A SKIPPER who was three sheets to the wind has left about 20 tourists stranded on a Queensland island.
The crew of the 75-foot Alexander Stewart was forced to ponder what they should do with the drunken sailor on a recent day trip in the Whitsundays.
The answer was leave him to it and abandon ship.
The crew and its paying passengers took refuge on Whitehaven Beach, on Whitsunday Island, after deciding it wasn't safe to stay aboard.
The allegedly intoxicated skipper, who'd reportedly been drinking before setting off on the trip, promptly set sail, leaving them behind.
He was nabbed by water police as he tried to return the ship to its Airlie Beach base. He's since been charged with drink driving.
"There's no alcohol allowed for these sort of skippers," Sergeant Graeme Pettigrew told ABC radio on Thursday.
The tourists were picked up after about an hour by a different tour company.
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