Our overnight bus to Airlie beach was exhausting but uneventful. We arrived just before 7am and set off to find our boat office to check-in for our boat trip around the Whitsunday islands. These consist of 74 islands set in the great barrier reef. We asked one of the hostel bus workers who was waiting by the bus stop for directions to the office. He told us to walk two kilometres to the harbour, so we set off. About half the way there we had a feeling we weren't going the right way and asked the cleaner at the lagoon in Airlie beach. He sent us back the other way but wasn't sure exactly. A little confused we walked over to the main street and asked in one of the hostels. She too gave us different instructions, but the place was nearby and the address seemed to match so we tried it. We arrived in the wrong boat office to finally be given the correct directions over the road to where we needed to be! We had to wait about an hour for the office to open so we had a sit down! Eventually, the office opened and we checked in in two minutes by a rude man who worked for Oz sail, then had to wait another four hours until we could board the boat. We were only allowed to take a small carry on bag on to the boat and we had to store our bags at a hostel. Therefore, we searched out the hostel we are staying at after the boat trip to reorganise our bags and store them. With this done, we went to have a nap and a dip in the lagoon.

Airlie beach is very pretty. The waters surrounding the town are a perfect blue colour and contain some fantastic boats. The beach isn't great, but instead the town has a lovely big lagoon and lots of surroundings to sit in and trees for shade. The only problem is, like everywhere in the northern half of Australia, the water is so warm!

When the time came we walked over to the mariner to board our boat 'Mandrake'. The boat was an old racing sailing boat and looked quite small on the outside. Our group contained 14 girls and 1 boy, lucky him! But he seemed to cope with us all fine! Below deck where we slept contained a small table and kitchen, then bunk beds lined the walls. Us four were put in a section at the front of the boat, next to the chemical toilets. So not only did it stink, especially whenever someone opened and shut the toilet doors, one door didn't even shut. Then, our beds went to a point at the front of the boat. Jade and Ruth we on the double bottom bunk, so the foot end of the bed was a double bed size, and went to a single bed size at the head end, so it was a little squeeze. Sally and I were on the top single bunks. When we lay on our backs, our heads were about 20 centimetres from the roof, so we could barely lift our head up to turn over and had to climb over Ruth and Jade's bed to get in and out. So it was a little tight. Sally and I did have tiny little windows that opened out onto the deck above our heads which did offer some relief from the stifling heat below deck. It also meant we could reach our bags if we needed anything from the deck without having to go downstairs. So it wasn't all bad!

On the first day, we set sail and powered along for about three hours before we stopped to do some snorkelling. There was hardly anything to see so it was a pointless trip. Every time we went in the water we had to swim with a 'noodle' (a long float). We found out later we only stopped there so the skipper could check we could swim with the noodle. We sailed a little more before dropping anchor for the night. We ate a nice tea and then sat around chatting. I had a cracking headache, I think from the sleepless nights previously, so held my breath and went to bed. The stink was awful but it had cooled down a little.

The next morning we were awoken by the boat being started up at 5.50am! We dozed a little, but the boat moving felt like we all had bad hangovers and were on some sort of roller coaster! We all got ready as quickly as we could in the tiny space to get up on the deck. The sea sickness got us all a little, but as soon as we could see out it settled. Except for Ruth and Jade who felt really sick most of the morning and were ordered by the skipper to sit at the back of the boat with their feet hanging off the edge until they felt better. Our skipper ran our boat a bit like boot camp, one girl said she felt like a convict coming to do a punishment on the boat! When Jade turned to say something to Ruth, she was told off and swore at to always look out the back of the boat. The skipper was rude to everyone, he swore at everyone, shouted, swore some more when people said 'yes' to the roll call register rather than 'here', called one girl 'f***ing stupid' for no reason, demanded we all get off his boat, would shove people out of the way, shouted at and patronised the deckhand constantly and elbowed one girl in the face when starting the dingy engine and didn't apologise or seem bothered. It was easier to simply not talk when he was around! But then he would switch and be as nice as pie. I think he may have had a personality disorder or just enjoy the power trip. One girl wrote on her comment sheet in the section 'how was your skipper?', he was a good skipper but a horrible human being! I agreed with this until he crashed the boat into a post in the mariner when docking. I thought he wasn't such a great skipper either, just full of himself!

Anyway, once the sea sickness had subsided, we were taken to Whitehaven beach. This is apparently the third best beach in the world and the highlight of Whitsunday. We went to the lookout first and the view is incredible. The sand isn't actually sand but 96% silicone giving it it's famous white colour. The sea surrounding the beach is a variety of light blues and greens. It is so beautiful and everyone must see it if they ever get the chance. It really made the trip for all of us. We spent a couple of hours here enjoying the beach before unfortunately having to get back on the boat to sail some more.

We visited another snorkelling spot which was great. There were lots of types of coral and beautiful fish. The deckhand threw some food in to feed the fish and some huge ones came up, they must have been between four and five foot long! Whenever we went in the water we had to wear all-in-one stinger suits to protect from jellyfish stings. Even on the skinniest minnie, they were not flattering. They covered from your feet to around your head so we all looked daft in them!

We were then sailed over to a beach for an hour, but, it turned out to just be a sand bank in the middle of the sea. This is when we were told to swim over to the island, and for anyone who didn't want to swim the skipper said he would take them over in the rubber dingy, just either way we had to all get the f*** off his boat! The 'beach' was a tiny strip of sand in the sea and while we were sat on it, a tropical storm came by! Ken, our skipper, gave us an arm signal to make when we wanted picking up, or another one of we were drowning, yet once we were off the boat he didn't look at us once! The non-swimmers then had to try and get the deck hands attention as they wanted picking up as the storm was so strong and heavy but they were all ignored! It's a good job none of us were drowning! The swimmers started to swim back but the others couldn't as they didn't have their stinger suits on and we had seen jellyfish in the water. Once back at the boat he eventually agreed to pick the others up!
The storm lasted for over 90 minutes and due to the poor visibility we were stuck in it. The rain was beating down but looked really impressive on the sea. But we were in the tropics so it is to be expected I guess! Apparently it usually rains every day out there during this season which is cyclone season! Eventually it began to clear so we sailed on to our mooring spot for the night.

After another good tea of roast beef, the skipper seemed in a better mood and hoisted Kyle, the only boy on our trip, up the mast. He then drove us over to another boat in the Oz Sail fleet called the Avatar. We nearly booked on this boat but decided to opt for the cheaper one. We also knew some people we have met along the way who were sailing on Avatar, so it was good to go over and have a drink and a catch up with them. The Avatar is a catamaran, so has a lot more space to sit on the netting and around the boat. But, the guys on Avatar also moaned about their skipper and his rules. They hadn't had enough food cooked for them all, were only allowed three squares of toilet paper a day and their beds were worse and hotter than ours! So it wasn't all bad on our boat!

The following day we were awoken at 6am again and forced out for a swim. So, at half 6 we were all suited and booted and sent out for a one hour snorkelling session! Apparently this area we snorkelled in contained all the types of coral you will find across the whole Great barrier reef. It was very pretty. Exhausted we all retuned for breakfast and a three hour sail back to the mainland.

The skipper decided to sail the boat like a racing boat so let up all the main sails and the boat tipped on its side. We all had to sit on the highest side of the boat with our legs over the side, as the other side was right in the sea! This lasted for about three minutes as the top of the main sail ripped completely! Instead, the motor had to be switched on to power back to Airlie beach. Sitting on the side got us all quite wet and cold and subsequently I think we all caught a bit too much sun!

As we arrived into the harbour, this is when the skipper crashed into a post! We were all quite relieved to be back on dry land!

Overall the trip was great, we saw some fantastic places and snorkelled in one of the best places in the world. Even the boat we could cope with for a few days, it wasn't so bad for what we paid. It was just a shame the skipper was such an idiot!

Back in Airlie we checked into our hostel, Beaches accommodation, which is in a good location, has great showers and air-con which we are all very appreciative of. The other three are all having an afternoon nap now, it must be from all the excitement of the last few days!

Tomorrow we are taking a bus in the morning to Townsville, where we are hoping to take the ferry over to and stay on Magnetic Island. It is meant to be very pretty so we are looking forward to that.

Amy. x