The Whitsundays
Pictures on board the racing yacht that would take us around the Whitsunday Islands.
We arrived in Airlie Beach around 9 o'clock in the morning after another pretty uncomfortable night on the bus. We left our bags in the hostel we'd booked a couple of days later and within a few hours we were on on the deck on the yacht for our next tour - a pretty quick turnaround time from tour to tour!
Th Whitsundays are a beautiful group of island with perfect white sand beaches, amazing snorkeling spots and lovely views. The only way of getting round them for a proper look was on a boat. We paid a bit extra to upgrade on to a nicer boat with only 7 other people and 2 crew. The boat we were on was a former a racing yacht and was lovely. Our room was little more than a cupboard on its side, but was our own space all the same - I cant imagine how they fit 30 odd people on the other boats. The weather wasn't all that great either. Further north there was in fact a cyclone, but out of the last few week we had the best weather. The skipper was a big bear of a man, was so nice and knew so much about the area.
So we set off around 2 in the afternoon and headed towards a bay where we were stopping the night. Whilst the other islands gave us some shelter, the wind wasn't too bad and it was nice sitting on deck taking in the scenery. After we had passed the islands it got a lot more windy, and i now think purposely, the skipper got us to sit on one side of the boat where it seemed to be tipping dangerously, and we managed to get soaked by any passing wave! After about 3 hour sail we dropped anchor. The people we were sharing the boat with were a German family and 2 girls we had random shared a dorm with in Melbourne. That night we were up pretty late getting to know everyone and playing cards, and the deck hand made us some dinner of salads and cold meats. Between Fraser Island and the Whitsundays, we seriously haven't eaten this well in ages, although we have really got in to porridge in the morning!
The next day we made our way round three bays and snorkeled in all of them. It was so beautiful. Added to this we had to wear stinger suits to protect us from the often deadly jellyfish during this time of year. They were pretty special, clingy Lycra body suits - Elliotts was bright purple - nice! There were so many fish and so many colours. The first bay was our first taster. There was just massive plains of coral of different colours, and the fish just swam around you totally unconcerned. The second bay contained the bigger fish - my favourite were the foot and a half parrot fish which have pretty much every colour of the rainbow. The third site, called manta ray bay, was by far the best. Before we had got anywhere there were the biggest batfish I've seen just coming up to the boat. We swam about and the deck hand threw in loads of bread around us and the amount of fish swimming about you was ridiculous. It was a bit scary a times, so you just look up, take a breather, then look down again, and they were absolutely everywhere! We saw plenty of fish including nemos and even some blue spotted rays. Amazing!
That afternoon we were supposed to go to a beautiful white sandy beach, but it started pouring and apparently to get there the wind was so strong that it was just too dangerous. Instead we dropped anchor at the next night we were to be staying that night. We were all pretty tired that night from the swimming so it was a relatively early night, which was good for the early morning starts. The next morning we woke up and sailed back to the dock. We had such a brilliant time even though the weather wasn't the best.
We were supposed to be camping that night at a hostel, but the campsite had literally been washed away so we opted for a dorm room. We were supposed to be getting bus out on to Cairns the next morning, but because of the cyclone the buses were going to Townsville, 3 hours South of Cairns as the roads were closed due to flooding. We really wanted to get our of Airlie of beach , firstly to have more time to find diving on the Great Barrier reef, and also because the cyclone was hitting here the day after. To be honest the wind was really high as we got the tail end of the cyclone - the next morning there were branches everywhere and a few trees uprooted - not unlike what Ive heard's been going on in England! We got on the bus and found ourselves in Townsville with no bus out for 4 days, which meant we wouldn't be able to do much diving. Quickly we rang the train, but the train lines were closed, and then just out of chance we rang Greyhound, the alternative bus company - and unbelievably they had seats, leaving in only half an hours time. So we had to run out of the station we were at, grab a taxi to run across town, and jump on the next bus. Brilliant!! How utterly lucky! That night we were in the very hot and sticky city of Cairnes. x
Th Whitsundays are a beautiful group of island with perfect white sand beaches, amazing snorkeling spots and lovely views. The only way of getting round them for a proper look was on a boat. We paid a bit extra to upgrade on to a nicer boat with only 7 other people and 2 crew. The boat we were on was a former a racing yacht and was lovely. Our room was little more than a cupboard on its side, but was our own space all the same - I cant imagine how they fit 30 odd people on the other boats. The weather wasn't all that great either. Further north there was in fact a cyclone, but out of the last few week we had the best weather. The skipper was a big bear of a man, was so nice and knew so much about the area.
So we set off around 2 in the afternoon and headed towards a bay where we were stopping the night. Whilst the other islands gave us some shelter, the wind wasn't too bad and it was nice sitting on deck taking in the scenery. After we had passed the islands it got a lot more windy, and i now think purposely, the skipper got us to sit on one side of the boat where it seemed to be tipping dangerously, and we managed to get soaked by any passing wave! After about 3 hour sail we dropped anchor. The people we were sharing the boat with were a German family and 2 girls we had random shared a dorm with in Melbourne. That night we were up pretty late getting to know everyone and playing cards, and the deck hand made us some dinner of salads and cold meats. Between Fraser Island and the Whitsundays, we seriously haven't eaten this well in ages, although we have really got in to porridge in the morning!
The next day we made our way round three bays and snorkeled in all of them. It was so beautiful. Added to this we had to wear stinger suits to protect us from the often deadly jellyfish during this time of year. They were pretty special, clingy Lycra body suits - Elliotts was bright purple - nice! There were so many fish and so many colours. The first bay was our first taster. There was just massive plains of coral of different colours, and the fish just swam around you totally unconcerned. The second bay contained the bigger fish - my favourite were the foot and a half parrot fish which have pretty much every colour of the rainbow. The third site, called manta ray bay, was by far the best. Before we had got anywhere there were the biggest batfish I've seen just coming up to the boat. We swam about and the deck hand threw in loads of bread around us and the amount of fish swimming about you was ridiculous. It was a bit scary a times, so you just look up, take a breather, then look down again, and they were absolutely everywhere! We saw plenty of fish including nemos and even some blue spotted rays. Amazing!
That afternoon we were supposed to go to a beautiful white sandy beach, but it started pouring and apparently to get there the wind was so strong that it was just too dangerous. Instead we dropped anchor at the next night we were to be staying that night. We were all pretty tired that night from the swimming so it was a relatively early night, which was good for the early morning starts. The next morning we woke up and sailed back to the dock. We had such a brilliant time even though the weather wasn't the best.
We were supposed to be camping that night at a hostel, but the campsite had literally been washed away so we opted for a dorm room. We were supposed to be getting bus out on to Cairns the next morning, but because of the cyclone the buses were going to Townsville, 3 hours South of Cairns as the roads were closed due to flooding. We really wanted to get our of Airlie of beach , firstly to have more time to find diving on the Great Barrier reef, and also because the cyclone was hitting here the day after. To be honest the wind was really high as we got the tail end of the cyclone - the next morning there were branches everywhere and a few trees uprooted - not unlike what Ive heard's been going on in England! We got on the bus and found ourselves in Townsville with no bus out for 4 days, which meant we wouldn't be able to do much diving. Quickly we rang the train, but the train lines were closed, and then just out of chance we rang Greyhound, the alternative bus company - and unbelievably they had seats, leaving in only half an hours time. So we had to run out of the station we were at, grab a taxi to run across town, and jump on the next bus. Brilliant!! How utterly lucky! That night we were in the very hot and sticky city of Cairnes. x
posted by Simone @ 2/05/2007 08:28:00 AM
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