Pride of Airlie

Hello everybody, Christa wasn’t the only one that was sad that our wonderful romantic excursion to Hamilton Island was over. I could have spent the rest of our trip there maybe even the rest of my life there, it was that beautiful. But we had a sailing boat to catch and Christa wasn’t kidding when she said that the Pride of Airlie wasn’t exactly what we were told it was. It turns out the Pride of Arlie was the BIGGEST PARTY boat in the Whitsunday Islands; it was “the” booze cruise. God has a funny way of putting us in places that are out of our comfort zones. The first day, Monday (Oct. 1) we boarded our boat and went straight to, South Mole Island were we would be staying at. After a few complications with our room we settled in and headed to the bar where we were served our dinner. When we went up to the bar to order two pops the bartender joked around with us and told us we better be ordering beer next time. Shortly after dinner the crew got everyone together and started a series of drinking games Christa & I and another couple, Adam & Helen, started talking and enjoyed great conversation in the midst of the chaos. The next morning at 6:30 am we headed to the bar for our breakfast. With the tables still sticky from the night before and a few people a little green & extremely tired we finished up breakfast and headed to board the boat. With Christa being so sea sick before on our boat ride in Cairns she was prepared this time and good thing. At the beginning of the trip there was one girl quickly at the back of the boat not feeling so well. As we started to pass Hamilton Island the waves kept getting bigger & bigger and more people were leaning over the back of the boat. I on the other hand was at the front of the boat with a bunch of people as we enjoyed the ride on the waves and got soaking wet. We arrived at Whitehaven beach around 10 am. This beach is named one of the world’s most beautiful beaches. We spent a couple of hour’s snorkelling and lying on the beach. I had a great time in the water exploring and loved swimming with the sea turtles. The beach was definitely beautiful; the water was turquoise blue the sand was super fine and as white as snow. After lunch at Whitehaven beach we sailed back to the resort and arrived there at about 3pm, which gave me enough time to hit the golf course on the island while Christa relaxed. That night after dinner when the drinking games began there was a group of about 10 that weren’t joining in this time, so I suggested that we head over to another bar at the resort where there was a game of bingo going on. There was a little resistance at first but once one joined in they all joined in and we were off to play bingo. The place was packed with some serious bingo players, enthusiast from all ages. They were so serious that you could almost hear a pin drop. We soon caught on to the bingo lingo and our group managed to win the last 3 games. After bingo was over we all played ping pong and then head for bed. Wednesday (Oct. 3) morning was another 6:30 am start for breakfast and on the boat by 7:15 am. We sailed to a nice spot to snorkel again where Christa joined in this time then had lunch and then sailed back to Airlie Beach. We got back on land at about 3 pm, said our goodbye’s to everyone and prepared for our 12 hour bus ride that night to Hervey Bay.
PS. Casey was my hero again. The last night in our room at 4 am we both woke up for a potty break. When we turned the lights on Casey looked over and told me to go to the bathroom and shut the door as there was a very big spider in the room. Well I ran to the bathroom and put a towel under the crack of the door, in case the spider decided to run my way. All I could hear Casey say was “Oh my goodness.....ohhhh my goodness.” Well once again he killed the large huntsman which was the size of his hand and we were both able to sleep peacefully. Casey also made a friend on the boat who was 6 years old named Shannon, the skipper had his 2 daughters on the boat and Shannon had most fun hanging out with Casey & I playing “guess if my eyes are open or shut”.