Sailing & snorkelling in the Whitsundays
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2009
1
40
67
Trip End
May 31, 2010
Airlie Beach, Queensland, Australia
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Then we reached Airlie Beach, which is a crazy town. Our reason for heading here is was because it is the main launching point for trips to the Whitsunday Islands, as it was a weekend we had booked a room at Beaches Backpackers in advance. The hostel wasn't too bad, and it seemed fairly quiet, that is until about 7pm when the hostel bar opens and the bar next door and the groovy tunes started pumping through the room. We were staying next to what seemed to be the most popular place in town. We had an early start for our trip the next day so we tried to block out the music from both sides of the building as best we could.
After a reasonably good sleep we made our way to the harbour early the following morning to meet our new sailing buddies group, 12 of us were setting sail aboard the Apollo 3. Our captain about the sailing boat was Pirate Pete, who really looked the part. He had a bandana, very tanned face and gold front tooth, and his first mate Adam. They were a great pair and immediately made everyone on board feel very welcome.
Our trip included two days aboard cruising around the Whitsuday Islands, stopping to go to beaches and for the occasional snorkel. We were very lucky as it was sunny with just enough wind to get the sails up straight away. It wasn’t long after we’d left the harbour that Simon got chatting to Pirate Pete, and before long was steering the boat himself. He looked quite at home negotiating the other boats as we headed out to the islands, so much so that he now wants to buy a boat of his own. We all got stuck in helping with the various tasks of putting the sails up and down throughout the trip which was great.
Our first stop was at Whitsunday Island itself, where we were taken by dingy to the shore. We walked over the headland and found ourselves in one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. The brilliant white sand and blue waters of the island were incredible. The place was almost deserted except for us and one other sailing group, it was perfect. We all headed straight for the soft sand, and then into the water for a swim. Despite being in a stinger suit Ali was still incredibly nervous about being stung, but she soon realised that was only one of her worries as Simon spotted some baby sharks swimming just metres away from us. As the water was so incredibly clear we could see them really well... too well for Ali’s liking. She made a hasty exit and admired them from the beach instead.
After a couple of hours lazing in the paradise surroundings we headed back to the boat for some lunch and then our first snorkelling expedition. We had already seen several sea turtles in the water and so were really excited to see more. Pirate Pete navigated us over to a lovely quiet bay near Dumbell Island, where we jumped into the water again to see some incredible coral and fish. We didn’t see any more sea turtles this time but some amazing coloured fish, including some Clown Fish like Nemo. The bay was so lovely and secluded this is where we stayed for the night, we sat on deck chatting with our new sailing buddies drinking wine and watching the sunset over the deserted waters. It was incredibly peaceful and a stark contrast to the experience in Ha Long Bay.
The next morning we headed out for more sailing and snorkelling. The water was not quite so clear on our last trip into the water but that was more than made up by the fact we found some green sea turtles, probably about 50cm in length, in the water. It was incredible to be so close to them and swim alongside them. Pirate Pete even managed to get close enough to hold one of them for a short while.
The couple of days sailing were a real highlight of our trip up the coast, which was topped by being on board with a great group of people. So much so that at the end of the second day we ran back to our hostel for a quick shower before all meeting up for dinner together. Wouter, Rachel, Jennifer, Romain and us all met up at the only place to be in Airlie Beach, Beaches (the one that kept us awake before). The music in the bar isn’t so annoying when you’re enjoying it with a good group of friends and a beer, and after two days in the sun and all the action on the boat it didn’t keep us awake when we got to bed either.
We had a couple of extra days left after our trip and used the time to relax and explore the coastline a little further. We found a few nice bays and coves. Ali had read about a great waterfall in the bush that she wanted to visit so we took the hour drive out to find it. We weren’t sure if we were in the right place at first as we couldn’t hear the gushing sound of water falling from rocks as the postcards and guidebook suggests... in fact we were in exactly the right place but the water fall was but a mere trickle due to the dry weather! Still, we’d driven out this far so we went for a swim in the small lake and sat imagining what it was probably supposed to be like. We moved hostels for our last night in Airlie Beach to a more upmarket place called Down Town Airlie. It was a lovely apartment with a kitchen and living room, perfect to round off our road trip. (until the nightclub opposite opened at midnight... thank goodness for earplugs!)
