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Whitsundays Sailing
Oz Magic the Web Site
ABN: 87 482 021 064
P.O. Box 5696 Torquay
Queensland - Australia
Ph: +61 7 4128 9359
Fax: +61 7 4128 9359
Solway Lass Guest Comments
3 Day 3 Night or 6 day 6 Night
Whitsunday Island Cruises
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Tony: Australia
Thanks for a brillant 6 days on the Solway Lass 13-19 September 2003. Special thanks to the Captains and Crew. A trip of a lifetime. Great crew,great food, great sailing,and swimming.Great weather as well. Never a dull moment. See you next year!
Ali: UK
Solway Lass - Guest and then 'Volly' in 2000. the complete highlight of a 4 month Aussie trip...the gang aboard the Solway were just such great fun and always cheerful and up for a laugh! Good to see some of the old crew are still going strong!
Take this trip around the Whitsunday Islands, and make sure you sleep out on deck! the stars are AMAZING it'll be the best thing you have ever done
Jason: Canada
Solway Lass - Hey! I was on the Solway Lass from Dec. 14 to Dec. 17 2004. It was a great tall ship with a fun/friendly crew. I loved snorkelling at Bluepearl Bay (Hayman Island) and sitting outside while we sailed peacefully in the Whitsundays. Simply one of the best parts of my 4 month trip accross Australia! Thanks!
Blog Entry in a travel forum
The past week though has been one of the best weeks of my trip so far as I have been sailing round the Whitsunday Islands in an old tall ship called the Solway Lass.
Last Saturday afternoon I headed down to the docks with a bunch of 30 other tourists to begin a 3 day cruise round the Whitsunday Islands. Our ship, the Solway Lass is 101 years old, a traditional tall ship which has served in many different guises throughout her lifetime including working as an Ice Breaker, a British supply ship during one of the world wars, a German supply ship during the other, a floating restaurant in Sydney harbour, a smuggling ship and a plain old cargo ship. Now she makes 2 voyages a week taking up to 32 tourists on a leisurely cruise around the Whitsundays.
Our captain and his crew looked like a bunch of pirates but turned out to be great hosts. During the trip we spotted loads of turtles, some humpback whales, some dolphins and something I'd never seen before, Tuna hunting flying fish. All of a sudden a load of flying fish would whizz across the water then a few moments later a huge tuna would jump out too to see in which direction the flying fish had gone, then a few seconds later the flying fish would shoot out of the water again followed by the tuna. We saw them make several jumps out of the water before presumably the tuna caught itself some dinner!
The ship made several stops during our three days - some for snorkelling, some to take in the view from a nearby lookout and some to just lie on the beach for a little while. The view of Whitehaven beach from the nearby lookout was quite amazing and the beach itself very special - I've never come across sand quite as fine as that on Whitehaven beach.
The ship's equipped with a motor as apparently it's unable to tack into the wind and can only actually sail when the wind is in the right direction - fortunately for us, the wind was blowing in the right direction on two days out of three - it was such a great experience being on such an old boat being powered through the water by the wind alone - she moves through the water so gracefully and effortlessly.
Just to add a little more entertainment value, one of the other passengers, a german girl called Annette thought it would be funny to pretend that it was her birthday and see if the crew would make a cake for her - the crew found out though that she was lying and although they'd made a cake, they saved that for themselves when they were cleaning the boat and tied Annette up to the mast and gave her a flogging with a cat'o nine tails - it's a shame they didn't have a plank on board as I think they would have made her walk it if they had.
Sadly it had to come to an end and on Tuesday evening I was back on dry land.
Peter Usaman
The sailing trip was absolutely fantastic. We went on a boat called Solway Lass. It was about $100 more expensive ($429 per person) than the majority of the cheaper boats, but I would highly recommend spending the extra money.
The food on the boat was excellent, and the cabins were fine. We went snorkelling in 3 different locations, BluePearl Bay was my favourite - loads of fish and great coral plus there is a massive Moray Wraiss called Elvis who comes out to see the snorkellers!
Along the way we also saw turtles, whales, a shark, and some dolphins as we cruised along.
Whitehaven Beach has the most amazing white sand. The ship brought us there for a few hours. Hill Inlet beside Whitehaven Beach is stunning as well, and you get a great view of it from the nearby lookout.
All in all a fabulous trip. We arrived back into Airlie Beach on Friday evening
Hilary
We just had our 3 day/3 night sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands, on a 100 year old tallship - the Solway Lass.
The Solway Lass was easily the highlight of our trip so far and that is really saying something. The trip started off at 7:30 in the evening, so you sail out of Airlie Beach in the dark. We watched the moon rise at about 9 ish before we moored for the night and had soup and beer.
The crew took us to some of the best parts of the islands: Whitehaven Beach, 6km of the purest sand and beautiful tropical waters; a hike up to a lookout with a fantastic view of the islands; diving and snorkelling; we all got to help hoisting sails. It didn't take much imagination for Jamie to pretend he was Captain Cook discovering the Whitsunday Islands for the first time as we gently sailed past the tropical beaches, lush rainforest etc. At the end of the second day we watched the sun set from a coral beach while drinking champagne, with the Solway Lass in the foreground - beautiful and very romantic.
Neither of us were very keen on scuba diving but it was quite an experience - scary and good, but neither of us want to go on and do a PADI course. It was just like the Blue Planet only you were worrying about breathing, clearing your mask, holding on to the instructor, quietly panicking inside and enjoying it all at the same time. The DVD is much less stressful.
On the last day we got to try snorkelling! Too cool for words. Really easy to do, relaxing and with (we think) better views of the fish cos all the pretty ones are close to the surface. Deeper down they just seem to get bigger and uglier. Amazing colours and varieties though. The crew were feeding the fish bread from the tender (we're getting into this nautical language - that's the little boat that took us ashore) and Jamie was underneath literally swimming through fish not water. Amazing, amazing, amazing.
The crew are a great bunch of people and they helped to make the experience brilliant fun. There is a rope swing, so when we dropped anchor you can jump into the water for a swim, there is netting at the front of the boat which you lie in and sunbathe, or just look down into the water.
The food was fantastic - they really pulled out all the stops; including a roast dinner and the best chocolate cake ever! There were lots of Irish people on board - at least 10 out of 32. The evenings were great fun and again we could watch fish swimming around the boat and even fed them bread.
We saw dolphins, shooting stars, a thunder storm 35km away in Airlie beach and a moon rise. It was the sort of expereince you just don't want to leave behind. We'd be tempted to say that you shouldn't leave Airlie Beach without sailing on the Solway but really, you should come to Australia just for her. Great 3 days. And the nights were spent drinking beer under the stars.
Justin & Leigh
We just returned from a three day three night sailing cruise on the Solway Lass, a 100 year old ship with a crazy history including participating in both world wars. Our expectations were high going in: this was THE part of the trip we were most looking forward to... and we were blown away.
Being rocked to sleep in an ocean of blues and aquamarines as far as the eye can see was incredible... snorkelling among tropical fish, some a meter long, was unforgetable. The food... well, after travelling around for a while, it was nice to be fed at regular intervals.
A rope swing, champagne on a secluded beach to watch the sun go down... such an unbelievable and unforgettable experience. The cherry on the cake: Leigh celebrated her 24th on the boat, and lets just say the captain of the ship "cracked the whip".
Jan Keys
"Brilliant"
Julie Downes
10 out of 10
Amanda Roberts
Wonderful trip, so lovely and laid back and chilled. Beautiful boat, friendly crew.
Scott Wood
December 2008
Hi Gary,
I just wanted to thank you again for your help with my booking. Myself and my friends all had a great time on Solway Lass and at Airlie beach. It was a shame that there was a mistake made at Southern Cross, but thankfully we were still able to get on board and get out on the ocean for a few days. Sleeping under the stars was great, except for some early morning coastal showers, and all the guys agreed in the end that nothing else would have compared. Hope you have a great Christmas, and I’m sure we’ll all be recommending the trip to all. Feel free to pass this on to Rachael at Southern Cross if you please, she was also a great help considering it was a very difficult situation, and one that could have left 6 disappointed travelers... not the case in the end.
Regards
Scott Wood
04/12/07
Excellent trip.
Oliver Cvekus
04/12/07
Great fun. Will definately recommend.
Marc Holland
08/01/08
My trip aboard Solway Lass exceeded my expectations as I knew it would.
Simon Mingo
08/01/08
Awesome, this was the most fantastic trip we have ever been on. The crew are absolutely fantastic. I will recommend it to everyone, Milsey is the best! Definately the cheapest bar.
Donovan & Sarah
23/10/07
Fantastic! Thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Whitsundays.
Louise
01/12/07
