As I mentioned in the last post, I arrived in Airlie Beach early Monday morning after a very long bus ride that started midday Sunday. Airlie Beach is the town that serves as the jumping off point for seeing the Whitsunday Islands. There are hundreds of commercial boats that sail the Whitsundays, and a sailboat is the most popular option for seeing the islands.
I booked a spot on the Condor operated by Pro-Sail, which is a 2-day/2-night sail on a 85-ft racing yacht. The Condor was built about 30 years ago and at the time was the first racing yacht of its size built from Kevlar, and as a result it won every major sailing race that it was eligible to enter. According to the crew, it's considered one of the most celebrated maxi sail boats ever. More info on the boat here.
The boat didn't leave until Tuesday afternoon, so Monday was just a day to get my bearings, check out Airlie Beach and recover from the overnight bus ride.
Day 65 - Tuesday, March 27
Tuesday we got on the boat around 3pm. There were 22 passengers and 3 crew. I was happy to see that all of the passengers were of the younger backpacker variety, and everyone seemed pretty outgoing and friendly. After boarding, we sailed over to Nara Inlet where we anchored for the night. They supplied all the food on the boat and the passengers were responsible for any alcohol to drink. Our spot for the night:
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
After a good dinner, everyone hung out on deck and had some drinks before eventually calling it a night a few minutes after midnight - I was forced by some of the others to stay up until at least midnight on account of it being my birthday.
Day 66 - Wednesday, March 28
Turning 30 kind of sucks. I feel old. Luckily, to compensate for these unfortunate realities, I was able to spend my birthday on a sailboat, sailing through some beautiful islands with some good folks. The birthday started out on the right foot as it was sunny and clear when we woke up. On the agenda for the morning was a sail over to Whitehaven Beach - considered among the most beautiful beaches by many authorities on account of it's very soft and very white sand, clear blue water, and general lack of overcrowding, being only accessible by boat. Behold:
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
Unfortunately, as we made our way over there, we sailed right into a bit of a rain storm. Sailing in the rain is not exactly the most enjoyable experience, but it's just water right? Luckily, the clouds parted for a bit by the time we got over to Whitehaven, allowing us a little bit of time to see the beach and take some photos. Unfortunately, not long after we got there, more grey clouds rolled through and we got rained on some more.
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
From Whitehaven, we made our way over to a coral reef on the northeast tip of Hook Island and did some snorkeling, which was great. Then, we headed on around to the west side of Hook Island to a little harbor called Stonehaven, where the birthday celebrating began in earnest, as we broke out the goon, fired up some steaks, and took in the sunset.
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
All my fellow passengers were great, and sang several renditions of happy birthday. I consumed way more boxed wine than I should have, but had a great time celebrating. Some dolphins even stopped by the boat to wish me a happy birthday. It's also possible they showed up because the light on the boat attracts squid and certain types of fish they like to snack on, but that seems less likely to me. Those regular readers of the blog are already familiar with the trouble I have photographing dolphins -- well doing it at night after way too much boxed wine pretty much makes it impossible, and you guys are probably sick of dolphin pictures anyway. But I did manage a few photographs of the evening's celebration:
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
Day 67 - Thursday, March 29
We were woken up quite early on Thursday for an early morning snorkel at Caves Cove, another reef, with lots of colorful fish and coral. Then we threw up the sails and headed back to the Marina at Airlie Beach. There was a lot of wind, so the sailing was quite fun as we made our way back. A few photos from the trip back to shore:
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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| From Australia - Whitsundays |
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