I'm on a boat!

My bus arrived in Airlie Beach around dawn once I got off there were a selection of hostels who had sent minibuses to pick up people just like me. Hostels in Airlie have a poor reputation so it was much of a muchness but I eventually plumped for Beaches. Its a bar with a hostel attached really but it wasnt too bad. Next up I checked in with the boat company I was going to be travelling with on the next day. Once that was out of the way I set up camp in Peter Pan's and started working on what I was going to do in New Zealand. I had seen offers in a few places on the way up the coast and I found a kiwi working in the office so it seemed like a good idea. We looked at all the major things to do in NZ and I quickly realised that my budget wouldnt allow for all of them. So I booked my bus to get from Auckland to Queenstown and one or two other things. Its weird thinking about NZ already because that means my 11 month adventure is drawing to a close. But I still have 6 weeks left so im going to make the most of them before I have to go back to the real world! Later that night me and the guys from my dorm crashed an after party from one of the boats that had come in that day. All the boats have afterparties in one of the bars and not everyone shows up so its not that difficult to crash one and get some free drinks :)

In the morning I checked out of the hostel, stored my main luggage and dossed around for the morning. I even splashed out on a hair cut! Finally boarding time rolled around and I caught the bus to the marina where I got my first glimpse of my home for the next two nights: Condor. It was a maxi sailing boat which means it used to be a racing boat but has now retired to the whitsundays. My first impression was that it was a little small for 24 people to stay on. Then we got introduced to the 3 person crew – Captain Aaron, and the two firstmates James and Priscilla. Its a small crew for a sailing boat but they would draft the rest of us in as needed so it was fine. We got assigned our bunks and then got our safety briefing as well as a 'Sailing 101'. Aaron told us what to do and what not to do among other bits and pieces about the boat. 'One hand for yourself and one for the boat' (translation – hold on) and stay out of the “triangle of death” which was an area where there were lots of ropes under a lot of strain and in the unlikely event of one of them snapping then if you are nearby you will get a nasty injury. Pretty soon the motor got us out of the harbour and it was time to put the sails up. As there were plenty of volunteers to do this I got to sit and watch. It took 4 people to raise the main sail and then the firstmates would tie it off and 3 people to raise the topsail (one at the front) which also got tied off by the pros. Then it was all down to Captain Aaron to steer us to our destination. That first afternoon we simply sailed to a bay where we dropped anchor for the night. Letting the sails down is a hell of a lot easier than putting them up as we saw when James and Priscilla did it and then they cooked our dinner. We had a lovely meal and a few drinks and the group on board began to bond. One of the guys introduced a game called “I packed my bag” which isnt really a drinking game but is funny when you are drunk and creative with what you can stick in a bag..... like a wheelbarrow with no wheel.

I should probably talk about the people on the boat now. There were 24 of us on it around half of whom were german and for the most part kept to themselves. I dont think they had a lot of english because they were slow in responding to some of the crew's suggestions and requests at times. This meant the group on board was split in two, the gremans and the english speaking group. Not ideal but the rest of us got on so well it wasnt much of an issue. Also on board were 6 irish (including me) and the rest were made up of 4 english, an american, an israeli, a scot and a dutch guy. Now who do you think I spent most of my time with? I mean I talked to anyone who could talk back in english but there was one person who I hit it off with more so than any other. It was the Scot in fact and her name was Jamie (I can hear the ahhhs and see the smirks from here) and we got on great and had a laugh while on board. She hung out with two girls from Cork so I spent a lot of time chatting to the three of them. That first night we ate dinner during sunset (which was blocked by a big island) and drank while talking about this, that and the other. A nice way to spend an evening, gently rocked by the waves.

The next day dawned with a slight scare. Aaron was getting up to have an early morning smoke and was surprised to see a mast bearing down on him in the lightening darkness. Another boat that had docked nearby was starting out and failed to notice our boat was in its way. A quick evasive manoeuvre and lots of angry gestures later we were all getting ready for breakfast. There was no need to worry about our boat getting damaged since its made from really thick Kevlar. Aaron told us a story about how the owner once drove the boat into a rock and the rock broke. True or not its a cool story! After breakfast we hopped in the tender (a dinghy we were towing for just this kind of situation) and were shipped to shore. Our first port of call on our trip was to Whitehaven Beach which is regarded as having the finest and whitest sand in the world. We settled down in a little sheltered cove to escape the wind and had a great morning in the sunshine. Someone had thought to bring a ball with them so all the boys started playing beach football. The girls werent too impressed by getting showered in sand while they were trying to sunbathe though. It was all good clean fun with some really funny moments whenever someone swung to kick the ball and all they got was sand. An incoming low tide meant we had to head back to Condor. We had around 2 hours on the beach though which was enough as the sky was beginning to cloud over anyway. By the time we got back on board it was lunchtime and we got another good meal from the crew. Then it was time to sail to our first snorkeling destination.

Now lets be clear, I'm not the greatest swimmer and getting into deep water isnt something that fills me with any great thrill but I didnt want to miss out on the opportunity to see some cool coral and fish. The weather had been gradually clouding over so conditions were far from excellent for snorkeling but we got in anyway. We first had to grab our snorkeling gear and put on our stinger suits. Stinger suits are a bit like wetsuits except not as heavy and there to protect you from jellyfish. We were assured that it wasnt the season for jellyfish and we were safe though. Before we got in we got a snorkeling 101 lesson from James of which there were two highlights. One was him going arse over tit when we hit a wave because he broke the first rule of sailing – hold on. The other was the quote “Swim in pairs and you probably wont die!”. Charming. Jamie was my snorkel buddy and we made quite the pair, me who cant really swim and her who is terrified of jellyfish. She was slightly surprised that she was getting in at all. With all of us ready to get in the water we looked like some weird cast of Star Trek in the stinger suits. The tender got used again to drop us near the coral and we were soon paddling around. I had a 'noodle' to help me float as well. It took all of 5 minutes for someone to yell out “Jellyfish!” and that was Jamie's cue to get out. So there I was abandoned in the water but I was too preoccupied by the view under the surface to worry about drowning. I tried to stick near the rest of the group to be sure. Im not sure how long we were in the water but I had a great time looking at the myriads of colourful fish and coral reef. Soon we began to get chilly in the water and I jumped in the tender to head back to Condor. Then I realised what it felt like to be cold! Sitting in the boat in a wet stinger suit was not a way to warm me up. Priscilla was laughing at all of us in the tender as she guided it back to Condor. Tea and coffee were ready for us when we got back and then we were off to another sheltered bay for the night.

That night was one of the best ive had in a long time. At dinnertime a sea eagle showed up and watching it swoop around was cool. Then Priscilla started to throw small pieces of meat in the air and the eagle would catch it. It turned into a great pre dinner show. Then after another amazing meal we fed our scraps to the huge fish swimming around the boat. All of this was done while the sun set and we got to see it this time. It was quite beautiful to watch the sun set on the water and we shared it with some flying fish and a dolphin as well. For the rest of the night we systematically polished off whatever alcohol we had left. Drinking games assisted in our efforts and we got Capt Aaron up from below deck at one point to make sure what we were shouting was part of the game. This is because we added in a phrase pretty relevant to seafaring and that is “Man Overboard”. By the end of the night everyone was pretty steaming. Some of us began huddling for warmth as it was getting a tad chilly and then we all went to bed..

The next morning we woke to breakfast and more snorkeling. Its quite a good cure for a hangover. Jamie had no intentions of getting in again so I was on my own this time. I think the snorkeling was even better in this spot which was nicknamed “the fishbowl”. There were more fish who just ignored us snorkelers. Aaron even started throwing bread into the water to attract more so at one point we had shoals of fish swimming around us and darting to the surface to grab the bread. It was awesome! Eventually we got dragged out of the water as we had to start making tracks back to Airlie Beach. I did my best to help out with the sails that day and its good fun and great exercise. I did feel a little bit proud when I looked up at the sails and thought to myself that I had helped raise them. Then we did some real sailing! For the most part of the journey all of us passengers were perched on the high side of the boat as the 'suicide' was skimming the waves. It was quite exhilarating to travel in this fashion and you could see in the eyes of the crew that it was days like this that they lived for. The boat was bashing through the waves, soaking all those at the front of the boat. I had a nice dry spot down the back sheltered by all my fellow passengers. It was with heavy hearts that we all disembarked from the good ship Condor but most of us would meet up again at the afterparty in Beaches Bar later.

I spent the whole day in Airlie hanging out with my new buddy Jamie and met up with everyone else in the bar that night. It had been an amazing few days but sadly it was time to move onto pastures new. Facebook details were exchanged and we went our separate ways with promises to try and meet up in Cairns. One thing ive learned about travel is that its not where you go or what you do its about the people you meet. Most people along the way that ive mentioned it to agree with this. Jamie is one of the people who have made a difference to my journey and made my trip to the Whitsunday Islands that much more memorable.