After my birthday we had another birthday to celebrate. Josh, one of the guys I am traveling with happened to have his birthday the day after mine. We went out for dinner at a mexican restaurant where they did “all you can eat chilli” for $8. We then went to several bars right here in Airlie Beach. It was another great night, although we were all still a bit tired of the night before.
The next day we checked out of our hostel, as we were going onto a sailing trip for the next couple of days. We were picked up early in the afternoon and we were brought to the docks, right outside of Airlie. The boat happened to be an old race-sailing boat which has been competing in sailing races all over the world. The boat was quite big; 83ft in length, 20ft wide, built of high tech Carbon Fibre with a mast catching wind 110ft above the deck. We were brought to the boat with a little motorboat. We hopped onto the boat and after meeting the crew, we set sail into the whitsundays. There were 4 crew members on board and from time to time we were asked to help raising the sails and the likes. All together there were 25 other people doing the trip, so we had a nice big group on the boat. The scenery was really magnificient. After sailing the rest of the afternoon, we set anchor right next to the beach. We had some dinner and had a few drinks. But everyone was still tired of the nights before, so most of us hit the sack early.
The next day we woke up quite early. After breakfast we were brought onto one of the islands to do a little walk to a lookout point, which happens to be the most photographed spot on the island, and I wasn’t surprised why.. It felt like I was in the middle of a tropic postal card. After taking some pictures we went down to the beach for a little swim. After 2 hours we went back to the boat to sail a bit more. We sailed a fair bit to a little spot which happens to be perfect for snorkeling. Once arrived, we got into our stinger suits (to prevent being stung by jellyfish or stingrays) and grabbed some snorkeling gear. We were brought to the right spot with the little motorboat again and from there on we were snorkeling.. The views down there were just amazing, the beautiful coral together with the colourful fish, just incredible. Then we sailed some more to another spot where we did a second dive with some more coral. I did cut my hands and feet quite a bit due to the fact that coral is razorsharp. We got back onto the boat and had a quick shower. We then had some beers and after dinner we played some drinking games. Everyone became very drunk and it became a real crazy night. I slept on the deck of the boat, as it was still quite warm outside, which was also quite an experience.
The next day we got up with a big hangover. We were allowed to do one more dive into the reef before setting sail back to Airlie Beach. As I still had a lot of cuts in my hands and feet, plus I didn’t feel all that great because of the night before I decided not to go snorkeling again. After half an hour we set sail back to the mainland and early in the afternoon we arrived back in Airlie Beach. After a little afternoon nap we all went out in Airlie Beach with the people we were with on the boat. We had a few drinks in several bars and went to see a wet t-shirt competition as well. Afterwards we went back to the hostel as the next day I had to check out to go the next destination; Townsville from where we’re going to Magnetic Island!
Stay tuned for more crazy adventures!!
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