Friday, October 8th to Sunday October 10th, 2010
This is what I was envisioning when I was getting ready to go sailing. I took this picture so I guess I got what I was looking for.
I left Rockhampton at 2000 (8pm) and rolled into Airlie Beach just after 2am. I had until 7am when I needed to be checked in for my sailing reservation. I had decided that since it was only a few hours I wasn't going to pay for hotel and that I would just find a nice bench to sleep on. I wasn't the only one who had that thought because the beach was covered with people sleeping. I was worried about the bugs on the beach so found a bench closer to the sidewalk. Turns out I should have been a little more worried about the thieves because at around 4:30 a couple of town workers warned me to watch out for a guy who was stealing bags from sleeping people. He wandered by me a few times but he would have had to physically move me from my bags because I was sleeping on top of all of them. Apparently he had been picked up by the police the night before but they let him back out onto the street to continue with his work.
Needless to say it was not a great sleep, but it was super warm and eventually 7am rolled around and I was able to get checked in for my sailing adventure.
Sailing the Whitsundays is another one of those things you have to do if you are here. The length of time you spend out there might depend on how much you like the water (and how much money you have) but there are many options available on all kinds of boats. I decided I wanted to go for 3 days, and 2 nights on one of the old style tall ships. I was looking at a 6 day trip but I was not sure how I would handle the living and sleeping on a boat so thought I would start with 2 nights, see how it goes and then maybe try a few more next time. It was a good plan because as it turned out......I don't like sleeping on a boat that much.
Leaving the Marina. I'm not actually taking a picture of this guy fishing. Look closely and you may notice his friend. Ok, I'll just tell you. Sitting on the rock next to the guy fishing....some sort of sea bird. Do you see him now? It just looked funny because he just seems to be waiting for the fisherman to catch something so he can have lunch.
So basically at 0700 I checked in at the office, transferred my stuff to their approved bags (no bags with zippers on the ship.....they carry bugs) and then grabbed a cab with a few other boat mates to the ship itself. Her name was the Alexander Stewart and she can carry 18 passengers and 3 crew. Yes, that's right just 3 crew, one to drive, one to cook and one to do all the rest. I felt 21 people was a good size for a sailing trip.
Tony at the helm. Funny old guy. Spent a lot of years at sea in Australia and all over the world.
Tony was our captain, Cat the deck hand and Emma (from Vancouver) was our host (she did all the meal preps). Of course with only 3 crew that meant we had to pull our weight a little (you know help with dishes and the gear and even hoisting the sails). Like most modern ships, the Alexander Stewart also has an engine so we didn't sail all the time but when the wind was right to get us where we were going, we certainly did.
My little cabin. The top bunk was mine. Shared this little space with a nice girl from Switzerland.
Our first stop on Friday was at a spot named Luncheon Cove where yes we had lunch. After lunch we got acquainted for the first time with our stinger suits. These are basically full body wet suits that help keep out the cold from the water and also protect against the possible sting of those pesky little jelly fish.
Here we were taken close to the shore in the little dingy and then jumped in the water from there. So this was my first real look at the Great Barrier Reef and I was prepared for it to be a little disappointing (especially when compared to Fiji). My first impression was, "wow is the water ever cold" my second was "wow this stinger suit is really heavy" and third was "where are all the fish". It was certainly different from the pictures you see of the reef but of course this is a little bit farther south and you can't expect that every part of the reef looks the same.
Me with my super hot stinger suit.
Plus it was here that I realized my first real mistake of the trip. I have been packing my snorkel gear with me this whole time so that I don't have to use the cheap stuff when I'm on these trips. In all my hurried packing and transferring and trying to get to the ship this morning, I left my mask and snorkel in my big pack back at the office. Very irritated with myself!!!!
A little video of my snorkeling.
If you have seen anything about the Great Barrier Reef you will know that it is dying. Coral is of course a living organism and is affected by many things including pollution and people touching them and of course rising water temperatures. When coral dies it loses all that beautiful colour and turns white. At this part of the reef I didn't notice a lot of white coral but there certainly were a lot of brown and yellow ones. Of course there were also some very beautiful green, blue and purple ones.
Some of the fish I saw with a few of the corals.
After we hopped out of the water we headed to our next location which was at Caves Cove. Here we hopped right off the boat to check out a few things in the water. The water was a little murky due to the rough water and the high tide but I still swam around for a bit and managed to see a few things.
I liked that bright blue fish. I followed him for a bit. As usual......they don't like it when you follow them.
We spent the night anchored at Macona Inlet....with a few other boats as well. This is where we were able to first experience Emma's cooking. Fish on the first night (makes sense being on a boat). One thing I can say so far on this East coast trip, the food on the tours I have done has been top notch.
Hanging out on the ship. Unfortunately as this night went on I got a little sick. No not seasick. That actually didn't bother me at all. But I did pick up a pretty bad cough, a sore throat, a running nose and on this first night a fever. Lucky for me I always travel with a wide selections of drugs (many imported from North America) so managed to make it through the trip.
Saturday morning we woke up and had some breakfast. The ship gets moving quite early so we got to watch a few more of the Whitsundays float by as we had our cereal and toast. The Whitsundays are actually a collection of 74 islands. Most are part of the Whitsunday Islands National Park and are therefore well controlled by the government. However 2 of the islands are completely privately owned, one of which is a golf course. Mostly the islands are home to little eco-resorts but there are also a couple of VERY private and VERY expensive resorts as well.
Some of the passing view from the ship.
Yes that is a giant sea turtle. They pop up all over the place out here. Still have yet to get really close to one in the water but when they come up next to the boat it is exciting. They never stay for long so if you have to do looking for your camera, there is a good chance you will miss the picture.
Our first stop of the day was at Tongue Bay where we made our way up to a look out that overlooked White haven Beach. It was a tiny bit of a climb up (not more than 20 minutes) and on the way Cat gave us all kinds of information about the local wildlife. We happened to spy a couple goannas (which I am totally over. Giant lizards......they no longer excite me) but once we got to the top it was totally worth it.
A look at the Alexander Stewart from the beach at Tongue Bay. The idea to built her started in the 1960's but she wasn't completed until 1988. The boat was built by hand by 3 generations of the Mitchell Family. Her design was inspired by inspired by and styled after the famous ship which Joshua Slocum achieved the first solo circumnavigation of the globe in 1898. She is named after Alexander Stewart Mitchell, who's idea to build a great ship became the dream of an entire family.
A little bit of the trail. It was a nice little hike and the sun was certainly a welcome site.
Looking down at White haven Beach. A really nice spot.
The tide is still out so you can see a little bit more of the sand than you might at other times. Like Lake Mackenzie on Fraser Island, the sand here is very high in silica which makes it nice and soft to hang out on.
We then climbed down the hill to the beach itself where we spent a little bit of time just hanging out. Most of us decided against actually swimming but that didn't stop us from exploring the water.
Hanging out in the shallows. Not very far behind me there was a nice collection of little sharks and sting rays. You had to very very careful when walking because neither of them were very easy to spot. Of course the sharks were pretty harmless but the sting rays.....well they are not so harmless if you step on them. It is recommended that you drag your feet along the sand to avoid stepping on them. I certainly did that I was able to catch a glimpse of several big rays as they were swimming away.
Some of the rough water along the beach. Not inviting for swimming but the sand was nice and soft so hanging out was just as good.
Unfortunately we eventually had to leave. Back aboard the ship we had lunch as we motored our way to our next location. This was Nara Inlet. It wasn't going to be our sleeping spot for the night but sometimes the tides control where and when the ship gets to leave. By the time we got there and went to visit a nearby island, the tide was out too far in to get back out of the inlet. It's ok though, it was a nice spot.
Before we settled in for some dinner though we headed to Dumbell Island to check out some things. It was a bit of a dingy ride in, and since it can only hold 9 people at a time we had to make a couple trips, but once we were all there we climbed a small trail to find some caves.
A few of those caves. Unlike the Capricorn Caves, the local Aboriginals did in fact enter these caves (of course I am talking along time ago. The aboriginals were long ago forced to leave these islands). There are still a few visible cave drawings. What the caves were used for are not completely known. These weren't believed to be happy caves though. More likely they were used was burial areas or possibly even punishment for those who broke the rules.
The day ended with another great night on the boat. Dinner.......well a personal favourite of mine....lasagna. It was very good. Emma out did herself. The rest of the night we spent on the deck having a few drinks and talking. We were also entertained by what we believe we a pair of herring, who spent over an hour just circling the boat. We actually had them timed out. Fastest lap was done in just under 90 seconds. Ahhhh.....the things that will amuse you at sea.
Sunday morning was our final day at sea and we spent most of the day just sailing back into Airlie Beach. We woke up to grey skies and windy seas. The rain held off but it made for a bumpy ride. It did make for some quick sailing though.
Looking like we were sailing into the rain but it wasn't too bad. The wind sure was strong and we made good time going home.
Hanging on to the back of the ship, trying not to get blown way. Very glad to have packed my rain coat. Keeps the wind out too.
A little bit of the ride back in. Just after I shot this I put my camera away and about 30 seconds later we were soaked by some sea spray.
Once we got back to Airlie Beach we all kind of went our separate ways. Some of us were moving on, others were here for the night. A few of us had buses to wait for. All the sailing companies seems to have a deal with some of the local backpacker resorts. Basically you take in a coupon from the ship and you get a discount on dinner and drinks and depending on how many of you show up for the "after party" you get some free drinks. Each ship has it's own reserved table. It was a great way to end the trip and kill time before my last bus trip.
At 2040 (8:40pm.....well actually closer to 9pm because the bus was late) I boarded the Greyhound for what would be my final 10 hours on the bus.
Julie
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