Disappointing cruise
What could have been. That's the question that comes to mind having spent six hours on the most uncomfortable boat I've had the misfortune to be on. The Kalinda may have been great once, but lack of any real attention to her shows in every corner. Rust, rotten timbers, daggy pipes, bare wiring, loose fittings. The biggest downside is that the cushions are all "dead". They look and feel like the originals from the days when it was launched. Surely some respect for the paying clients backsides isn't to much to ask. The deck crew were great though, no complaint there. The food was great as well and plenty of it. Snacks, tea and bikkies, and a nice spread for lunch. However, the skipper needs to have a rethink about what he's doing and why. It's a long way between points of interest and so a little commentary would be nice. Having taken a good hour to reach our first POI, the turtles under the light house, we literally had a drive by and then left. Maybe there are rules about not annoying the animals, but surely a slow about turn and drive by the other way could be done. So that's my first disappointment. An hour on my aching backside through a roughish sea for a 2-minute come-by-chance viewing of a turtle's head. This is not customer satisfaction. Then we headed toward Magnetic Island, or rather out to seaward from the Island, chasing whales. We passed under the lee of several large cargo vessels, a couple of interesting comments about them and the Port of Townsville would be nice, but no, just silence. One of the other customers said they thought that the captain had been on the radio to the ships and they had seen whales, and that we had a radar and would soon find them. Now the thing is, this is not a place where whales play or nurture their young, they too, are just cruising by. Yes we did come along side a few whales for a few minutes, but the weather had turned and the sea was now decidedly rough. All energy was now exerted on just hanging on for dear life as we pitched and rolled and corkscrewed our way through the swell and the building waves. People on board were dropping like flies, spewing their guts out over the side, laying prostrate in their hell as this circus just went on and on. Any sane person wold know that there is a line between exciting adventure and an uncomfortable hell of seasickness and danger. We had crossed over from having a fun cruise to a nightmare. Our skipper seemed possessed on finding a whale, and I began to suspect that the tour was all about him, his boat and his research undertakings, and that we, the paying punters were only there to pay for the fuel to enable him to follow his dream. Finally we headed for one of the sheltered bays of the island and the tension was relived a little. But then at the last moment when it looked like we would all be saved, we did a u-turn and headed straight back out again. Somehow sanity prevailed and we returned to the bay, lunch was served, people started getting some colour back and we all relaxed a little. The assumption was that we would anchor in the bay and have some time to digest or lunch, but no, we kept moving. Fortunately we more or less hot-footed it back to Townsville where I for one was extremely grateful to disembark.