Whitsundays Cruise

On Sunday we made our way to Airlie Beach, the departure point of our Whitsundays cruise. Our hostel was right on the waterfront and thankfully had air conditioning because it was steaming! Found a happy hour at a mexican restaurant and drank sangria and beer which made for an early night. On Monday we relaxed at the "lagoon" (really just a nice public swimming pool) and prepared for our cruise by purchasing 30 beers (for a 3 night cruise). Our boat was called Spank Me and we almost didn't even look to book it just because of the name. There were about 25 people on the boat including 4 crew.



We set sail around 3pm and chatted it up with our fellow passengers and tapped into our beer. Part of sailing on a racing boat was that everyone had to help out with some of the tasks like raising the sails. We pitched in right away and gained a new appreciation for what the pros must have to do. The first night was spent at Hook Island Passage where we admired the numerous stars. We had the best bunk on the boat as it was a top bunk underneath a sunroof. The weather was great, so we kept the sunroof open which helped with the heat.



On Tuesday morning we cruised to Tongue Bay where we took a tender to Whitsunday Island and hiked to Whitehaven Beach where the sand is 98% silica. Only NASA can take the sand off the island which is used for their lenses. It was overcast, but still beautiful. We didn't get in the water for fear of the box jellyfish and not wanting to sport our stinger suits quite yet.



Back at the boat, we saw many sea turtles in the water. Next we were off to Luncheon Bay for snorkeling and our first dive. Snorkeling was great and we saw lots of fish. The visibility was poor when we were diving. Evan did a short intro dive with the instructor, but wasn't blown away because of the visibility and the shortness of the dive. That evening we sailed to Stonehaven where the captain tried to trick everyone into thinking that a resort off in the distance was the USS Enterprise. We called him on his BS immediately, but we think a few of the other passengers fell for it.

Wednesday morning was tough. We had quite a few beers the evening before and the seas were quite rough as we headed out to the Great Barrier Reef. People were rolling off of their beds because of the waves, so sleep was impossible. We finally arrived at Baite Reef. Michelle wasn't feeling so well, so she skipped the first dive for the certified divers. Evan enjoyed snorkeling in the morning. After lunch, we were able to dive together and it was amazing! Michelle has been diving before, so she was able to enjoy the beautiful corals, fish, etc. Evan was blown away by the opportunity to enter into a world that you could otherwise never see. Snorkeling is always great, but being able to be all the way under and for a long period of time is a sensation that is really hard to top. We snorkeled in the afternoon over a shallow reef and saw some squid, giant clams and lots more fish. Cruised that evening back to Blue Pearl Bay. Here's us in our stinger suits:



Evan snorkeled some more Thursday morning, but Michelle was quite content as she was finally clean after taking a shower. We sailed back to Airlie Beach and had some drinks with some folks that we had befriended on the trip.



Friday was a travel day back to Brisbane where we relaxed in our hotel that evening. Although we only saw the East coast of Australia, we felt like we were able to see a lot of great sights. We will no doubt be back as a country that large has quite a lot to offer!