Debbie Derman: Sailing the Whitsundays

Airlie Beach is awesome! Lots of hot bods walking up and down the one street packed with shops, bars and hostels, or else lazing around the "Shagoon" (lagoon) trying to keep cool in the mid-thirties heat. Plus there are more hot bods out to sea on many sailing boats that cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. We picked one called Condor, a famous 82ft Maxi yacht that is the only boat to have won all the major races twice. Our crew were fantastic fun and the 3 days/2 nights trip just wasn't long enough.

General lazing around on the yacht...

There wasn't any wind on the first day so we motored all the way to the outer reef for some incredible snorkelling that afternoon and the following morning. I saw my first shark (white-tipped reef shark), plus some turtles, Nemo's cousins, beeeeeg starfish and plenty other big fish. The nights obviously consisted of drinking games, at which Captain Kirk excelled and managed to get us all drinking more than we'd bargained for by catching us out with his silly (although brilliant) games. It was a bit windy the first night so I opted for the mugginess of my cabin, but the following night I was determined to see the southern cross (only due at about 2am) so I found myself a comfy spot that also came with a fluffy blanket and a sailor, and I did my stargazing...