|
Sailing the Whitsunday Islands
The Whitsunday Islands lie off thge coast of Queensland north of Brisbane. They were named by Captain Cook when he discovered them in July 1770. Unfortunately he didn't realised that he'd crossed the international date line so it wasn't actually Whit Sunday when he discovered them!
There are 74 islands in the group and the accepted way to see them is to go on a sailing trip. Sailing the Whitsundays is very popular - there are dozens of boats which go out every few days from Airlie Beach which is the main access point for the islands. I chose to go on a boat called the Southern Cross which was Australia's entry for the Americas Cup in 1974. She has since been fitted out to carry 14 people in a reasonable level of comfort (i.e. we all had beds!), whilst retaining all the sailing gear and her sleek lines.
Unfortunately, the weather was not kind to us on our trip. One of the first things that our hostess, Sam, told us was that it was probably going to piss down for the next 3 days so we'd better get used to the idea! Just as well we bought ample beer supplies. That moment of honesty was very much appreciated and we all set about getting to know each other as we were going to have to spend a lot of time together.
Our crew consisted of me, Teflon Terry from High Wycombe (not too steady o his feet), Callum the Scot from Helensburgh, Emma and Emma from England, Giles and Vicky, Magnus and Bier from Sweden and Finland and Anna and Jessica from Sweden. We experimented with nicknames such as Roger the Cabin Boy and Seaman Staines but we got blank looks from Sam and anyone else not familiar with Captain Pugwash!
When we cleared the harbour we set about putting up the sails. The actual crew consisted of Sam who doubled as a deck hand and Brendan, the captain. Two people isn't enough to deal with the sails on these boats so we all pitched in to help. This was my first experience of sailing and I'll never forget the way that the boat leant over in the water then we got the sails up! Unfortunately, we didn't get to do too much sailing as there wasn't a great deal of wind around - just rain!
One must-see in the islands is Whitehaven Beach. This is a very beautiful beach with pure white sand and turquoise water. It looked amazing, even in the pouring rain! It really is what you'd imagine paradise to look like - except for the group of pasty-white Europeans splashing around in the water! The sand here is really fine and can even be used for "snowball" fights.
Left: The amazing Whitehaven Beach looks spectacular even in the rain!
Other highlights of the islands included some pretty amazing snorkelling off some of the islands and night-time skinny dipping off the boat! When you pee of the side of the boat into the water, the algae in the water glows green. This can come as quite a shock after a few beers!
Our trip home was pretty impressive. A storm was in progress and the winds were gusting up to about 30 knots. We put up the sails and zoomed home. There's nothing quite like getting soaked as the water comes over the bow. Mind you, by the time we reached Airlie Beach the novelty was beginning to wear off and we were all soaking wet and freezing cold!
Left:Our intrepid crew braving the elements to get the boat back to port at all costs!
Our first night back on shore just happened to be my birthday so I had a ready made birthday party happening. We all got together for some cheap food and free beer that was arranged by the boat company. There was much merriment, very befitting a group of crusty sailors who have just come back from a very long cruise mapping the seas of the world!! We stopped short of seas shantys although we did invent our very own Southern Cross song, and there was the incident where the bouncer asked us all to put our shoes back on.
To cap it all off I had to sleep on the beach that night, and for all the wrong reasons. Someone had taken my bed, and I didn't even know which one was mine so I didn't know who I should be waking up. Should really have woken them all up but it was 4am and I was a little the worse for wear!! Well, it was certainly an interesting birthday.
All in all a very memorable and enjoyable trip - I can highly recommend the Southern Cross as a boat to go on, although it does depend on the group of people you get.
|
|
