive lizard (no joke, was about a metre long) and then back
on the dingy to Windjammer for a yummy dinner under the stars...
Woke up to the sounds of pans clattering in the kitchen, so guessed that this was the hint that Kenny (the chef / second in command) was preparing breakfast - but it was only 7am!!! Got up to a cloudy sky, which soon cleared as we set sail around the top of Whitsunday Island, past Hamilton Island (and horrid looking 1960s hotels) en route to Whitehaven Beach. What a stunning sight... The sand is so pure and white (apparently they sold some of the sand to the Yanks for the Hubble Telescope) - we moored there and got the dingy to shore and went on a walk along the beach. Not an easy feat given that the beach is approx. 7.5km long! I didn’t quite make the whole length of the beach, but did my good deed of the day and rescued a butterfly that had got its wings wet in the shoreline... Had a quick sunbathe and then time to go back to the boat. The wind had dropped quite a bit, so all the sails went up the whole way to maximise the ‘catching of
the wind’ (hum, my nautical terms might need improving somewhat!) - and then we spent the rest of the day sailing to Hook Island. We passed Border Island, Dumbbell Island (?!), Hayman Island and then moored just off Hook Island for the night in time to see yet another beautiful sunset.
Again woke up to the sounds of breakfast being made - but also to gorgeous sunshine outside. We had an early morning snorkel off of Black Island and saw a load of pretty fish. I also saw my first turtle underwater (as the original turtle spot was in the dingy above water)... Didn’t expect to see at turtle in the shallow water as I came back into shore though, so it was a case of ‘hello mr turtle’ mumbled/uttered out loud by me through the snorkel tube and was thinking to myself ‘stay still and let him come to you...’, hum easier said than done as ‘mr turtle’ moved towards me very quickly and not being the most calm of people when it comes to being underwater with large fish/animals I panicked and ended up swallowing half of the pacific ocean!!! We then set sail for the other side of Hayman Island for snorkelling part deux - although I didn’t stay in the water as long this time as wanted to do a spot of sunbathing on the beach. The rest of the day was spent soaking up the sun on the boat whilst en route to Armit Bay where we had a swim and then as I was walking back splashing and sploshing my way along the shoreline I saw (and almost trod on) the biggest sting ray!!! So that scared the life out of me for the second time that day and I quickly decided that the walk back would be better along the pebbles of the beach. Just imagine my face when the captain of the boat (called Bob and has the longest beard in the history of the world ever, and that’s no exaggeration!) asked me if I’d seen the shark. Hell no!!! Turns out he wasn’t joking (as by now think everyone on the boat knows about my ‘issues’ with sharks) as there was a 7ft shark in the bay around the corner, but I took his word for it as wasn’t going to find out for myself. Moored for the night back on the Australian coast just up from Airlie Beach which was where I’d get off the boat for 24 hours or so the next day.
Breakfast on the boat was had whilst dolphins played in the water just beside the boat (how often do you get the chance to say that?!) - I think that my travels have turned me into a bit of a wildlife lover!!! We arrived late morning in Airlie Marina to a wide array of boats and, for me at least, a very bizarre sensation of being back on ‘terra firma’. Spent the rest of the day sunbathing by the lagoon and also indulged in a spot of window shopping... Will be back on the boat tomorrow for the next 3 days and if the weather’s anything like it’s been for the past few days then I’ll have a fab tan - but the wind needs to pick up a bit as it was as still as a millpond today (so it was motor sailing only, which isn’t as fun!).
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Debbie
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Sounds amazing
I'm very jealous. You're trip sounds fabulous and I'm here dull canary wharf with a stomper of a hangover!