Ahoy there, matey!

So sailing around the Whitsunday islands... quite possibly our favourite part of the Australia trip so far. We had a brilliant time, it was so much fun!

The night before we boarded, we had a ten hour drive to stay at Airlie Beach and our hostel was gross with a capital G. There was a frog in our shower and animal droppings in the bathroom, nice. Our clue should have been when she said 'The six bed studio you can all share is just along the road and it hasn't been used in a while...!'. We just decided to grin and bear it as was only for one night. The next day we headed to board Boomerang, our home for the next few days but we were slightly worried as it was pouring with rain. I swear, the rain is following us up the coast as apparently it is unsual to have this much right now.

This is Stacey and Michael, messing around as we always were!

We were introduced to our crazy crew - Kane, Max and Trevor, who were all pretty funny and all pretty crazy! Then it was onto where we were sleeping... all I can say is that I am glad I am small! The beds were really squashed in and we had double beds over the top of single beds which was slightly worrying as they were so claustrophic, you couldn't sit up in the night or you would bang your head, but it was fine once we slept there.

We had our first drenching of the day but after that it cleared up and the sun came out - hooray! Once we left the harbour some of us had to volunteer to put the sails up etc and off we went.

We all had to sit on one side of the boat as the other side tips right up almost to touch the waters edge - can you tell how much it slants as we sail along from this photo? It was such good fun, sailing along in the sun and breeze looking out onto the ocean!

Our first stop for snorkelling was Caves Cove on Hook Island, where we donned our ever-so-flattering sting suits to swim with some amazing fish. Wasn't too keen on all the things that could sting us!

That evening we moored around the other side of Hook Island and the sky was so beautiful, as we bobbed along on the water and had a delicious dinner. Considering the facilities on the boat, the freshly prepared food was always amazing.

We just sat around on deck all evening, having some drinks and lots of laughs. The next morning it was a 7am wake up call by the sound of the boat engine starting! We definitely didn't need any other alarm clock that was for sure. Life can't be bad when you get to sit eating your breakfast looking out at the ocean in the sun! We sailed onto Whitehaven beach which was supposed to be amazing and we weren't disappointed. It was truly stunning and I don't think this photo does it justice. We had an hour there and got some lovely sunshine in again before it started pouring!

We had another snorkelling session in the evening, more fantastic food and some long drinks again on deck. We really didn't want to leave, it was so nice! The girls entertained the rest of the boat with some dancing to YMCA and other cheese, very amusing. Katie also put our Italian friend Franchy's orange speedos on to run around the boat which was hilarious. There were some beautiful fish which illuminated through the water at night which were lovely and we took more lovely sunset photos, quite different to the night before.

More windy sailing followed the next day on our way back to the harbour with one final snorkel stop - this is us three clinging on for dear life as you all had to sit in the middle of the boat while they moved the sails - it was very difficult!

And our trip wouldn't have been complete without another complete downpour. I had my raincoat with me but do you like the delights the girls got to wear? They had to have a little dance in it, naturally, while helping to bring the sail down!

That was where our trip ended sadly as we had great fun despite the rain as we had alot of sunshine too. We want to become sailors now!!!