Sailing around the Whitsunday Islands

This section of the north-east coast, it is usual to make a multi-day sailing trip. On the recommendation of my hostel I decided for the boat Summertime. Many boats aimed at 18 year old backpackers from and organize drinking games on board ..... I was very lucky with my group, 16 people from 8 different countries and all were over 30 years old.

The sailing ship Summertime has been several years in the hump and has just enough space for the sleeping bunks. We ate sitting without a table along the railing and 1m2 large bathroom that should included both the toilet and shower you need just 1.5 minutes to get a shower so that the water consumption is kept low.

On the way to our first stop we had really nice waves, so it rocked vigorously. After that, the three-member crew consisting of a captain, instructor and cook inflated the kayaks so that we could observe in the crystal clear water stingrays and Schikdkröten in the bay.

Then we went at sunset on the night at our berth.

On the second day was a visit to the most famous beach in the Whitsundays, the Whiteheaven Beach, Hip. As the name suggests, there is probably nowhere whiter sand than here. These still form every day, depending on the ebb and flow of various sand dunes in the water form the breathtaking scenery. Too bad that of course all the groups come at the same time to the beach and is thus lost a lot of charm.

Then in the afternoon it was finally time, we were able to go snorkeling. Of course, some other groups also had the same idea again ..... but well you could still avoid to some extent. The view was from the rain the day before and the wind again mediocre, so I have refrained to diving. Nevertheless, quite a few fish on the reef, here are some pictures romped:

High back Fusilier

Chelmon rostratus (Orange-banded butterflyfish or Copper-banded butterflyfish)

Pomacanthus-sexstriatus-six-banded angelfish

Squid (calamari fritti not 😉)

Here are a few photos of coral. Here, the same coral species, depending on hunger they stretch out their feelers or not.

Very impressive is the size of some sponges.

On the last day we went again into the water, with much poorer vision and fairly high waves which made us to create on the return trip, as the water constantly splashed and we were all soaked.

Sicherlich ist das Segeln auf den Whitsunday Islands ein Muss auf jeder Weltreise, jedoch ist es wie alles andere in Australien nicht gerade günstig. Für fast 140 Euro pro Tag (ohne Tauchgänge) schläft man mit 16 Personen in einem Ambiente und bekommt zwar sehr leckeres Essen, jedoch auch halt nur Grillwürstchen, Kartoffel- oder Nudelsalat und als Nachspeise Obst das nie für alle gereicht hat. Dazu kommt, dass die Crew aus einem erfahrenen Kapitän und zwei Praktikantinnen besteht die ein Work & Holiday Visum haben. Anyway, so funktioniert nun mal die gut geölte Tourismusmaschine in Australien, jedenfalls freue ich mich schon auf Südostasien, dort stechen mich die Mücken sicher genauso, aber halt nur zu einem Drittel vom Preis 😉

Nevertheless, it was fun and the group just great!