After gathering together our bits and pieces, we had to check out of the hostel but leave the majority of our stuff in their storage garage – the boat only allows bags without zips for fear of bed-bugs! This also limits the amount of stuff you can take (which turned out to be both a) vital for lack of space in the cabin and b) a learning experience that I can live without some things for a few days!).
This then left us with the whole day to chill out and relax before our trip. I guess that is what most people would have done in the blistering heat – go find some shade or go to the lagoon and have a dip or something, we are 3 women though, which meant only one thing – we had the whole day to shop! Really, I even amazed myself at how much shopping it was possible to do in such a small place! Actually to be fair some of the things we got were pretty important for our trip – such as the pirate bandanas . eye patches and my pirate earrings, so all in all, a very worthwhile shopping experience all round!
Once we were all shopped out and waxed, we finally found time to chill out for all of 2 minutes and even managed to make it to the transfer bus without being totally late! Well done us! Once on the bus, we put on our pirate bandanas and debated the eye patches (eventually deciding that we might look a bit stupid!), then moments later we were standing on the marina being met by a guy off the boat called Damo, who was also wearing a pirate bandana! We were shown onto the boat, to our cabins and then introduced to the crew (all wearing pirate bandanas and impressed that we had them on too!) and given a bit of a briefing. Crew-wise there was: Captain Tony (this was to be his first time as Skipper on this particular ship!), Boson Damo, Deckhand Chris, Chef Kylie, Hostie Ash, ‘Security’ Trev and Mariella (a volunteer from the UK).
Before long we were on our merry way, sailing into the night! Solway Lass is a 127ft traditional Tallship with a very interesting history. It was built in 1902 in the Netherlands as a sail powered coastal trader, originally named 'Stina', working the Baltic and North Seas. In 1914 it was seized as a prize of war by the British and used as a Q-Ship (a decoy which brought submarines to the surface and then bombarding the subs with their cannons) during WW1. In 1924 it was sold to a Scottish firm from the Solway Firth and renamed as 'Solway Lass', where she worked as a coal merchant and produce vessel between Liverpool and Scottish ports. In 1945 she was seized by the Germans and used during the war as an ice breaker. After WW2 she served in the South Pacific, named 'Lord of SavuSavu', as a general cargo vessel but in the 1980s she became superceded by other boats and fell into disrepair. In 1984 she was bought in Fiji by an Australian and he set about having her completely restored over two years, then she was renamed as 'Solway Lass'. In 1988 she led the 1st Fleet re-enactment of Tallships into Sydney Harbour. During the 1990s she sailed Sydney Harbour as a tourist ship and restaurant, then was sold in 1999 and reconfigured to become a cruise ship in the Whitsundays and has been doing so since then! An amazing history indeed, having seen many a battle and living nightmare of war, but for us she is a dreamy way of experiencing the Whitsundays.
After a few hours of being fed mini pies, pumpkin soup and garlic bread, then staring out to sea, enjoying the breeze coming off the water, looking at the oh-so-bright stars and chatting to the crew, Jana and I decided to hit the hay as we really couldn’t keep our eyes open any longer. Nikki stayed up so she could take a shower when we stopped – we had a ration of one 2 minute shower in the evening, but only once the anchor was down. What we hadn’t anticipated was the problem with the sleeping arrangements – we had a double bed with single bunk over it and had decided to take it in turns on the top bunk (one night each). There was, however, no ladder up to the top bunk, which we hadn’t noticed, so when Nikki came to bed, she couldn’t get up onto it! She woke me up for help and we made a platform out of folded up blankets for her to stand on! Then went back to sleep as the boat swayed from side to side!
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