Our long awaited trip to the Whitsunday Islands was a great success! We flew to the Whitsunday Coast (about a 3.5 hour flight north of Sydney) and spent the weekend on a sailboat, sailing around the islands, snorkeling the Great Barrier Reef, and hanging out on Whitehaven Beach. The weekend is a little difficult to put into words, but I'll give you the bullet-pointed rundown so that you can follow of our amazing adventure:
A little basic info...
- Weather wise, it was cold and rainy for most of the trip, with brief, much-appreciated bouts of sunlight just in time to watch the sunset both days, go snorkeling a few times, lay on Whitehaven beach and eat most of our meals on the deck of the boat.
- There were 15 of us from UNSW, we all came together, and were joined by 7 others (3 couples and one of the couple's friends). 3 from England, 2 from Italy (a really sweet couple, I liked talking with them), and a pair who clearly didn't speak the same language... English as the common ground was pretty funny for us all to watch.
- The crew was 3 sailors from the ProSail company, really relaxed, wanted us to have fun while still appreciating everything around us.
- We slept for two nights (before and after sailing) in a hostel on Arlie Beach. One of the nicer hostels I've been in.. the sheets were clean, and the bar downstairs had live music!
- On the boat, we slept underneath the deck - 22 people in a space that could probably have fit about 5 comfortably. It was cramped, stuffy, stinky, uncomfortable and kind of fun!
- Our boat, "The Hammer" (yes, we woke up to 'Hammer Time' each day), was probably 50 feet long, and one of the fastest sailboats in the area. We sailed most of the time, wore crazy yellow raincoats when it rained (very 'Perfect Storm'), hung onto the railings when the boat keeled (for all you non-sailors, to 'keel' is when the boat is angled against the water, it makes you go faster and sailboats are built to travel nearly perpendicular to the ocean), and found the most comfortable spots to lay on the boat deck (and stretch our sore backs from the under-deck 'beds') during sunny moments.
What we saw...
- Snorkeling around the Reef in the Whitsundays was INFINITELY better than our snorkeling experience near Cains. This part of the reef is more remote and therefore much more protected from evil tourists. The colors were more brilliant, the fish were more plentiful (and friendly!), there were more types of coral, and the water was crystal clear.
- Animals: really big sunfish, lots of small colorful reef fish, whales (against the sunset on our first night), turtles that looked JUST like Crush from Finding Nemo, sand sharks, rays... more turtles (they were sooooooo cool).
- The 4th most photographed place in Australia, overlooking Whitehaven Beach and the Islands.
- Whitehaven beach. One of the purest beaches on the planet, with crystal clear water, white powdery sand, and not a piece of litter or building in sight. I wanted to stay there forever. It looked exactly like what you imagine paradise to be.
And the theme of the weekend: Suns' out, GUNS OUT!
Dreaming of paradise, Rach
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