Hayman, Lindeman, Daydream, Hamilton and Whitsunday are just some of the names associated with the tropical archipelago commonly known as the Whitsundays of the Great Barrier Reef. The islands were first discovered by Lieutenant James Cook on Whit Sunday in June 1770. We too, have always wanted to discover some of the 74 islands by sea, so with a group of friends we chartered our own boat to visit, what is one of Australia's greatest natural attractions.

La Belle Vie' (The Good Life) was a 41ft Beneteau - a sailing yacht - which gave us the independence to set our own itinerary. So with enough food and booze to sink a ship, we set off with 4 friends, who were escaping the cold Melbourne winter, to follow in the foot steps of Mr Cook.Over nine days we were blessed with great weather for sailing; with plenty of sunshine for lazing on the boat and to tempt us into the water to explore some of the marine life as well as winds of up to 25 knots (30 knot gusts were occasionaly noted) which meant all hands on deck as we hoisted the main sail and sheeted in the head sail for maximum power!!

Most of us were new comers to sailing and there was only a brief period of chundering by one of the crew (who will remain nameless but it wasn't either of us!). Once the boat was keeled over and we were flying along, it didn't take long for us all to find our sea legs and enjoy a very memorable week sailing around the islands at our leisure. It was such a fantastic holiday that we are already discussing where our next sailing holiday will take us - the Carribean, Maldives, Pacific Isles or even the Whitsundays again!

To glimpse the magical places we visited and see how we lived like the 'beautiful' people do in the sailing world. You can glance through the thumbnails below and click on any image for commentary and to enlarge it.

SAILING THE WHITSUNDAYS 1JULY - 9JULY 2006

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