Airlie Beach, Australia, 25 April 2008
When we booked with Peter Pan we really gave them free rein with regards to the excursions and accommodation they booked for us....well almost free rein. The one thing that was non-negotiable was that we wanted to sail on the Solway Lass whilst out in the Whitsunday Islands. Claire's friend Ciara, my sister Kate, and my cousin Una had all been on the Solway Lass and couldn't seem to praise it highly enough. So, having taken the overnight bus from Hervey Bay to Airlie Beach we hung around town for the day before boarding the Solway Lass (henceforth called the SL) at 7pm. We would have 3 nights/3 days onboard. The SL is a beautiful tall ship with tons of history. It is over 100 years old and served, in one capacity or another, in both world wars. It has transported goods around the world and more recently was a floating restaurant in Sydney Harbour before making the journey north up the coast to Airlie Beach and The Whitsunday Islands.
Our room was small in the extreme. Put it this way - I had to go outside to change my mind (boom, boom). Seriously though, the room was almost exactly the same size as the bed with just enough room to stand inside the door. Having acquainted ourselves with the ship and its 6 crew members we retired for an early night as we were still tired from the previous nights bus journey....and that's when our troubles really started. The following morning we overheard a French guy telling the captain that there were bugs in his bed. Almost immediately Claire started noticing little red bites at the top of her arms. That's right folks, the ship was infested with bedbugs (BB's). Eeek!! Our worst nightmare had come true, after 10 months on the road, here we were in 1st world Australia and we were on a boat infested with BB's. When we informed the captain he said he would change our linen and fumigate our room. Meanwhile we took a morning excursion onto Whitsunday Island and enjoyed flicking a frisbee in the shimmering sunshine on its startlingly white sandy beaches. Almost pure silica apparently - great for polishing up your silver and gold (like we would know). 
That afternoon all the sails were raised onboard the SL and we made our way to the north of the Whitsundays in a most eco-friendly manner. We all lounged around on deck soaking up the rays. That evening all was not well however. After a close inspection of our sleeping quarters our "friends" the BB's were again detected. Yarg! We killed those that we could see and Claire covered herself from head to toe (pj's tucked into socks). Next morning and yes, there were more bites. The French guy had even taken to sleeping up on deck in an effort to avoid these little biting critters. This situation really did take the good out of the trip for Claire and the bite marks around her body were really beginning to mount up. That said we spent the day snorkeling at three different sites and conditions were excellent. It was like swimming in a well stocked fish tank. We saw all manner of little fishies, including some not so little. One Maori Wrasse was about 1 meter long by 2 feet high (apologies for mixing my units of length - 2 feet = 60cm). Pretty big when he is right in your face. That night again we killed several BB's before, reluctantly, hopping into bed. We had considered sleeping on deck but people tended to party up there in to the wee hours so not really an option. There was no clean linen left on board and we also discovered that what the crew used to fumigate the rooms with was a can of fly spray...which was clearly ineffective. So after another bad nights sleep Claire had a grand total of....wait for it....150+ bites!! Some people don't react to BB bites (4 out of 5)and thankfully I, Dave, am one of those people, although I think it would have comforted Claire if I was in the same boat (pardon the pun).
Our last day - Alleluia - saw us snorkeling at Langford Island before cruising back into Airlie Beach. 7 people (ourselves included) stopped off at the office in town to complain about the condition of the boat. We knew this wasn't an isolated incident as we had read an entry in the SL guestbook (in Irish) stating that there had been BB's two trips previous to ours. So synopsis: Whitsunday Islands - beautiful, weather - glorious, Solway Lass - bug infested. The ship should be condemned. What we have learnt since is if you are going to the Whitsunday Islands do not book with a Southern Cross boat (of which SL is one), book a Suncrest boat instead. We did ultimately get 100 dollars refund each. Moving on.
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