The Whitsundays
We went our a two day, two night cruise around the Whitsundays. There were 15 of us aboard, plus two members of crew. Most of the travellers were in a similar position to us, travelling along the East Coast, although most were going south from Cairns to Sydney, so we had a lot in common to talk about.
We went snorkelling in three different areas during our trip, which was amazing. It was my first sight of any reef, so I particularly loved it. There were all sorts of different corals, different shapes and colours. I saw corals like big brains, corals like large strawberries, corals like large corn on the cobs, corals like large sponge fingers, corals like big mushrooms, corals that flickered in the water, bright blue corals, browns, yellows, reds and greens. And then there were the fish. There were small silver fish which shimmered in the sunshine filtering through the water which always swam in huge shoals, large multi-coloured fish, black fish which hid in between the corals. All the fish were inquisitive and seemed to stare in bewilderment at the large unusual shaped ‘fish’ with its odd swimming style, rubbery skin (a stinger suit to protect against the jellyfish), beady eyes (goggles) and tube-shaped mouth. The people who had been to Cairns or Port Douglas already said that the snorkelling in the Whitsundays was relatively disappointing, and that the views were far better farther north, which is great as I’m now really looking forward to seeing some of the real Great Barrier Reef in a few days!
We did some proper sailing too - I volunteered to pull a few ropes and winch a few other ropes. We mainly put up the mainsail and headsail and had one attempt at tacking on each voyage.
We went to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island, which is apparently number six on the list of best beaches in Australia. The sands were white and the beach was uninhabited when we arrived there. However, we couldn’t swim without putting on our stinger suits again, and there were a few scary-looking hornets flying around the beach. Also, it didn’t take too long for other people to arrive, flying in by sea plane. So I sat down for a while reading a book, went for a walk, threw a Frisbee a few times, and then that exhausted my excitement of that particular beach.
On our next stop, we went for a long walk on the island, 650m each way. It was a nice walk through a rainforest-like area to a lookout point. From there we had a picturesque view across towards Whitehaven beach.
The cabins on the boat were pretty small. Our room was right at the front of the boat, next to the toilets. We had occasional people coming through during the night, and the flush was the noisiest you would have heard. It had to be flushed for at least 15 seconds to allow all the water to drain away. There were five of us in that room in a small area. On the first night, there was torrential rain for most of the night, so we had to shut the hatches to the top deck, which meant we were all boiling hot. The second night was slightly better, we were all exhausted from the first night, and many people decided to take the option of having a few glasses of wine to ensure a good night’s sleep.
We had a lot of time to chat to the other people on the boat, and they were all very nice. There were two English couples, two other English girls, one of whom had gone to St Helen’s school in Abingdon, a lovely French couple who lived in Adelaide, three Germans and two Canadians.
As mentioned above, it rained on the first night we were there, but also it rained on the second night, and didn’t stop the following morning. We had no option but to go straight back to the marina at Airlie beach. All of us were dressed in the fetching yellow raincoats they had on board, but all of us we still absolutely soaking wet.
All in all, it was a great fun trip!
We went snorkelling in three different areas during our trip, which was amazing. It was my first sight of any reef, so I particularly loved it. There were all sorts of different corals, different shapes and colours. I saw corals like big brains, corals like large strawberries, corals like large corn on the cobs, corals like large sponge fingers, corals like big mushrooms, corals that flickered in the water, bright blue corals, browns, yellows, reds and greens. And then there were the fish. There were small silver fish which shimmered in the sunshine filtering through the water which always swam in huge shoals, large multi-coloured fish, black fish which hid in between the corals. All the fish were inquisitive and seemed to stare in bewilderment at the large unusual shaped ‘fish’ with its odd swimming style, rubbery skin (a stinger suit to protect against the jellyfish), beady eyes (goggles) and tube-shaped mouth. The people who had been to Cairns or Port Douglas already said that the snorkelling in the Whitsundays was relatively disappointing, and that the views were far better farther north, which is great as I’m now really looking forward to seeing some of the real Great Barrier Reef in a few days!
We did some proper sailing too - I volunteered to pull a few ropes and winch a few other ropes. We mainly put up the mainsail and headsail and had one attempt at tacking on each voyage.
We went to Whitehaven beach on Whitsunday Island, which is apparently number six on the list of best beaches in Australia. The sands were white and the beach was uninhabited when we arrived there. However, we couldn’t swim without putting on our stinger suits again, and there were a few scary-looking hornets flying around the beach. Also, it didn’t take too long for other people to arrive, flying in by sea plane. So I sat down for a while reading a book, went for a walk, threw a Frisbee a few times, and then that exhausted my excitement of that particular beach.
On our next stop, we went for a long walk on the island, 650m each way. It was a nice walk through a rainforest-like area to a lookout point. From there we had a picturesque view across towards Whitehaven beach.
The cabins on the boat were pretty small. Our room was right at the front of the boat, next to the toilets. We had occasional people coming through during the night, and the flush was the noisiest you would have heard. It had to be flushed for at least 15 seconds to allow all the water to drain away. There were five of us in that room in a small area. On the first night, there was torrential rain for most of the night, so we had to shut the hatches to the top deck, which meant we were all boiling hot. The second night was slightly better, we were all exhausted from the first night, and many people decided to take the option of having a few glasses of wine to ensure a good night’s sleep.
We had a lot of time to chat to the other people on the boat, and they were all very nice. There were two English couples, two other English girls, one of whom had gone to St Helen’s school in Abingdon, a lovely French couple who lived in Adelaide, three Germans and two Canadians.
As mentioned above, it rained on the first night we were there, but also it rained on the second night, and didn’t stop the following morning. We had no option but to go straight back to the marina at Airlie beach. All of us were dressed in the fetching yellow raincoats they had on board, but all of us we still absolutely soaking wet.
All in all, it was a great fun trip!
posted by Gaz man at 12:50 am
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