A few weeks ago, Roland and Penny called to say they were thinking of "popping" over for a sail. I love that Roland used the words "popping over" like he was coming from down the street when in reality they live on the other side of the country. That is similar to someone in Ohio saying they are going to pop over to San Diego. Absolutely fantastic!
They were planning on getting into town the week of the cyclones, but the charter company shut down, therefore pushing back their visit a week. This worked out well because the cyclones were quite intense, and we would have been called back in anyway and stuck in a hotel.
We took a 30 minute ferry that leaves from down the street and met Roland and Penny on Hamilton Island where they flew into. Being a small island that was specifically built around a resort, we easily found each other and were on our way for a week of sailing the Whitsunday Islands on a 46 foot catamaran. Big boat with plenty of room for four people. 4 rooms, 4 bathrooms and plenty of sitting room all through the boat, inside and out.
Heading south our first night, and being one of few boats out due to the cyclones, we had the anchorage to ourselves. A little cove looking onto an island of sand, trees and jutting rocks. Schools of fish surrounded us as dusk approached, which we attempted to catch but couldn't get our lines out far enough. We drank gin and tonics on the front deck and soaked up the beautiful scenery. A great and relaxing way to start our vacation from our vacation.
After dinner the first night, we took steak fat to bait a hand line (a spool of rope with a wire and hook that is used to troll off the boat). We threw the line threw the bait overboard and tied the line off the cleat. Cocktails, a few bottles of wine, and blasting music, we were thoroughly enjoying our first night on the water. Around 11:30pm I gave the line a tug and it gave a huge tug back. We caught something! Ryan came over and he and I both started pulling the line. It actually pulled so hard and quickly that rope gave my hands a small rug burn. What did we have? A shark? A croc? A huge fish? 10 minutes of pulling before we saw the culprit rise to the surface, a 7 foot shark. As Ryan pulled it up, we saw stripes. Not only a shark, but a tiger shark! Wow! Talk about exhilarating. Now what do we do with it? Still having a bit of sense after many beverages, Roland opted to cut the line rather than try and retrieve the hook. Glad that decision was made!
Sharks are by far my biggest fear in life. I think about them constantly whenever any water is involved. My fear goes so far that when I was around 8 I was terrified to even be in the shower. I had an image of a huge sewer pipe on the other end side of the wall and my mind would tell me that though isn't probable, it was possible that a freak accident would occur and a shark would get in that pipe and chomp right through my bathroom wall. Wow. How sad is that? Needless to say, catching a shark made my heart rate. It barely moved when Ryan pulled it up, no thrashing of fighting back, just staring at us with big solid black eyes. Believe it or not, this actually made me less terrified by seeing it up close. The mouth was smaller than my Jaws imagination has led me to believe over the years and there were fewer rows of teeth. Don't get me wrong, they still scare the crap out of me, just maybe slightly less.
The next morning with the heat, we all wanted a quick dip in the water. The previous nights shark catch changed any thoughts of simply jumping off the back of the boat. Sharks are not the biggest concern in this area, it is actually the deadly boxed jellyfish. Because some are the size of the tip of a finger, there are black mesh suits that prevent stings. These suits includes booties, gloves and a head cover, turning us into nothing else but ninjas. Head to toe in black, we enjoyed a bath in 2 feet of water near shore.
Our week on the boat was spent sailing, fishing, cooking, wine, cocktails, eating, strolls on the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, cards, chatting and relaxing. The charter company requires that the boats stay within a certain area, preventing us from wandering too far, but I believe we saw a nice portion of what the Whitsunday's are all about. We spent an afternoon anchored along a popular white beach, changed location every night (always hitting different islands), snorkeled by simply jumping off the boat amongst colorful fish and coral reef, kayaked to a small hike on land, etc. At our great snorkeling spot, huge fish would come to the back of boat, probably used to being fed. If you touch your finger tips and make your arms into a circle, that was about the size of these fish, utterly beautiful. The colors of the coral ranged from white to purple to blue to red. The snorkeling was by far the best I have ever experienced.
Ryan and I realized that chartering a boat is definitely a great way to go when wanting to visit an area that is by water. If you travel with other people, it is actually very reasonably prices. We often talk of boats in our future, but after this, we might just reconsider chartering boats in different countries rather than having the big expenses of a larger boat. Don't get my wrong, Ryan will always have some sort of boat in our lives, just maybe not one that requires a slip.
Thanks to Roland and Penny, we have added another adventure onto our adventure. These two are some of the most fun, down to earth, fantastic people we know and feel so fortunate to have spent so much time with them. Lucky us!
They were planning on getting into town the week of the cyclones, but the charter company shut down, therefore pushing back their visit a week. This worked out well because the cyclones were quite intense, and we would have been called back in anyway and stuck in a hotel.
We took a 30 minute ferry that leaves from down the street and met Roland and Penny on Hamilton Island where they flew into. Being a small island that was specifically built around a resort, we easily found each other and were on our way for a week of sailing the Whitsunday Islands on a 46 foot catamaran. Big boat with plenty of room for four people. 4 rooms, 4 bathrooms and plenty of sitting room all through the boat, inside and out.
Heading south our first night, and being one of few boats out due to the cyclones, we had the anchorage to ourselves. A little cove looking onto an island of sand, trees and jutting rocks. Schools of fish surrounded us as dusk approached, which we attempted to catch but couldn't get our lines out far enough. We drank gin and tonics on the front deck and soaked up the beautiful scenery. A great and relaxing way to start our vacation from our vacation.
After dinner the first night, we took steak fat to bait a hand line (a spool of rope with a wire and hook that is used to troll off the boat). We threw the line threw the bait overboard and tied the line off the cleat. Cocktails, a few bottles of wine, and blasting music, we were thoroughly enjoying our first night on the water. Around 11:30pm I gave the line a tug and it gave a huge tug back. We caught something! Ryan came over and he and I both started pulling the line. It actually pulled so hard and quickly that rope gave my hands a small rug burn. What did we have? A shark? A croc? A huge fish? 10 minutes of pulling before we saw the culprit rise to the surface, a 7 foot shark. As Ryan pulled it up, we saw stripes. Not only a shark, but a tiger shark! Wow! Talk about exhilarating. Now what do we do with it? Still having a bit of sense after many beverages, Roland opted to cut the line rather than try and retrieve the hook. Glad that decision was made!
Sharks are by far my biggest fear in life. I think about them constantly whenever any water is involved. My fear goes so far that when I was around 8 I was terrified to even be in the shower. I had an image of a huge sewer pipe on the other end side of the wall and my mind would tell me that though isn't probable, it was possible that a freak accident would occur and a shark would get in that pipe and chomp right through my bathroom wall. Wow. How sad is that? Needless to say, catching a shark made my heart rate. It barely moved when Ryan pulled it up, no thrashing of fighting back, just staring at us with big solid black eyes. Believe it or not, this actually made me less terrified by seeing it up close. The mouth was smaller than my Jaws imagination has led me to believe over the years and there were fewer rows of teeth. Don't get me wrong, they still scare the crap out of me, just maybe slightly less.
The next morning with the heat, we all wanted a quick dip in the water. The previous nights shark catch changed any thoughts of simply jumping off the back of the boat. Sharks are not the biggest concern in this area, it is actually the deadly boxed jellyfish. Because some are the size of the tip of a finger, there are black mesh suits that prevent stings. These suits includes booties, gloves and a head cover, turning us into nothing else but ninjas. Head to toe in black, we enjoyed a bath in 2 feet of water near shore.
Our week on the boat was spent sailing, fishing, cooking, wine, cocktails, eating, strolls on the beach, kayaking, snorkeling, cards, chatting and relaxing. The charter company requires that the boats stay within a certain area, preventing us from wandering too far, but I believe we saw a nice portion of what the Whitsunday's are all about. We spent an afternoon anchored along a popular white beach, changed location every night (always hitting different islands), snorkeled by simply jumping off the boat amongst colorful fish and coral reef, kayaked to a small hike on land, etc. At our great snorkeling spot, huge fish would come to the back of boat, probably used to being fed. If you touch your finger tips and make your arms into a circle, that was about the size of these fish, utterly beautiful. The colors of the coral ranged from white to purple to blue to red. The snorkeling was by far the best I have ever experienced.
Ryan and I realized that chartering a boat is definitely a great way to go when wanting to visit an area that is by water. If you travel with other people, it is actually very reasonably prices. We often talk of boats in our future, but after this, we might just reconsider chartering boats in different countries rather than having the big expenses of a larger boat. Don't get my wrong, Ryan will always have some sort of boat in our lives, just maybe not one that requires a slip.
Thanks to Roland and Penny, we have added another adventure onto our adventure. These two are some of the most fun, down to earth, fantastic people we know and feel so fortunate to have spent so much time with them. Lucky us!
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