Where Is Tal?

A few days ago I got to spend 3 days on some of the most beautiful islands in the world. The Whitsunday Islands are located off of the East Coast of Australia just off of a little town called Airlie Beach. The Whitsundays consist of 74 islands with only 8 of which are inhabited. All 74 islands are located on the outer Great Barrier Reef in the Coral sea. I was lucky enough to not only sail the waters around the islands, but also to swim in the teal waters, lay in the white sand of Whitehaven beach, and snorkel around these great islands.

I was aboard a ship called Boomerang, an 83 ft Maxi Ocean racing yacht. Under the name of Ondine VII, it won many World Maxi Series races, and many other races around the world so you can imagine that this yacht can go at very high speeds! On the ship we were about 30 people altogether, most sleeping in their bunk beds, while a few others including me decided to sleep on the deck..How could I say no to sleeping on top of a boat under the starry skies and waking up to a beautiful sunrise?? Although I woke up both mornings with pretty bad backaches and very humid air, I have to say it was worth every minute of it. Watching the sunrise come up over the islands making the color of the waters change by the minute was an incredible sight. On the first morning after waking up at 5:30 AM we were up and ready to go ashore the pristine Whitehaven beach by 6:30. We were the first ones on the untouched beach and were able to get a view of the place both early in the morning (7AM) and at aruond 11–both times the beach looked completely different due to the tides.

waking up on the deck

Whitehaven beach at 11 am

The trip was really fun, we got to really have a hands-on experience putting up the sail and steering the ship. The three days were just a great time to relax, meet a lot of interesting people from all over the world, drink lots of goon, watch the stars and really just enjoy our time at sea. After getting off the boat, I still felt like I was rocking back and forth for two whole days which was quite a trip…I never slept on a boat before so it really was just a great experience all around!!

steering the boat

putting up the sail