Jumping for Joy in the Whitsundays

'Jumping for joy in the Whitsundays' .

Susannah Bradley from Wales recently spent a sailing holiday in Australia's Whitsunday Islands with her partner Rob. Without prior experience of sailing, here she describes what it's like to sign up for a holiday on the famed ex-racing boat, Apollo, with a group of people you've never met before:

We arrived in Airlie Beach, which is the stop-off point for the Whitsundays, at 8pm, checked into Magnums our hostel. Whilst we were in our dorm getting ready for our trip, a friend Rob's from home walked into the dorm! He was staying in there. It's a small world!!! After having a few drinks with him later on and stocking up on our booze for the trip, I hit the sack.

We had to be down at the Marina at 8am as we hadn't checked in. Slowly our group started arriving. At about 9am we boarded our maxi yacht, Apollo.

Apollo - .. .

In 1987 she won the prestigious Sydney to Hobart race and she claims to be the fastest sailing boat in the Whitsundays. There were 26 of us on the boat - 7 Irish, 2 Koreans, 8 Germans, 1 Dutch, 3 English, 1 Swedish, 1 Canadian and...3 Welsh! I was not alone! Taff was from Swansea and Ben from Haverfordwest. We became acquainted with each other.

Not long after we left the harbour, some of the group helped the crew put the sails up and she let the wind take her along. When this happens the boat tips up onto one side which was cool.

We stopped at Black Pearl Bay on Hayman Island, the most expensive resort in the southern hemisphere (apparently) to do some snorkelling. Most of the group had an intro dive but once again I couldn't, due to a perforated eardrum. Still, the snorkelling was awesome and we saw just as much as the divers! To top it off, we had beautiful weather - clear blue skies with not a cloud in the sky.

Sunset - .. .

We docked about 6pm and after dinner (the food was great during the whole trip), the madness began. Everyone got onto the goon (the cheapest of wine) and the drinking games began, all of which was a good laugh. Between drinking games, games involving apples and spoons, learning dance moves and shouting obscene words at the boat opposite us, who was complaining about the noise...a great night was had!

We were woken at 7.30am the next morning...to a humpback whale! One had come into the bay and we could see her raising her back out the water. After breakfast we docked at Langford spit, which was named after one of the Queen's corgis after she visited there. At high tide you can walk along a sand patch from one island to the other (which we did). We snorkelled some more. Some of the girls saw turtles. Rob did another dive, whilst we messed around taking photos of us jumping on the beach!

Marina in Airlie Beach, by Travelbibi - .. .

We stopped at Hook Island after lunch to do another snorkel but the visibility wasn't very good so i couldn't see much. Hence I didn't stay in the water very long. We tried to get the sails up for a bit of sailing late that afternoon but there was no wind so that didn't happen! Instead we jumped off the side of the boat 10-20 times which was far more fun!

Rob had booked to do a night dive that night so at about 6.30pm, armed with a torch and a tank, a group of them went 18 metres down into the ocean to see the crazy nightlife of the underworld. Rob was buzzing when he came up, having seen a massive turtle sleeping, crabs, huge crayfish and stingrays (think Steve Irwin!)

Afterwards our crazy nightlife began, with more drinking games! This time there were only 13 of us, with the others having hit the sack fairly early, shattered! More laughs!

The following morning we were woken by the sound of the hooter at 7.30am (ouch!) We had sailed to Whitehaven Beach, the most famous Australian beach of all. We walked to Hill Inlet to see the view, then down to the squeaky white sand, where a group photo was taken and a pyramid of 10 people stayed up for about 2 seconds (with Taff on top!)

Susannah Bradley - .. .

After lunch it was homeward bound and at about 4pm we arrived back at Airlie Beach, exhausted! It was such a good trip, the group were great, the weather was beautiful for the whole 3 days...we couldn't fault it!

Later that night we had a table reserved in Magnums with free drink and we partied the night away! A great end to a great trip.

The following day we had to wait until midnight for our bus to 1770, the Bay named after the year that Captain Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia, so between lazing at the lagoon, watching some crazy Canadians mud wrestle, and more eating and drinking, we waited for our bus. We said goodbye to the 6 Irish girls who were a great laugh and boarded our bus at midnight.

by Susannah Bradley