sf 2 oz

As we have about three weeks left in Australia (gasp!) we're working on taking care of our bucket list. One of the main things we'd been wanting to do was a sailing trip in the Whitsundays. My friend Chrissy was visiting from SF and since she and Mike know how to sail we figured it was the perfect time to have a bareboat adventure. Being low season and post cyclone Yasi I was a bit worried about the weather, but we got lucky..mostly sun with some clouds and several rain showers. And we did lots of swimming sans stinger suits with no jellyfish stings, phew.

We visited Hook Island, Hayman Island, Whitsunday Island, Lindeman Island and Hamilton Island - definitely covered some ground! We saw and heard some amazing wildlife including dolphins, turtles, rays, a dugong, fish and squid (one of which jumped onto our boat). Many of the islands had bush walks - we even got to see Aboriginal drawings during one hike. There was barely any boat traffic so our moorings and anchorages were so peaceful.. We got lots of use out of the BBQ and downed many a Corona. It was an unforgettable trip and we're already thinking about doing another bareboat charter at some point in the future.

We went through Whitsunday Escape and were really happy with the boat and the whole experience, would highly recommend them. 

Oh yeah, and we cuddled a BABY koala! His name was Elvis and he was adorable. We did this at the Wilderness Park on Hamilton Island (the one Oprah visited a few months ago). So worth it.