We left Hervey Bay on 12 August and embarked on a 13 hour overnight bus journey to Airlie Beach. There we stayed in Magnums Hostel (not too pleasant!) for 1 night then set off on a 3 day 2 night sailing trip on the Whitsunday's. There was 21 of us and 4 crew, we all got on really well. Our Yacht 'The Card' is a high powered racing yacht and was great - spacious and very clean. We slept on the yacht at night in little cubby holes below deck - they were very comfortable! We spent a fair amount of time sailing round the 74 Whitsunday islands which was great fun. When the sails were hoisted and the wind was strong the yacht tipped to one side and at times it seemed to be racing along on its side, almost at a 45 degree angle! We had to hang on pretty tightly. I had on socks one day (it was quite a cold wind) and as the yacht tipped I was nearly man overboard as I slid across the deck, luckily there was a cool box in my path!
We stopped at a few islands along the way to catch some rays and do a bit of exploring, including Blue Pearl Bay, South Molle Island and the famous Whitehaven Beach which was by far our favourite. It is such a beautiful beach with sand swirls and bright turquoise sea. The sand was so white it was almost blinding. We had been looking forward to climbing up to the lookout which is supposed to be the nicest view in Australia - just our luck it had closed that day due to reconstruction work. Despite our best efforts to bribe/plead with the Construction Surveyor we were unable to experience the view. Instead we strolled along the shimmering sand and paddled in the crystal clear water, clambering up the occasional rocks trying to capture the views from above.
On our way back to Airlie Beach on our final day, as the sails were being hoisted we saw 2 whales breaching on the horizon, it was a magnificent sight! Our 3 day sailing trip on 'The Card' was a fantastic experience which everyone on board thoroughly enjoyed.
|  | 
|
