Sailing in the Whitsundays

Airlie Beach, Australia
20.2675°S, 148.7169°E  

When Sarah and I were planning our Australia trip we had a hard time deciding what to do after our week in Sydney. It goes without saying that the country is massive, and there is no shortage of beautiful places to see.

Do we head south to Melbourne or Adelaide? Fly up north to Darwin? What about that million square miles of Western Australia?

We decided to minimize our travel time and fly up the east coast to Queensland. Queensland is the second largest state in Australia and occupies the country’s entire northeast. Unlike the northeast in the U.S., Queensland is mostly sunny and warm year round. It’s also closest to the Great Barrier Reef, a destination on our short list for Australia.

We took a two and a half hour flight from Sydney into Whitsunday Coast Airport, which serves as a gateway to the various ports you can leave from to see the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsunday Islands.

The Whitsunday Islands occupy a small part of the more than 1,400 mile-long Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest living structure. The Whitsundays make up only 74 of the 900 or so islands along the reef, but they are a top tourist destination given their accessibility, white sand beaches, and diving and snorkeling sites.

Airlie Beach

On one of our last days in New Zealand, Sarah and I had wandered into a tourist travel office and started talking to the friendly guy behind the desk. He was asking about our trip and said that if we are heading to Australia, we have to see the Whitsundays. I had heard this from friends as well, so within a few minutes we had purchased a two night, three day Whitsundays sailing trip. It wasn’t a tough sell.

The sailing trip departed from the Port of Airlie in the town of Airlie Beach. We weren’t setting sail until the day after we flew into Queensland, so we spent the night in a small budget motel in the town of Airlie Beach.

Beer Pong with The Vikings

Airlie Beach is known to be a big backpackers destination, and the town caters to traveling students and 20-somethings with its cheap accommodations and food and drink deals in nearly every restaurant. Sarah sensed my excitement over the plethora of cheap eating options, and we roamed around until stumbling across a restaurant running a steak and a beer deal for $15 AUD (~$11 USD). A bit to our surprise, the steak was perfectly cooked and delicious…and just what we needed.

On our way back to the motel we stopped into a large beer hall-style bar for a drink. The bar was adjacent to a hostel and there must have been 300 backpackers from all over the world sitting at the picnic tables with their pints and pitchers. Just by me walking into the bar the average age of the place probably jumped about 10 years, but we decided to stay because it was a fun scene and the beer was ice cold (like pretty much every place we had been to in Australia).

Right as we were about to leave, a restaurant employee got on a microphone to let everyone know “the beer pong tournament will be starting soon”. It was still early, so with a little arm-twisting I convinced Sarah we should stay and enter the tournament.

Our first (and only) opponents were named “Team Viking”, two Dutch sisters probably no older than 22. Sarah felt pretty confident that with nine years of college behind us we should be able to mop the floor with these young bucks. Unfortunately, the beer pong skills I picked up in the late 90’s were nowhere to be found, and Team Viking fired ball after ball into our cups. The whole game was over in about two minutes.

An Australian guy next to us that was watching our defeat looked at me and said,  “Didn’t see that one coming mate!”. We left the bar feeling defeated and old, but happy to be heading to bed early before our sailing trip the next day.

The Getaway

The morning of our departure from Port Airlie we walked down to the harbor and met the group we’d be spending the next three days with on a sailboat. When we booked our trip there were two boats available. One with 18 passengers and shared bunk beds, and one for a bit more money that would have only eight passengers and we would have our own room.

We went for the eight person option out of fear that we could be stuck on a boat full of party-hungry college students for three days. It ended up being the right decision, and immediately we clicked with the other couples on our boat, the Whitsunday Getaway.

On our boat were Andrew and Claire from Scotland, Bjorn and Katharina from Germany, and Eric and Laura from San Diego. It was the first Whitsundays trip for all of us, so we were all equally excited for what the next three days would bring.

As we loaded the boat we met our captain Dave and our first-mate/hostess/cook Ebony. They went over the rules of the boat and showed us each our cabins.

The first day was spent sailing for several hours across the Nara Inlet before we anchored off the coast of Hook Island. We used the time to get settled in our cabin, get to know each other, and of course enjoy the beautiful views.

After a great grilled chicken dinner and some amazing star gazing, Captain Dave walked us through our plan for the next day, including the course we’d chart through the Whitsundays. He let us know that breakfast would be served at 7:00 a.m. and from there we’d head off to our first snorkel.

Day Two

After breakfast we motored for about 20 minutes to the first snorkeling spot. Before we jumped in the water, we were given our “stinger suits”, full-length black zip up suits that prevent jellyfish stings. The reason the suits are needed around the Whitsundays is because 1) some types of jellyfish stings can be extremely painful, and 2) some can kill you (more about the deadly Box Jellyfish here).

Before arriving in Australia I read Bill Bryson’s “In A Sunburned Country”, which journals his travels across the country. In the book he goes into great detail about all of the various Australian creatures that are deadly to humans. As I slipped on my stinger suit ready to jump in the water I thought of this quote from Bryson’s book:

“[Australia] has more things that will kill you than anywhere else. Of the world’s ten most poisonous snakes, all are Australian. Five of its creatures – the funnel web spider, box jellyfish, blue-ringed octopus, paralysis tick, and stonefish – are the most lethal of their type in the world. This is a country where even the fluffiest of caterpillars can lay you out with a toxic nip, where seashells will not just sting you but actually sometimes go for you. … If you are not stung or pronged to death in some unexpected manner, you may be fatally chomped by sharks or crocodiles, or carried helplessly out to sea by irresistible currents, or left to stagger to an unhappy death in the baking outback. It’s a tough place.”

Fortunately, the risk of being stung, bitten, or eaten alive was completely outweighed by what we saw as we paddled around the reef on our first two snorkels.

In additional to the brightly colored and ornate reef, we saw all different types of fish. Scribbled Angelfish, Feather-fin Bullfish, Long-fin Batfish to name a few. Sarah even got up close with a sea turtle!

Another big highlight of our sailing trip was our stop at Whitehaven Beach. The beach is known for its super fine white sand that squeaks when you walk on it. The water surrounding the beach ranges from bright greens to bright blues, and from the island lookout you can see sharks and stingrays swimming in the shallow waters. We explored the beach for a few hours, and went swimming in the warm water – with our stinger suits of course!

We woke up early on our last day on the boat and after a breakfast of fresh fruit and pancakes (thanks Ebony!) headed for our last snorkel of the trip.

For a small portion of our trip Captain Dave let me take the wheel. However, he was unimpressed with my sailing abilities.

As we headed back to Port Airlie, the captain shared with us the map of the entire course we took over the three days. He made it pretty evident on the map the part of the trip I was at the helm. See squiggly lines below….

After pulling into Port Airlie and exchanging information with our sailing friends, Sarah and I walked into town to pick up our rental car to head down the coast towards Brisbane.

More pictures from our sailing trip….