Sailing

Ahoy from the Whitsunday’s!!

Made it back to Airlie Beach, Australia with the mates from the three day sailing trip. What a great time. The Derwitt Hunter is decked out for 18 people and we lucked out with only 9 of us on board. It was especially great. When we boarded the first thing they did was confiscate our shoes, as no shoes are allowed on deck.

The ship is a 64 year old tall wooden ship with 4 sails. We set sail when the wind was in our favor with all the mates on deck helping. (Well actually I was the historian taking the pictures-- someone has to do it.)

We started out with cloudy, rainy skies but after about a 3 hour sail to Hayman Island, where we snorkeled for the first time, no one cared as we were all going to be wet anyway. Bob and I prefer not a lot of sun so it was great for us. Despite the lack of sun it became an official vacation when Bob burned the top of his feet from not wearing shoes on deck and not applying any sun screen.

There were lots of fish to see including ‘Elvis’ a beautiful 2 1/2 foot pet fish that was easily called in up next to the boat. We snorkeled each day at different spots, one spot for the fish, one spot for the coral and we spent time on the whitest sandy beach, known by all in these parts. We all wore stinger suits for the jellyfish which we luckily did not see.

Bob slept on deck the last night and said it was his best sleep. It was rather warm below deck. The last morning we set sail to Black Island which was uninhabited and we had it all to ourselves for several hours where we saw Ospreys building their nests, beautiful beaches and interesting rock formations.

After lunch it was time to head back and bring this adventure to a close. The God’s were again with us with good winds and we were able to, once again, set sail back to Airlie Beach. Our captain said we were traveling at about 9 or 10 knots and that seemed fast to us letting us arrive early.  It was a great and peaceful time. Now it’s time to wash the clothes and get ready for Bali.