For a change of pace we're off sailing in the Whitsundays today and tomorrow. We originally hoped to "bareboat", i.e. crew our own hired vessel, but we've not left enough time to organise this, so are going on a crewed boat, with a company called Prosail. Prosail operate nineteen vessels, from 20-80ft, some ex-racing boats, including some famous ones (though I can't recall which).

Prosail pick us up at 8.45am, so we've just time for showers and a quick breakfast in the hotel restaurant. It's not cheap, so we share a continental, and down sea sickness pills.

The coach takes us, and a load of other backpackers, down to the harbour. We're expecting an age range on the boat, so this is a little disappointing. However, most of them are on a different boat. Prosail have tours lasting between 1 and 7 days, and we've picked a two day cruise as it's all the time we've got (also I might get bored after two days). Meg and Baz are our crew, and our boat is Tocardo (12m long). It belongs to Baz and he has it on a permanent charter to Prosail. There are seven of us plus two crew. The boat can take ten plus two, so it's not overcrowded. There are two Italian women (one can't swim and doesn't want to get in the water!), a German, Australian and British girl. Iain is the only bloke except Baz, who's in his fifties. Iain and I get the only double cabin, since no-one else is a couple. We're pretty happy with this. The boat is nice inside, roomy and in good condition. Baz gives us options for our itinerary and we decide as a group - thankfully everyone's keener to see good reefs than sit on beaches.

We motor out of the harbour until we find wind. It's a bit like Croatian coastline was - slightly hilly and pretty green islands, fairly small, some only a few hundred metres apart. Meg, our hostess, makes lunch, some sandwiches and salad. We're promised gourmet food on this cruise, and so far it's pretty good. Coffee and snacks are also readily available, especially after swimming.

[A Yellow Submarine]

[Hayman Island]

We get the sails up and head for some snorkeling. It's much better than the outer barrier reef we saw off Cairns - shallower, with more varieties of coral and fish, both of which are also more plentiful. I swim around the rockpools off one island, and see an incredible array of fish of all colours, it's like being in an aquarium. The only problem is the dinghy we use to get to and from reefs we can't take the boat onto. It's hard to get into from the water, especially since I'm not using flippers, and I don't want to hurt my foot. Iain cuts his big toe pretty badly on a barnacle on the bottom of the dinghy.

[Hook Island]

The non-swimming Italian has a try at getting in the water with a life jacket on, off the dinghy, with Baz in the dinghy and me supporting her in the water. She panics a bit, understandably, as she's well out of her depth, but on the whole is braver than I'd have been.

[Sunset]

[Sunset]

We sail and motor (the wind's against us) to a mooring for the night. We see Hayman Island, a hang-out for celebrities, at $3-5000 per night. Sunset is spectacular, with colourful clouds, and a full moon which lights up the bay. We have an excellent dinner; chicken/beef/veg lasagne, potato bake, veggies, garlic bread. There's a mountain of food, quite a bit of which goes to waste as we're all full. Apparently this is company policy; nothing can be reheated. Seems pretty wasteful, which is a shame.

[Sunset]

[Sunset]

The group are getting along well, though language barriers slow communication a little. We chat into the evening and everyone goes to bed around 10pm.