Sailing on the Whitsundays

Hey everyone!

As some of you may already know, we just got back from a sailing trip we took out around the Whitsundays (a group of islands off the coast of Airlie) The night we posted our last blog entry you may remember we planed on going out on the town, but ran into some people on the way out of the hostel and talked to them for a few hours, then headed to bed! we didnt get far! The next morning we walked up the street to a info shop where they book last minute deals. We got a good price on a 2 day/ 2 night sail around the islands. We decided to go for it, after all the good things we had heard about the islands from other travelers and friends. A few hours after booking we drove our van to the marina and waited to get on the boat. It was called “Hammer”.

“Hammer is a 75 foot Maxi yacht that is indeed a true Australian yachting legend. Hammer was designed by Kel Steinman and owned and campaigned by Arthur Bloore. Throughout her racing career Hammer competed in many blue water events and was best known for her five consecutive placings in the world famous Sydney to Hobart, including line honours in the 50th Anniversary of the event. Hammer carries 22 guests and 3 crew for two days and two nights, and is truly the ‘wild child’ of ProSail’s Maxi fleet.”

in short, it was a racing boat turned tourist sailer.  It was a nice boat all in all.  When we first saw it we were convinced 22 people + 3 crew would never fit…yet sure enough as soon as we all started filing down the ladder into the hull we each had a bunk after all, not to mention there was also a kitchen and 2 loo’s down there!  Obviously the majority of the time however was spent on the deck lounging in the sun.  We left Abel point marina at 1pm on Friday setting off to the Whitsunday islands.  Unfortunatly it was no where near windy enough to sail the shit as it was truely intended, in fact the sails were damn near useless.  The crew invited a few people to raise the sails just for the experience really.  Cruising along at 5 knots we reached our first destination in about 2 and a bit hours.  We all got into our stinger suits (not as thick as a wetsuit, more designed to protect from stings) and got tendered out into a bay where we went snorkeling.  It was alright, not as good as diving – but still worth doing, lots to see, and the reef was shallow enough you can just hold your breath and swim down.  We all got picked back up  after 30-40 minutes and we started cruising to where we would spend our first night.  Along the way Matt was playing stand in Skipper for a moment whilst the real skipper ran downstairs, Matt ended up piloting Hammer all the way to her mooring nearly an hour and half away!  That night we both drank all the beer we brought for both nights! needless to say it was a party!  Since we were all tourists on the boat, there were alot of people from all different places in the world – eventually we got drunk to the point we started calling everyone by their country, with the prefix “team” therefor we were “team canada” ect.  As the night wore on and the beer wore thin it came down the the final 4 people remaining awake; Team Canada (us), Team France (Vincent) and Team England (Sarah) we managed to snap a few group shots even! haha (check photo section)  alas Team England and France packed it in at about 1, and we followed in soon after.

The next morning we were tendered over to a nearby beach where we would be spending the next 3.5 hours.  To start we had to walk from the beach we were dropped off at nearly 1km to a lookout point (was more of a hike than walk!) the view was incredible, apparently the 4th most photographed location in all of Australia (Sydney Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and Ayers Rock being the other 3 in no order) from there we had to hike back down and further yet to another beach which was our intended destination for the morning.  The beach was stunning…the most amazing fine white sand either of us had ever experienced.   and there was miles of it!  We walked as near to the water as we could and set our stuff down and relaxed.  Once the tide started coming in we had to retreat further inland mind you – but it was absolutely beautiful.  At one point a few of us walked down the beach in the shallows as the tide was coming in, we spotted some sting rays just ahead near some rocks in the shallow water! we all walked over there hoping to get a closer look, sure enough next thing we know we are walking along side 4 rays! they were incredible! keeping their distance however; we tried to get as close as they would let us!  11:30am came and we had to make our way back to the boat, not before however; team france and us were having baywatch competitions to see who could run out through the waves the furthers, obvious rules included having to look super sexy, with us 3 guys though, we didnt have to try to hard.  we also tried cartwheeling into the ocean, and front flipping over incoming waves. We left the beach begrudgingly and headed back to the other beach to be collected and brought back aboard Hammer.  From there we motored to a place called Turtle bay to snorkel for a second time.  ironically enough there was not a turtle to be seen.  We spent the better part of the remainder of the day sailing to the next location, which is where we would be spending our second and final night.   We all sat on the deck and watched the sunset, and watched as the stars came out to reveal a few constellations that we dont get in the northern hemisphere.  We had dinner, and had a rather relaxed night.  As we had no booze left we had no real drive to stay up all that late, so we turned in at about 11.

This morning we were up bright and early for brekky at 7am and our final snorkel at 7:30.  When we were on our way on the tender we were told “If you dont see 2000 fish, you are swimming with your eyes closed”  i thought he was just kidding…when we backwards somersaulted into the water off the tender we were surrounded by fish!  Someone said “its like swimming in a fish tank!” and it really was! there were so many fish, so close that you just wouldn’t beleive it unless you were there.  They were closer to our faces that even our own elbows! very friendly fish.  Neither of us really wanted to get out of the water this morning, but with Chris not being able to equalize his ears (not being able to dive under) and both of us cold, we turned in and got back to Hammer.  We set off back to the Marina to finish the trip.

All in all it was a great trip.  The boat was nice (though the beds were uncomfortable) the weather was perfect (though i guess more wind would have let us actually sail) and the people were friendly.  we also got the chance to see a few whales and dolphins along side the boat!  so there we go.

We thought since we posted the pictures we should write the post to accompany them! save confusing a few people!  Take a look at the photos (I know Matt took alot again, he is out of control! but there worth looking at, especially full size! click on them! lol)