Vikki's Grand Tour

Paradise found - Whitsunday Islands

I thought I'd found paradise at Magnetic Island, but I was so wrong!!

What a fantastic sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands. We left Tuesday afternoon, I was worried as the weather was forecast to be bad, but they hadn't cancelled any of the boats, so we had to go ahead. I was pleased when I saw the boat, it's an old sailing boat, but it looked really sturdy and I'd heard lots of good comments about it, so onboard I went with my supply of sea-sickness tablets (I'd heard lots of nightmare stories about people being sick). There were 25 of us altogther, everyone was really nice, but I was a little disappointed as there were 3 large groups who came together, so it was a bit harder to mix as they all kept in their groups, it worked out ok in the end. I was a bit gutted as I was the oldest one on the boat...typical! Anyway, we set sail after going through our safety talk, then we went downstairs to find our beds, I ended up sharing a cabin with a group of 7 English people, it was ok, they were all nice. My bed was on the top and I literally couldn't sit up in bed, the ceiling was a tiny bit above me, a bit claustrophobic actually.

First stop was the Nara Inlet by Hook Island, we all went for a bush walk to the top of the lookout and then went to find a water hole to have a swim, it was really hard work getting there, half of it we had to step over stepping stones in the river, not the best time to be wearing flip-flops! After we'd made our way down we went back to the boat and it was time for afternoon tea and then dinner. We all started to get to know each other a bit better, and then the beers and wine got cracked open. It was a great laugh, but I was very careful and only had 2 glasses (sorry mugs) of wine, there was no way I was going to be seasick over these 3 days. So after a few drinks and a sing song we all went to bed. It was a bit weird being in bed in a boat, but luckily I was asleep after not too long.

Next day our skipper told us he'd be starting the engines between 6 and 6.30am, so I had to wake up at 6 to take my tablet and then went upstairs, it's the worst feeling being down in the cabins when the boat is sailing, so I wasn't taking any chances. We ate our breakfast and then set sail for Whitsunday Island (there are 94 islands altogether in the Whitsundays, this is the main and most famous one). I'd heard so many good things about and seen gorgeous pictures of Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island, I couldn't wait to see it for myself. The crew were telling us that the sand is 98% pure silica which is why it is so white. Apparently you can clean your jewellery with it, and it's perfect for making glass from it. We had a really rough 2.5 hour journey there, it was pretty awful and a couple of people were sick, me not included luckily! When we moored the boat we did another bush walk to the top lookout, amazingly the sun had come out and it was an absolutely perfect day. Everyone was really buzzing with anticipation about seeing this beach, me included, but I didn't want to get too excited as normally these things are an anti climax. So when I got to the top I couldn't believe what I was seeing, it was absolutely stunning, I've never and probably never will see anything like it ever again, words can't describe what it felt like to be there and see this gorgeous beach. The sea was all different colours of turquoise blue and the sand was pure white....absolute paradise, amazing. I just kept saying, stunning, gorgeous, I couldn't shut up...anyway I could go on and on about this again, but I won't bore you! When we'd taken our photos we walked down to the beach and sunbathed for a couple of hours...pure bliss. When we'd finished sunning ourselves (I didn't want to leave) we went back to the boat for lunch. The water we were moored in was a bit rocky, so they set sail again to hopefully somewhere I bit calmer, but it turned out to be not such a good idea, the food was flying everywhere, somehow I managed to eat a bit of bread. Another hour or so later we moored at Maureens Cove for some snorkelling, this was the part I've most been looking forward to. So we all put on our sexy stinger suits (just in case) and jumped in. I haven't really snorkelled properly before, so I didn't know what to expect. It was fantastic, I was snorkelling at the Great Barrier Reef, one of the seven wonders of the world, another awe inspiring moment! The reef was amazing and there were loads of tropical fish it was so cool swimming next to them, the water was so clear, I loved it. Once everyone had finished their swimming we went back to the boat and had our 2 minute shower allowance (this trip was all about not worrying what you looked... or smelt like!) and then went to Langford island, which looked very bizarre, there was a tiny island with a long thin strip of beach coming out of it. We were taken there so we could to watch the sunset, so we took our wine and beer over and had about 30 mins there, then Mick (the crew hand) came back to pick us up, there were really big rain clouds above, so one boat load at a time we all went back to the boat, luckily I was in the first lot, cos then the heavens opened and the ones left there all got soaked!! The sunset was amazing (see pics below). We were to moor there for the night, so we settled in and had some dinner and some more drinks. One of the younger lads got a bit carried away and was throwing up all night, poor thing, I could even hear him from my bed when I went down to my cabin, not nice! Everyone was pretty jaded after a long day so we all went to bed pretty early.

6am this morning, the skipper came down and woke us up to see if we wanted to go snorkelling again...as you can imagine, noone was very enthusiastic, but one by one we all headed up to the deck and got ready for it, it was freezing and our stinger suits were still wet from the day before, but we persevered. Once we got to shore, we snorkelled out to the Langford reef, the water was not that cold actually so after a small initial shock, we were well away. What a great way to wake yourself up in the morning!! I think I saw even more fish today, it was great again, they are all really bright and colourful. The highlight though was seeing a turtle, it was a really big one, it was so cool being so close to him. He was asleep at first, but I think we may have woken him....he was looking at us with one eye, he was beautiful, I was gobsmacked to see it, we were all making shocked noises under the water! We were all on a high after that and I think the people that didn't go out were pretty gutted. We also saw 4 huge batfish by the boat, some of the girls were feeding them, they were huge and very colourful. So after breakfast that was it, we were to head back to Airlie beach. To be honest I was really relieved, I never want to do a 3 day sailing trip again, it was fantastic and has been one of my highlights so far, I'm so glad I did it, what an amazing experience, but I just don't have sea legs!! We were so lucky to see Whitehaven beach, a lot of the boats recently haven't been able to go because of the bad weather. Everything was spectacular, the bright blue seas, the islands, the whole thing! And we had an extra treat on the way back, we had a wild dolphin swimming next to our boat, never seen that before......amazing!

So now I am waiting for my bus , I've done all my laundry, I was desperate for clean clothes. I'm quite impressed I've been able to write all this, I still feel like I'm on a boat, my head is spinning and I'm so tired, I am having trouble typing, so I apologise if some of it doesn't make sense. I'm not going to have a good nights sleep for a while, I'll be on the night bus for 12 hours tonight headed for Hervey bay, I'm not really looking forward to it...I get there at 6.40 am and then I've booked a whale watching trip for 8am, I'm gonna be knackered, then the following day I have 3 days camping on safari on Fraser Island!!

Here are some pics from my trip....

Our Boat - SV Whitehaven