Day 136 - Whitsunday Sailing

Wow... had a great time. For two days I sailed on the Atlantic Clipper around the Whitsunday Islands. The first day we boarded the boat at lunchtime and sailed to Whitehaven beach. Below are the pictures of the beach I took from the lookout point; the sand was white and the sea was warm and shallow, with stingrays skimming across the bay.



After Whitehaven beach we sailed to a sheltered cove and dropped anchor for the night. The chef cooked fresh fish with veg and mashed potato (it was delicious) and we took our plates up onto the deck and ate and drank as the sun set behind the sea. After it got dark some dolphins came to play around the boat and the whole cove was illuminated by the full moon.

The next day we got up early and went snorkelling in the reef. It was AMAZING. The reef was fantastic (particularly like the ones that looked like brains), something straight out of Finding Nemo. There were thousands of fish of every colour and shape, turtles too. I had bought an underwater camera and used up all of my film.

Afterward we sailed to the next location - apparently the beast place to snorkel/dive and the place where we would be spending the next night. The weather was sunny and we stopped briefly to have some jumps off of the boat (aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghsplash).



Dropped anchor in a different cove, then did the same routine as the day before; big dinner, early snorkelling the next day. If possible the reef was even more amazing (I really wished I hadn't used up all my film the day before). One of the guides brought the leftover bread from breakfast and threw it in after us - the fish just went bonkers and there was hundreds of them swimming round us like loonies. It's quite hard to describe just how cool it was, you had to be there...

We got back to the Marina at lunchtime and all got off hot, tired and happy. Great trip, so glad I forked out. Tomorrow I leave Airlie Beach (finally) to head north for Cairns.