Fri 29th July – In the morning I went to check in with the boat company and they said there were 19 people on the boat now so it was definitely running! At 2pm I went to the Marina and met a few girls, Emma, Claire and Katie from my boat. We were met by one of the crew members called Jordan who took us to the Boomerang, which is a Maxi-Yacht ex-racing sailboat.
After an introduction from the skipper we set off on a 2 hour sail. This was really fun. The boat tilted to one side, and we all had to sit on that side with our legs hanging over the edge. It was the first time I’d been on a sailboat and I really enjoyed it! Although when we anchored, the boat did rock a lot so I was glad I had travel-sickness wristbands on! We were given the opportunity to snorkel off Hook Island. Although the water was cold, and there was a breeze, I had a go anyway. It was the first time I’d been snorkeling in Australia, and I hadn’t done it since Thailand last year. Only a few of us went in and it was really good although I was so cold I didn’t stay in the water for too long. After we got back in the boat and had dinner, the crew got us playing games, one of which involved embarrassing one of the guys. Trent, the skipper, stood with his hands out in front of him shoulder-width apart, and asked one of the guys to move their arms up and down either side of Trent’s hands with his eyes closed. This is a simple task, but he was told it was really difficult and if anyone can do 100 arm movements without opening his eyes, he wins a free beer. So this poor guy starts doing it, we all start counting and after the fifth arm movement Trent moved aside, making him look like a total idiot flailing his arms about with his eyes closed whilst we’re all counting to encourage him (and trying not to laugh too loud!). This probably doesn’t make any sense to anyone reading this but it was really funny and got us all laughing the rest of the night.
Sat 30th July – we all woke up early today for a morning sail. At 8.30am we were dropped to Whitehaven beach on the infamous Whitsunday Island. We were given 3 hours to walk around to the lookout and beach. Trent told us about a secluded beach that not many people go to which was to the left of Whitehaven Beach. So after the lookout, all of us went to the “secret beach” to lie in the sun. Well, Whitehaven beach and the secret beach were absolute heaven. They lived up to the postcards that’s for sure.
The sand on Whitehaven beach was so white and so soft, your feet would sink right into it. It was absolutely amazing and well worth the trip over.
I thought after seeing so many beaches it wouldn’t live up to my expectations but it really did. After a lovely lunch, we went for another 2 hour sail. The wind wasn’t as bad today so we didn’t have to sit on the edge of the boat, and everyone just lay in the sun on the deck, whilst listening to music. That was a good thing about the Boomerang, as the crew were either young or young at heart, there was always music blaring on the boat from 7am to 10pm! After the sail we were given another opportunity to snorkel (or dive if we paid extra). Everyone had a go at snorkeling this time but most people left the water after 10 minutes. One of the crew members, Jordan, had an underwater camera and fish food so he was throwing food in my direction and took pictures of the fish surrounding me under the water. As me and another girl were left still snorkeling after half an hour, and he could tell we were enjoying it, he took us both on a dinghy to a different snorkeling spot. It was a small inlet where big boats couldn’t go and we saw some really big fish. There was one that he knew was always there and he convinced me to pet it! It was incredible! After getting back on the boat and warming up with a hot drink, an hour later the crew asked if anyone wanted to jump off the boat so they could get some jumping shots in the sunset. I naturally declined. I did this in Vietnam last year and I remember how cold I was afterwards so didn’t want to do it again! But some people did and were frozen afterwards! We all sat on the deck after dinner watching the stars, and I even saw a shooting star for the first time in my life! It was only a glimpse of one though but still pretty cool.
Sun 31st July – At 7am we were asked if we wanted to snorkel for an hour before sailing back to Airlie Beach but I chose to stay in bed! Those who went saw a turtle though so I was gutted about that. We had a 2 hr sail back and due to the wind conditions, to make the boat go faster when Trent yelled "hike hike hike" we all had to stretch out our arms and legs off the side of the boat so the weight would tilt the boat. It was quite funny! After getting back, we were all hungry and couldn’t check in to our hostel for a couple of hours, so 7 of us went to the Mexican (Cactus Jack’s) for Nachos. It was ice when I checked back into Base because we were all put together in the same room or the rooms next door. In the evening, we all got dressed up and went to the Phoenix bar, where if we spend $5 on drinks, we got free Dominos pizza! After our free meal we went on to Beaches to meet up with the crew and the other boat guests for the Boomerang after-party. This was a really fun night, and a lovely end to a really good trip. The crew were fun and the food was amazing so I definitely recommend the Boomerang to anyone looking to sail the Whitsundays.
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