Hey there, Sam here writing a bit about our arrival to Airlie Beach and our sailing trip. We caught the bus to Airlie on the 3rd March and arrived about 4pm. The town itself is wuite small but it is the gateway to the whitsunday Islands. The beach itself is pretty small so i'm not sure why they called it what they did. We're staying in a hostel called Magnums which has a large outdoor eating space but the rooms aren't really up to much. We're staying in what looks like a converted garage, it's not great. It has strange frosted perspex at one end to with no curtains so u can just see shapes wandering past. We also met a girl who started giving us her life story within about an hour of meeting her. Which was a bit of an overshare but she seemed harmless.

Not much to report really on Airlie Beach, just some general moseying around and exploring. Splashed around in the lagoon here and played with the ball which bounces on water. Quite hard in the pool as you need some space and we were trying not to bonk any small children on the head with it.

We were looking forward to our Whitsunday sailing and we departed on Friday. We were told to be at the marina at half 8, which everyone was, however the crew didn't roll up until quarter past 9 which was a bit strange. After getting on the boat and putting our stuff downstairs we were off. We receieved a brief of a few boat rules etc but not much info on sailing which was a bit disappointing. However th ecrew were really friendly and would happily answer any questions etc. We were told that there was also a cyclone further north up the coast and that it was heading this way. However the crew made light of it so we weren't too worried and we didn't realise it'd affect us as much as it did. So on to the sailing. It was fantastic to be on the boat and very strange to tip so much. Our sailing yacht, The Card had won races but was getting a bit older now. It still went though, wind permitting. The further you tip though the faster it goes so we were all sat with our feet over the safe side while the other side, the 'suicide' was constantly being washed over by waves and spray. The weather was really nice too so we were all really happy. The wind wasn't that strong so it took us about 3 1/2 hours to reach Whitsunday Island where Whitehaven beach is located. This beach is 98% silica sands and is very white. It also squeaks when it's dry and you tread on it....crazy squeaking sand! But very fun jumping up and down on a beach like loons. WE also went snorkelling too although we were told that the snorkelling on other days would be better. We did see some fish though and some quite large rainbow fish. We did stumble across a sea turtle though, which was amazing!! I was expecting something smaller but it was, well, this big (Sam holds arms about a metre apart). We swam with him/her for a few seconds before some plonker tried to stroke it and then the turtle said b***** this and dived deeper than we could go. But still amazing none the less. Amy practically drowned when she first had her snorkel (not her fault though it was leaking). However her attempts with fins were interesting. I quote 'I was doing butterfly legs'. But anyway, we enjoyed the snorkelling but it was mainly sea grasses in this area (hence a good home for the turtles).

The next day we got up at 6am, aftr being woken up at 4am with what sounded like a dolphin headbutting the side of the boat and squeaking (the little speedboat bashing into the side). After a light breakfast we set off to the north end of WHitehaven beach to go for a rainforest walk and to see teh shifting sands. It wasn't such a good day today weatherwise, wuite cloudy and overcast. We were told the cyclone was getting closer. Still seemed no really need to worry though. The walk was nice and offered a great view of the islands, but we couldn;'t see as much as we'd have liked due to the weather. WE also couldn't really see the sands as it was high tide. We trotted off to the beach...pausing to take a photo of a dead spider, very brave. The baech again was lovely and we walked in teh shallows (kind of a plateau of sands before the water got deeper to the side where the waves were breaking). We saw some stingrays and soome reef sharks in the shallows too, really good. We got fairly close but then they swim away (obvioulsy). Amy said it was just like being able to swim in The Deep. Kind of. Then back to the boat at half 10. By this time we were hearing lots of hearsay about boats returning to the marina but no firm news. We continued to our next snorkelling spot but the weather was turning by now and it took us ages t get there (bizarely he crew didn't put up teh sails but later when the wind was stronger they did...so not for safety). It started to rain quite heavily and the watr was really choppy where we were meant to go snorkelling. The skipper decided we'd be better in a sheltered chanel between two islands and warned us that we might be returning early. Howevr when we got to the chanel we didn't get a chance to go as it was decided we had to return to harbour. Which we understood. However, when we eventually got there...very wet fropm teh rain and wind, we had to wait over an hour to get into the marina as it was low tide. So we were somewhat miffed we hadn't had a chance to go snorkelling.

From here is where the nightmare started, arriving back at the hostel, Koala, who ran the sailing trip we went on, were really ill equipped to meet us. No manager and staff who weren't able to make decisions regarding accommodation and meals which we had already paid for on the boat (part of the tour). Not good. Lots of complaining ensued and battles for more free stuff to make up for the uselessness. We'd been promised that the manager would meet us but since this didn't happen people were upset that the company wasn't fulfilling what it owed to us. Ongoing battle here so will update when we hear more on what is actually happening regarding compensation (not because of the weather, just because of the shoddiness of the company).

Anyway, I'm going to leave it here as this is becoming depressing. Just both very sad that we didn't get to see as much as the reef as we could, especially since we didn't go further north and now we can't really see it again now as it doesn't go much furher south.

P.S. The cyclone hasn't really emerged yet, strong winds last night but nothing too torrential. Quite clear today but very very humid. We'll prob beat the cyclone south and get smashed further down the coast instead. I have a feeling we've not heard the last from Cyclone Hamish yet.

Bye for now from two somewhat disgruntled travellers.