We are sailing...we are sailing...!!
Trip Start
Nov 11, 2007
1
7
26
Trip End
Feb 11, 2007
Bundaberg,
Australia
Saturday, November 24, 2007
O my god I had such an amazing time on the boat! Possibly one f the best experiences of my life!
On wednesday we woke up really early to leave our hostel in Airlie Beach and head down to the marina to catch our boat called Avatar, a one of a kind, racing trimaran. We walked along the beach walkway with a gorgeous view over the sea till we reached our meeting point and one of the crew - Erin, a canadian girl who was to become 1 of our deckies for the trip. We were assigned our oh so sexy stinger suits (think all over body lycra - yep what lovely thigs they are too! A bond girl lookalike I was not!! Lol!)
So we followed Erin to Avatar and boarded after removing ourshoes that was to be the case for the whole 3 days (now I feel weird with shoes on) and we got comfy on one of the trampoline areas. The boat was gorgeous and I thought it would be great fun even if I was a little nervous about sea sickness and not being able to walk around on a boat with no bloody sides as such lol! After half an hour of sailing and piling on the suncream because it was soooo hot on board, we were given our briefing by Dave our skipper and we met our other deckie, also dave! Lol! We wer given all the essential info on life jackets, deck safety and care and making sure we pile on the suncream. You get burnt 3 times as fast at sea making my factor 30 a mere factor10 - reapplying occurs at least every hour! We wer also told we were heading out round Hook island (2nd largest) to Whitsunday Island (largest) and to Whitehaven beach. I was very excited about this as this is one of the reasons the whitsundays are so famous asits one of the top 10 beaches in the world. We cruised along at a good speed with the wind ripping our hair back and the sun beating down.
After a while at sea we passed many of the islands out of 74, we arrived in the bay of whitehaven beach and it was then I wondered how we were going to get to the beach. A small motor dinghy appeared - great i thought! They want me to transfer myself from one moving object to another! I did it without any falling in occurring and we were shipped ashore. The amazing thing about whitehaven is the sand. Its 99% pure silica making it very very fine. In fact it was like walking on hot snow and it actually squeaked as you walked along. Although this meakes it gorgeous to look at and walk on, it also means it sticks to everything and believe me I mean everything! And with no shower on board only a quick 30 sec rinse per day this wasn't pleasant lol! My hair was also disgusting after 3 days at sea! Now for a bit of science - the sand is so fine due to past volcanic activity that caused a 120m trench to form. As water tries to pass through the narrow whitsunday passage and the trench, it causes a cyclone tide, so the water swirls around. This caues the sea bed to whipup and break down into the sand. I think this is right anyway lol!
We lazed on the beach and tried out our very sexy stinger suits fr the first time having a dip in the sea. Trust me when I say this place is so amazing and I hope my pics do it justice! After some time on the beach we got taken back to boat and changed into dry clothes for tea and some drinks withour fellow passengers. The food was all included in the price and it was great -how erin coked in that tiny kitchen I have no idea! There were 16 girls and 9 boys on board so she was a miracle worker in my opinion. It was whilst we were chilling that someone shouted "turtle" and we ll jumped up to see a massive turtlejust near our boat bobbing up and down. Couldn't catchhim on cam tho as he'd disappeared by the time I got it. Was so chuffed though to have seen one. We sat and chatted to a couple from sheffield of all places who had apparently been out in worksop a few weeks ago - it really is a small world!
After chatting and nearly falling asleep, me and jen headed to our 'pod' or 'hole'. Basically there are little cabins in the outer arms of the trimaran that you drop into via a hatch in the deck. All that there isspace for in there is a double mattress! But we fit in ok-ish! I slept ok till i woke up needing the loo which were in the main cabin in the middle big cabin. Meaning I had to go outside in the dark at sea! Argh! What made it thought was the sheer amount of stars I could see! It was so breathtaking I stood lookin for a while. So good I cant describe it! Fell back to sleep then got up at 7am to blistering heat. How it is so hot at that time in the morning it's ridiculous!
Our 2nd day at sea started with a bit ofsunbathing and breakfast before we headed down to the other end of whitsunday beach bay to got to the lookout point over hill inlet from tongue bay. This is the view on all the postcards and pictures of whitehaven beach. It is one of the best views I have ever seen, u have to see it to believe how beautiful it is. But I've got pictures lol! It was definitely worth the short trek that made us hot and sweaty. We trekked back to Tngue bay to wait for our dinghy back to avatar. In the bay we then spotted two dolphins swimming around - a first for me seeing dolphins in the wild! Woooop!
Next on the agenda was snorkelling. We were briefed about not touchng the coral as some of it can sting you, some could die from the contamination of our fingers and some takes so long to grow (slowest = 1cm per year) that we could break off years of growth with one wrong move. Apparently this part of the reef has the most diverse variety of coral due to the warmth of the water. We had a great time swimming around checking out the different types and seeing the fish. This however was dwarfed by our 2nd snorkelling stop of the day. We went to Manta ray bay and jumped in with the fish coming right up close to your mask. You could feel them brushing past you they were that close to you! Dave was feeding them bread an then this massive fish (nicknamed alfred by dave) came by us. He was as big as my body without my arms and legs and I nearly freaked out. He's some kind of rass I think and apparenly so friendly he ets you stroke him. I didn't try lol! This site was such a good snorkelling spot. We saw so many diffeent fish and coral it was so colourful. Even saw some parrot fish! And the boys even managed to spot a reef shark but I idn't see it.
After all this excitement we chilled out on the boat and cruised round to stonehavenbay to watch the sunset ! It was so gorgeous and I wished Jack were there at that moment most of all (yes I'm missing him like mad). We watched white breasted sea eagles catching fod dave and erin threw to them and even saw another turtle bobbing aound just near our boat. We all got together then and had a fair few drinks with all the people! Great lot, I had a ball with them!
Day 3 started early again - 6am cos the sun woke us up - and it was burning down again. After lazing around and eating breakfast we sailed to Langford Island just off Hook Island. The island had a small deserted beach and is apparently renowned for turtlespotting. We saw one swimming just under our boat but it didn't come up - we could just see it's shadow. The island also had a sandbar that was slowly uncovered as the tide went out. We got our snorkelling and beach gear and were shipped over to the small beach. This wasn't a great snorkelling site and after half an hour of seeing nothing, we got out to ry off and sunbathe. We felt a bit like castaways or the cast of Lost costhe island was so deserted.
We hen travelled back to the mainland in grorgeous sunshine and all I can say is that I had one of the best times ever! I'd recommend it to everyone to do!! We got bac to airlie to cathc our overnight bus to Bundaberg where I am now. The bus was okI suppose but sleeping sitting up has never been one of my strong points so I didn't get much of it!! Arrived and found a motel to stay in and it's really nice here! Everyone kept asking why we were going there and I just said "rum factory"! We've just got back from the distillery tour where we got to see how the rum was made and then (the best bit) got to try some drinks at the end! Allin all a good day!
Off to Hervey Bay tomorrow morning and then a 4x4 group safari on fraser island! Can't wait for that either and will let you know what we get up to of course!
Facebook pics:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14379&l=4d8ec&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14381&l=70ccc&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14383&l=a09bd&id=510031269
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=14384&l=dd35d&id=510031269
Lots of love everyone! xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
