Day 59-62

We travelled through the night from the 24th-25th and arrived at 0500 in Airlie Beach. We slept in the hallway of our hostel as the reception did not open until 0700. When the reception was opened we really wanted a bed so we could go to sleep; but a room was not ready until 1230. So we went and sat by the lagoon and checked in for our trip to The Whitsunday Islands tomorrow.

On the 26th we spent all morning updating our blog before we had our pick-up to the sailing boat. There were 23 of us in total and a crew of 4: Skipper - Chey, 2 Deck Hands - Luke and Steve-O The Jackass and 1 volunteer Eleni. We boarded our boat 'The British Defender' which is an 83ft Whitbread around the world race yacht with a 115ft mast: and was placed 3rd. It was used by the British Armed Forces in 1989/90. The yacht was converted into a chartered yacht in 2001 to allow for 3 bathrooms, new galley, lounge/dining area and accomodation for 28 people. It was apparant that it was an ex-racing yacht as the living quarters were very small.

We sailed from Airlie Beach to Hook Passage where we anchored up for the night. The journey to Hook Passage was an eventful one, the heavens decided to open with avengence and thankfully they provided us with raincoats. We also got to appreciate the speed of the boat as we titled to about 45degrees.

On the 27th we sailed to Whitehaven Beach and Tongue Beach. We walked to the Hill Inlet Lookout from Tongue Beach and we were flabagasted at the outstanding beauty infront of our eyes. We have seen some really beautiful sights on our trip, but few could you describe as breathtaking. The photos do not do it justice. We walked down onto Whitehaven Beach which was the whitest sand we've ever seen. It is also known to be the finest sand in the world; with 98.6% silica, which meant that it could be used to polish jewellery and even sunglasses. They stopped the mining of the sand when it became a National Park; although special dispensation was permitted to NASA where they were allowed 2-3 tonnes of sand to make the Hubble Telescope Lens. The sand is so fine due to the 2 continental plates rubbing together which forces up the silica which then filters through the Great Barrier Reef and finally ends up on Whitehaven Beach.

From Whitehaven Beach we sailed around to Luncheon Bay for a snorkel in a Fringe Reef, we saw numerous different types of coral and fish, including the Parrot fish. We then sailed round to Baird Point to anchor for the evening, on the way the crew were changing the front sail (Head/Jib Sail) when the wind caught it and wrapped it around the mast. The pressure exerted by the wind made the situation quite dangerous and we kept on having to go around in circles to free the sail. Chey our skipper was completely cool as ice all the way through but you could see that there was pressure.

The sun was going down as we arrived at Baird Point and we managed to get some cool photos. The skipper got a rope that we could use as a rope swing into the ocean where we spent the last part of the day swinging off the side of the boat.

On the 28th we got up early enough for another snorkel just around the corner from Baird Point before sailing back to Airlie Beach. Snorkelling has really given us the bug for the Great Barrier Reef and we are getting excited at the thought of scuba diving in Cairns.

Since being back on dry land we can still feel our bodys swaying as though we were still on the yacht.