The day before I arrived in Airlie Beach with the night bus, I have been to the cruise company to confirm my booking. The procedure was done directly on a computer in a pre-filled form. I just had to indicate the amount of alcohol I wanted to buy, I took a goon ( really cheap local wine but not really good), and validated the whole.
On the day of the cruise, I checked out of the backpacker, deposited my big backpack in the local agency of Peter Pan and went to the marina to board the magnificent ship on which we will sail for 3 days. 30 people were part of the cruise, mostly young Europeans include 8 French people and a family from Perth.
The marina
Since the boat is not directly in the Marina, we took a dinghy to reach the boat. In order to adhere to the speed limit and maneuverability, the ship was leaving port marina using its motors.
Once off, the sails were unfurled, the crew made us share the cranks handled by two people at once. The sailboat was gaining momentum really quickly and tilted to 45 °. Pretty impressive at first! After few hours sailing, we stopped in the passage of Hook for the night.
Sails out
While leaving Airlie Beach
Inside of the boat