The Sailing of Sarah

Warning! This is a long one, as it’s probably one of the highlights of my trip thus far.

I took an 11 hour overnight bus from Cairns to Airlie Beach, which I booked 2 days before (I’m totally learning to go with the flow). Airlie Beach is a cute little hippy town and one of the gateways to the Whitsunday Islands. I checked into the Airlie Beach YHA hostel (which was awful and not nearly as nice as the previous YHA hostel in Cairns). All I knew is that I needed to get out of there – one night would be all I could take. I had plans to do a sailing trip, but thought I could only handle a 2 day/1 night trip (thinking about being on a small sailboat out in the middle of the ocean with 14 people for 1 night was enough for me). Unfortunately, because I had decided to “go with the flow” and book the trip the day before I wanted to leave, there was almost nothing available. The last boat I tried was the Silent Night. It was a 2 day/2 night trip. Could I handle it? I didn’t really have a choice and it was what I came to Airlie to do. I booked it.

The following day I ran some errands in the morning and mailed out a package to home with some souvenirs and some clothes I was sick of schlepping around. I later came to find out after talking to fellow travelers that this is actually pretty normal. I’m not nuts after all…Nearly everyone I have talked to has shipped a package home with things they really didn’t need. As I was on the bus back into town, I noticed a guy that looked quite familiar. My friend, Lindsay, has some friends in Australia. She loves it here and has shared so many great stories. She told me to look up her two friends on Facebook and ended up putting me in touch with one of them. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out that he would be in the same areas at the time I was traveling...bummer. The guy on the bus, looked like Lindsay’s other friend, who I was not in touch with but who I had seen pictures of on Lindsay’s Facebook. Could it be possible? No way. Halfway around the world, on a random bus?? I did a double take, a triple take, and then figured – what do I have to lose? I walked up to him as I was getting off the bus and asked him if his name was Grant. He looked at me like a crazy person, as he obviously didn’t know who I was, and he said “yes”. What are the chances? He had been working on one of the Whitsunday Islands and came into town to do a little shopping. It truly is a small world!

Back to the boat…

The crew included the solo American (yours truly), 2 girls and 3 guys from S. Korea, a lovely couple from England, 3 guys from England, the skipper, and the deck hand. The first few hours were a bit awkward, but after a lovely evening sail, a snorkel, some drinks in the confined space of a tent (we had to take cover, as it rained the first night) and sleeping in an open corridor, by morning we were BFFs. 

We shared stories of our travels (everyone was on a similar trip and path as me), we experienced the absolutely beautiful breathtaking views of the Whitsunday Islands (74 islands of breathtaking scenery and the most crystal clear blue water I have ever seen), we relaxed at the most beautiful beach in the world (Whitehaven beach – Uninhabited 7km of pure white silica sand and crystal blue water, where we saw sting rays and baby tiger sharks), at night we were mesmerized by the lightning fish that Claire called the “Stars of the Sea”, we were lucky enough to catch some dolphins swimming alongside the boat, we made up silly sayings, we learned what life was like growing up in S. Korea, the English and I made fun of each other for the different words we used for things (they call suspenders “braces” and garter belts “suspenders”), Claire trying to teach me to how to perfect my English accent “The rain from Spain falls mainly on the plain”, they all got a kick out of pulling my leg and telling me that they called dancing “boogieing” and that dancing in England meant the strip tease type dancing. It wasn’t until the next day that Claire had to come clean because she couldn’t see me suffer any longer. Hilarious!

Sitting on the beach, looking out into the ocean, all I could think about was how lucky we were. Who were we? 11 strangers from completely different backgrounds, yet we were fortunate enough to be sitting there, enjoying life, experiencing this together. Our passion for travel, and living life to the fullest allowed us to bond and create so many great memories together. 2 days/2 nights together and it was like a new little family.

As we headed back to the harbor, I knew I was booked to catch a bus to a ferry to a flight to Brisbane (this is where too much planning in advance can hurt you). I didn’t want to go. I went back and forth trying to decide if I should just stay, change all my arrangements, have another fun night with my new friends. It wouldn’t be the first time I stayed an extra day somewhere at the last minute… What was a couple hundred dollars when it meant an experience of a lifetime and memories that would last forever? I decided I shouldn’t do it. I didn’t feel like dealing with running around like crazy when I got back to shore trying to change everything (we were scheduled to get to port at 11am and I had an 11:45 bus to catch) and plus, I had just lost my little camera the night before (Yes, I lost another camera…It slipped of the boat the night, but thankfully only had a days worth of pictures on it). The decision was made. I was going to Brisbane. But we ended up getting back to port late. Claire and Gary were kind enough to drive me to my hostel to pic up my luggage. I had 10 mins to spare. Pressure was on. I went to get the key to luggage storage and it was missing. Someone had gotten their luggage and didn’t return the key. I was sweating bullets. I ended up missing my bus. How ironic, right? Yes, I probably could have just paid $30 to take a taxi to the ferry, but all I could think was, “this is what I wanted” – to stay. Thankfully the ferry company let me switch my pickup to the next day at no charge and I called the hostel in Brisbane to tell them I wouldn’t be arriving that night and come to find out I never booked my stay in the first place. Ha! The only thing it cost me was a $58 flight change for the next day. Perfect. I booked a room at the hostel down the road and met up with my friends. James, Sam, and Dave were staying until Friday anyway and Gary and Claire and decided to stay an extra night in Airlie as well. We had so much fun. Sharing pictures, drinking, taking pictures, dancing, playing Keno (my first time – only lost $10).

I have so many memories from those 3 days. I have more new friends around the world. And I knew there was a reason I didn’t book the Europe part of my trip. I may just be swinging by London in May. I’ve heard it’s changed a lot since I was there 10 years ago… ;)

Sail away, sail away, sail away…