Sailing the Whitsundays (part 1)

I had never heard of the Whitsunday Islands until we started traveling and discussing Australia with other travelers.  All the discussions about Australia we have had have included a must see trip to the Whitsundays.

Off the coast of Airlie Beach is a group of 74 islands varying in size and popularity called the Whitsunday Islands.  They are part of a mountain range that connects with the mainland, but after the ice age the water level rose and covered the land connections.  The largest island is Whitsunday which is home to Whitehaven beach, some claim the most beautiful beach in Australia.

Our sailing trip was on the Waltzing Matilda, a 60 foot sailing ship with Lockey, the skipper, Nat and Charlotte as deckhands, and 12 other guests.  We set sail at 8:30 am Thursday morning after having been relieved of our sandals, flip-flops and shoes - no footwear allowed on the boat but we could put them on when we stopped at beaches and the like. We had blue skies and were told that it was some of the best weather they had seen in months.  By 11:30 we were at our first destination, Dunbell island.  Lunch was served first, a selection of quiches with bread and salad.  Once finished we jumped into the water to snorkel around the island.  The water was a lot murkier than the outer Great Barrier Reef, but there was still a significant number of fish and coral to see.

After snorkeling for an hour we hopped back in the boat and headed to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island. We anchored in Tongue Bay and then made our way ashore via the tender boat. From Tongue Bay we did a little nature walk to a lookout and then made our way to the beach. The sand on Whitehaven beach is 98% silica which makes the beach look bright white and clean (it also makes the sand squeak when walked upon). We had the whole beach to ourselves. There was a lot of bonding amongst the group which made the trip much more enjoyable overall.

After sunset we went back to the boat for a dinner of steak, fish (for me), potato salad, vegetables, salad and bread.  It was quite yummy.  Lockey started in on pirate jokes and we all sat around swapping jokes of our own.  Nat told us a game of Uno is traditional aboard Waltzing Matilda so one huge game broke out and then everyone went to bed fairly early.