Waking up at half 6 this morning, I headed straight downstairs for breakfast as we had an 8am meeting time at the marina for my 3 day trip sailing round the Whitsundays. I just cleared my remaining bread and crisps, having toast once again like yesterday before heading back to my room to pack for the trip. It said in my brief that there were strictly no zipper bags allowed, which meant I had use my dry bags instead. They said this was to prevent bed bugs. I just packed a couple of changes of clothes, towel, toiletries and with hopeful thinking my phone charger. The brief recommended a few other things to pack but I opted for packing light in the end.
The fact I had already met some people on the trip meant I walked to the marina with them, although I was slipping everywhere in my sandals after the heavy rain the night before. After eventually finding the boat we had to fill out all this paperwork and by about 9 we finally boarded the Apollo! We were each given a stinger suit after the briefing as this reduces the risk of being stung by the potentially deadly creatures. A stingray killed Steve Irwin remember. We also got told to take our shoes off before boarding the boat as it can get slippery on board, which it was to be fair. It will probably do my feet good being bare foot for 3 days.
When finally setting off out of the large marina, our captain told us about the safety procedures, including that if we sink we load the alcohol on the safety boat first, then when landing on the island we can party before getting rescued! After dumping my stuff on a small bed, I headed back on deck to see us leave Airlie behind and start seeing some of the 70 or so Whitsunday Islands. Shortly after leaving however there was some really heavy rain, although the fact it was warm as well meant I didn't care. I soon realised it was going to be sunshine and showers again.
After hoisting up the front sail because the main sail was broken, we got some real speed up although I was sitting in a bad place as there were frequent waves soaking me every so often. The boat was swaying there strongly from side to side, and there wasn't really much to hold onto other than random ropes and stuff, with just metal wires protecting people from falling off. I also found out that my bed wasn't in such a good place as it was right next to the rear staircase which was initially open, and the fact it wasn't so easy to go to the toilet when the boat was moving!
After getting to a location more out of the strong winds, it was time for lunch which was a selection of cold meats with bread, pasta and salad. It was actually a very big buffet like spread and I wasn't hungry after, although it was still windy enough on deck for the odd bit of my lettuce to blow away. After lunch we continued through this windy channel with more big waves, although the sun quickly dried me off each time. It was funny seeing myself covered in salt each time I dried off.
There was no snorkelling or diving planned for today, and by early afternoon we stopped at a part of the large Whitsunday Island for a walk. Getting transferred over on this dingy, our guide took us through this rainforest setting to a viewpoint called Tongue Point. It was here we got stunning views of the white sands and crisp blue waters, as well as the obvious darker waters which contained corals. It was then down to the beach, called Whitehaven Beach where I walked on probably the purest sands I will ever walk on, being 96% pure. It was so fine it felt like powder on my feet, and on the wet sections my feet just sunk with no feeling other than the soft sands round my feet.
We spent a couple of hours here in the end, although I only paddled as I didn't bring my stinger suit. It was nice to relax under a palm tree afterwards as well! By about 4 we returned back through the rainforest, seeing many lizards en route to the boat, where our captain was getting worried about being stuck for the night due to the fast retreating tide. He eventually got everyone on the boat and we headed back round Whitsunday Island before anchoring up near Caves Cove just off Hook Island for the night. There were lights in the distance as well which were part of this five star holiday resort. We got an amazing sunset here as it sunk into the horizon, and to add to this we had these big bat fish round the boat which our captain was feeding.
Dinner this evening was chicken casserole and our chef once again produced a decent sized meal considering there was a 20 guy and 6 girl split, consisting a lots of Germans, a few English, a couple of Scots, and people from Netherlands, Sweden, Italy and France! I always like it when there is enough for seconds. The evening was spent playing our captains game the circle of love, which lets say finished with everyone linking arms between legs and shaking ourselves about! The brief recommended to bring clothes for the cool evenings, which I discounted, but the wind was actually quite chilly at times. Due to this I headed below deck and just played cards with a few others, until eventually I just had to go to sleep. It was nice though because the people on deck were fishing and caught some squid to try tomorrow.
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