Zelma’s Trip

After a little while two of the cew arrived to take down our names and get us to sign a disclaimer lest we lose any limbs or destroy any vital organs, or they did, or the boat did, or something. We wandered to the boat and I chatted to two Emmas, one of whom turned out to be an absolute diamond who I spent much of the trip with. We got onboard and I was pleasantly surprised with both the size of the boat and the amenities. I was put in a room with Liam from Bristol and Thomas from Germany both of whom quickly became part of the group with Emma and I. This leaves just one of the fabulous five and fabulous is so the perfect prefix for Fabian, perhaps the coolest German guy in the World.

Once everyone was onboard and we had been introduced to the crew, our rooms and each other we set off out to the Whitsunday Islands for our docking point for the night. I’m not sure if it was down to the fact that the majority of the guests onboard were Irish, but the first night was a big one. The crew turned out to be brilliant and super friendly (especially with certain guests who shall remain nameless) and they started bonding games like the passing the snorkels and oranges along the line and the pick up the goon carton with your teeth games. Well, understandably, after all the above everyone livened up and got well and truly into it.

The following morning we were woken early and got smaller boats out to Whitehaven beach. When we got to shore we walked to a viewpoint which had an awesome view down over the beach and the island. On the beach itself we donned out stinger suits and went for a swim. The water was absolutely Baltic but was the best thing to sober you up/ clear a hangover and boy did I need it that morning. Fabian was on particularly good form and spent a great deal of time doing comedy things like taking insane numbers of photos of himself in comedy poses and being buried in sand. After a very scrappy game of football and an equally unimpressive game of cricket we headed back to the pick-up boats. Once back onboard food was well and truly welcome and, it has to be said, the food throughout was excellent. We set sail again and headed to another point where we went snorkelling. The snorkelling was really good with some amazing corals and some cool fish. One particular coral was a completely indescribeable blue.

Back onboard a hot shower was great as I had managed to get seriously cold to the extent that I had pins and needles in my hands. After dinner the games began again, well actually there weren’t "organised games" but several parties played drinking games and it was goon o’clock once more.

On the final morning onboard we were, again, woken early and took boats out to another snorkeling spot. Although this was supposed to be better than the place we snorkelled the previous day I actually preferred the first. There was more amazing coral though and there was also the great thing where the coral suddenly drops away so that you feel like you’re suddenly very high up.

After the snorkelling we headed back to Airlie and, somewhat begrudgingly, said goodbye to the crew and the boat before heading back to our respective hostels.  As I walked off of the boat I realised, much to my disgust, that I had sea legs.  I have never had this pre Ko Tao and I seriously hate it.  I checked into a dorm room in "Magnums" where one of Emma’s friends (Nadine) was staying, along with Katherine from England, two Australian guys (Manny and Andrew/ Dome) and Peter, an American guy traveling with the two Australians. Actually practically the whole boat seemed to be staying in some part of Magnums that night. I had a short nap and then headed out with the gang, after some pre-night goon, to meet the rest of the boat and the crew. We started in the ‘Phoenix’ bar before all the standard others along the strip. It was a great night with comedy happenings like being thrown over J-Jay from the crew’s back for putting ice down his shirt and the like.  I spent a little while talking to the Captain, who was super cool, and he suggested my sea legs would go if I drank rum as he did.  Did I mention he was wise as well as cool?  Well I did drink rum and it did work so now I know!  The only harsh thing, other than Thomas leaving on a bus of course, was Fabian apparently suffering a seriously evil fall and hurting his back. When I say apparently I was outside at the time smoking one of far too many cigarettes of the night.