Have you ever heard of the Whitsunday Islands in Australia (before the "best job in the world" competition anyway?). No, neither had I until I set foot on the east coast and all I heard were good things about them accompanied by phrases such as, "It's a must see in Australia" and "They are gorgeous, you can sail on ex racing boats around the islands and get a great tan at the same time". Intriguing. Since I had never been on a boat before (except the ferries across the Mersey) I thought it was about time I did and set sail across the supposedly stunning islands. Who cares if I cannot swim and my fear of water has only lessened not gone away; Britannia rules the waves, right? Well, maybe, but not this Brit...but I certainly had fun trying to. Allow me to explain.

I booked 2 days and 2 nights upon an ex racing boat called The Hammer, sharing with a group of 15 people, some of whom I knew and we met the boat one sunny late afternoon at Airlie Beach harbour. It was a lovely looking turquoise coloured boat, very sturdy, and was apparently a "legend" in Australian yacht racing. There were three crew members, one of whom took our shoes as we would not need them for the next couple of days and gave us stinger suits instead. What the crew did not mention was that your shoes are not the only ‘luxuries’ you would not need. More about that later.

For now we had a brief introduction to the crew and the vessel by galley cook Ann, who was so overly enthusiastic I thought she may have overdone it slightly on the cooking sherry. As there was limited space below deck sleeping quarters had to be shared, but double beds were available. Ann then gave us a brief demonstration on how to use the shower and the toilet which had to be flushed in two different ways depending on whether you were sailing or not. I didn’t quite grasp this, but thought it best not to ask her to repeat herself; I would just ask someone else. She then informed us that the shower was only 20 seconds long. I realized that this trip was going to be very interesting.

We soon set sail and left Airlie Beach behind for open water. Along with another girl I volunteered to help raise the white sail which had me tingling in anticipation and in true sea shanty style we all shouted “heave, heave” as the sail was raised. As you would expect it is a lot harder than it looks and took all of my strength and stamina to pull on the ropes. It became more difficult as the sail neared the top and so, as much as it pains me to admit, the volunteer men had to take over. It was a good feeling nonetheless and it was great to see the majestic sails flying high and proud. You could feel the boat lurch in response as it sucked in gusts of air like a pair of lungs.

Proper sailing therefore ensued and the passengers sat on one side of the boat, legs dangling over the edge. I had the sun on my back, the wind on my face and the water regularly splashing me all over as we sailed past lush island vegetation. Fabulous!

We anchored for the night off Nara Inlet and had an evening meal prepared by Ann. Maybe it is just the salty sea air or just Ann’s great cooking, but the food and drink seemed to taste much nicer here, untainted as it was by any kind of pollution. We ate on deck, drank a dubious cheap wine known more commonly as ‘goon’ and laughed at the fishy tales the crew told us as the stars appeared from nowhere. As in the Outback, these stars glowed ever so much brighter than they do at home and there were so many more of them. If it wasn’t for the fact it was cold, I would have slept on deck so I could watch them shoot past.

Next Stop: Whitsundays Part 2 – Whitehaven Beach