Surfers is a beautiful city from the outside but I’ve heard unless you want to drink or shop there isn’t much to do. There is of course the incredible beach to sit on. A lot of the beach has been washed into the water recently though with the storms that came through. The water now buts up against a small sand cliff for most of the beach during high tide and is not the gentle slope from the streets that it once was. My fondest memories of the city are actually the views from further down the coast looking north at the skyscrapers in the afternoon sun. I didn’t spend too much time there but it was very pretty while I was!

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I had signed up to go out on a boat called the Eureka II with Prosail. They ended up not having enough people on that trip to go out so we merged with the group from the Hammer and were put onto a boat called Broomstick.

Broomstick

Originally built for the Cape Town to Rio Race, this Maxi Yacht is 76 feet long and sleeps 25. We only had 15 people and 4 crew this trip so we had lots of room to stretch out.

The weather on the day we set out was perfect blue sky and warm. Luckily it held like that for the 3 days we were out on the water. The weather definitely helped in making this tour the best thing I’ve done so far.

After making sure we had all our food and all our alcohol we headed out into the islands. First stop on the itinerary was Whitehaven Beach. I had seen many pictures of the famous area but nothing is like actually being there

Whitehaven Beach

It really was surreal being in such a beautiful place. We had a good discussion with, Ben, one of the crew, about coming to a place so often for work and how some people appreciate the area less the more they see it. “Not me,” he says, “this is my office.” Lucky bastard.

Along with beautiful views in the daytime, there were incredible sights in the evening. Both nights we had beautiful sunsets and could see whales off in the distance on the second evening.

Sunset in the Whitsundays

We didn’t get to do as much sailing as we would normally have done since we had to drop 2 of the guys off at Hamilton Island to catch a plane. As nice as the sailing was it just wasn’t fast enough to get us there on time so we had to motor it. The rest of the day was spent cruising around in a wind that was about 15 knots.

We spent the rest of the time laying around on the boat, on the beach, or snorkeling around near shore. Those than wanted helped raise the sails when it was time which was hard work!

I’d say things can’t any better than being out on a boat in the bright blue sky with a decent breeze and a bunch of good people.

My Whitsunday Set on Flickr

Links:

Prosail: Broomstick
Whitehaven Beach

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My first impression of Airlie Beach wasn’t great. I thought it was just a wierd little town on the water that didn’t have much to do or see. That was after driving 5 out of 6 long long days. I spent a night in Airlie Beach on my way up to Cairns and then came back down to do some sailing.

My second impression was quite different though. Have spending a few days in Cairns recuperating and thoroughly enjoying the sunshine and water I felt very refreshed and ready to see something new.

I booked the sailing in the Whitsundays while I was in Cairns and I think I may have booked it a couple days too soon. After diving the Saturday, I took my free trip to Green Island on the Sunday and then drove the 6 hours down to Airlie Beach on the Monday. I’m not a huge fan of organizing things to the hilt and then running around trying to complete everything so these few days felt rushed. I had to get to Airlie Beach before 6 on the Monday to check in at the sailing office and then be ready to go at 8 the next morning to get on the boat.

Airlie Beach is basically a tiny little town that is made up of one main street and then a few streets up the hill to get to the houses there. The main strip is made up of hostels, bars, a couple of restaurants and a few places to shop.

There is a bit of a beach but most of the coast is made up of a rocky shoreline. You can swim at a large lagoon they have near the water that’s patrolled by lifeguards every day.

Aside from that there isn’t much to Airlie Beach. Cannonvale is just up the road from Airlie for major shopping and the Marina is just around the corner as well, which is the launching point for most peoples adventures in Airlie Beach, Sailing!!!

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