Sailing on the Solway Lass.

The Solway Lass has had a checkered past. Built in Holland in 1902 of German Blue Steel with timber decking and superstructure, she was used as a sail powered coastal trader, originally named 'Stina' and later renamed to 'Adolf'. In 1914 she was seized as a prize of war by the British and used as a Q-Ship with concealed guns (in WWI Q-ships, with their shallow hull were used as decoys to bring submarines to the surface. Once on the surface, the cannons on Solway Lass were brought to bear, often with desired results). After the war she resumed trading between Liverpool and Scottish Ports and almost 10 years later she was sold to a Scottish company from the Solway Firth where she was renamed 'Solway Lass'. In 1935 she was sold on to a Welsh company where she continued as a merchant ship. In 1945 she was seized again, this time falling into German hands where she was used during the war. It was in this phase of her life that she hit a mine and sank, however she was re floated and repaired because the Solway Lass was useful as a sail-powered ice breaker. After WWII, the Solway Lass served in the South Pacific, once again as a cargo vessel until the early 1980's where the faster cargo vessels left her outdated. As a result she fell into disrepair.
In 1983 a Sydney businessman purchased Solway Lass in Fiji and between 1984 and 1985 she was restored in Sydney. In 1988 she took pride of place in the first Fleet re-enactment of Tall Ships from Hobart to Sydney. During the 1990's she was used as a tourist ship in Sydney Harbour until she was purchased by Australian Tall Ship Cruises in 1999. She was rebuilt again, this time with new cabins for overnight charter trips for the Whitsunday's where she remains to date. In 2002 the Solway Lass celebrated her centenary  in the Whitsunday Islands. Now it is our turn to claim a tiny bit of her history.

Crew of the Solway Lass
Captain Ron, Boson Elliot, Brady, Lauren, & cook  Zahailey

The first night on board the Solway Lass, we have a safety brief and introduction to the boat and crew as the sun was setting. The Skipper, Ron then set sail (motor) for Nara Inlet on Hook Island. He knew that there would be a rain storm so he wanted to anchor in a sheltered inlet.






In the meantime, the passengers were getting to know each other and like an echo, the words 'so where are you from?' were repeated time and again. A cooling and welcome  breeze started to pick up as we sailed and a slight swell started to run. We sailed for nearly two hours before reaching our destination and by that time it had started to rain; gently at first and increasing to a reasonable downpour. Dinner was late that evening so we were given a snack of sausage rolls and mini meat pies to keep us going while a home made butternut and ham soup was being prepared in the galley. Just as well, we had the snack because the lovely aroma wafting from the galley would have been nightmarish if the edge had not been taken off our hunger.
Not long after supper was cleared away, people started to drift off to their cabins. Ian and I were shattered after our early start but we knew that it had all been worth it. Michael, one of the passengers told us that he and his family had taken the coach from Port Douglas and it had been a 12 hour stop start journey. Since the distance is 640km, I can't understand why it took so long but I am jolly glad that we took the flight that we did (and not Jetstar at that, it was Quantaslink).

 Wednesday 27th February
I slept very well that night and was reluctant to get up as I saw the pale light of dawn filtering through the light prisms into the cabin. I really wanted to watch the sun come up but tomorrow is another day. Since breakfast was served between 7:00am and 8:00am, I turned over and dozed off again. Ian, too had a good night and was refreshed for a day of adventure. Neither of us were disappointed.
The continental breakfast set us up for the day and I hadn't even finished my coffee before the skipper, Ron was calling 'muster' (gathering) for a briefing. We were all given a 'stinger' suit - similar to a wet suit with long sleeves and legs, for protection from jelly fish stings. Whenever we swam, we had to put on the stinger suit. Next, we were provided with a paper bag with biscuits - to keep our strength up while swimming, and a bottle of water. The destination for the morning was Tongue Bay (where the water was deep enough to anchor) and the stunningly beautiful Whitehaven beach, reportedly the second best beach in the world (I don't know which is the best beach) and a definite 'must see' in the Whitsundays. The crystal clear aqua waters and pristine white silica sand stretch for over 7 kilometres. It is Mother Nature at her best. The sand is made up of at least 80% silica which gives it its unique texture and glaringly white colour and is the only beach of its kind in the world. From Tongue Bay, we walked through the rain forest, across a peninsular to the look-out point which gave us a panoramic view of the beach and later on to the beach.

Whitehaven Beach

Ian noted the lack of 'life' in the sand. Besides the odd crab hole, we didn't notice any life, not even sand flies, however we did see a curlew protecting her eggs which she hid in plain sight above the high tide mark. The sea was very shallow at Whitehaven, so much so that you could walk a fair way off the beach and still only be knee deep in the water. Because of the continental shelf the wave activity is very gentle.
We were given nearly 3 hours to enjoy the surrounding before being called back to the tenders for the Solway Lass.
Back on board once more, we set sail for our next destination, Caves Cove where the snorkeling along the coral reef was spectacular. On route to Caves cove, the passengers were invited to help the crew put the sails up so we were under sail as we made our way past Dumbbell Island, back towards Cook Island and on to Caves Cove, the snorkeling point. Here the passengers were given as much time as they liked to snorkel among  the coral. It was at Caves Cove that I was able to play with a harmless jelly fish as well as  Nimo, the Clown Fish.

The crew fed the fish so we were able to swim amongst schools of beautiful tropical fish while they fed. It was quite surreal when the beautiful fish swam up and peered at me through the goggles. As soon as we all grew tired of our play things, we returned to the ship and set sail for our overnight anchorage which was at Stonehaven.

Humphead Maori Wrasse - nicknamed Elvis

After the sun had set, the masthead light was switched on (to mark our mooring position). It wasn't long before the fish were attracted to the light. We watched, fascinated, as a squadron of 6 or 7 squid used the light as an opportunity for easy fishing themselves. The bright orange stick-like shapes darted through the pale blue fish and we could even see the poor fish being caught in the squid tentacles. Amazing! And all of this in one day!




Thursday 28th February
On the second full sailing day, we weighed anchor and set sail for Luncheon Bay where we were given the opportunity of diving or snorkeling. Unfortunately, the dive boat crew have a very strict policy with regard to medical issues and refused to take me (and 2 others) on the dive. Never mind, we returned to the ship, collected our snorkeling gear and joined our shipmates on the reef. It was magical and when we saw a turtle, I forgot all about my previous disappointment. Absolutely enthralled, I watched as he ate a jellyfish (apparently, the turtle is the jelly fish's only predator). He chomped right through the middle of it as if he were chomping through the head of a lettuce. He surfaced right underneath me and I was able to pat him on his shell, which as one might expect, was full of algae.
One of the shipmates happened to have a video camera with an underwater case and I discovered that he had filmed the turtle. He generously gave me a copy of it.
After lunch, we were off to another inlet, Blue Pearl Bay where we once again donned our gear and went snorkeling. I just never get tired of it! This time I  scrounged some footage of the little clown fish that we saw  as well as the Humphead Maori Wrasse nicknamed Elvis.

By about four in the afternoon we set sail again for our overnight anchorage, 5km inside Nara Bay. As the sun set, the birds all came back to roost and it was then that we discovered the Cockatoos The forest around the island was alive with white cockatoos and their screech could be heard for miles as they settled in for the night. Zahailey, the ships cook, tried to entice the birds onto the ship with food but they weren't interested.

As the night approached, so did the rain. It came down in torrents. Quite refreshing actually but it did drive people below decks earlier than usual - or was it a full day of sun sail and swim.

Friday 1st March
I was up early and had a cuppa on the deck before anyone else began to stir. The sea was a beautiful turquoise blue and as calm as you can imagine. There wasn't a breath of wind. It was a beautiful morning after all the rain of the night before. The cockatoos that were roosting in the nearby trees soon spotted movement on deck and before long they were all perched in the rigging waiting for their breakfast. I am sure that I can never look at a caged cockatoo again without thinking of them in the wild

Cockatoo in the rigging

The clear sky soon changed its mood and became overcast and rain was not far behind. A walk to visit cave paintings had been planned for the morning but the rain delayed our departure. People started to get impatient and so Ron decided that we should still go on the walk. What is the worst that could happen to us? We would get wet; and we did. We were ferried to Hook island via the ship's tender and walked up the pathway to the caves. The Nagaro people had populated the islands long before James Cook sailed the high  seas and they had passed down their secrets from generation to generation. We were simply visitors. Along the walk, a shipmate had spotted ants nests in the trees. The ants had built their nests by pulling leaves into a ball. We were told that the ants were called citrus ants as they tasted like limes and had a natural source of vitamin C.  Before long we all tasted these ants. Yes I did say 'tasted' I can honestly say that I have eaten a live ant that tasted like limes. The things you do on a holiday!!!

All too soon, we were back on board and making our way back to the marina. Our magical trip was coming to an end and I was really sad about that. As we took out leave from our fellow passengers we realised how lucky we had been to have met such a great crowd of people.
This has been such a wonderful sailing trip.