Me, Nat and Lucy picked a day tour that wasn't the cheapest (that was $99) but looked quite good. As always with these things the brochure made the boat look a lot nicer than it actually was, but then I guess that is the same with most touristy things.
We had quite a heavy drinking session on the night before, which made the early start today (7.00am) quite hard. But least we weren't driving and I didn't have to worry or stress about having an accident and the insurance excess.
The boat ride out to the Whitsunday's was quite nice: the weather was ok and there was some very nice islands. Our first stop was a nice walk across one island and to a nice view point (pictures 12-20). The panoramic photos worked really well at this place, even if the weather was a bit cloudy.
The next stop was the Whitsunday beach, which was beautiful as pictures 22+ show. There was even some small fish just off the beach, swimming around without a care in the world. I made the mistake of lying down on the beach after going for a long walk, and as usual with me I ended up falling asleep!! Luckily when I woke up the shuttle boat (rib) was just coming back for it's last run: hopefully they wouldn't have left without me but this is Australia and scarier things have happened!!!
We then proceeded to the top of the Whitsunday's for the reef area where everyone would be diving or snorkelling. The weather was starting to darken and it looked like we would be in for rain.
I do have a PADI diving certificate but I didn't fancy diving this time and instead opted for the snorkel option. Prior to this I had never really snorkelled before and so was a little nervous about it. But as with most things in life, my worries were ill founded: the snorkelling was amazing. There were huge schools of fishes, from the mundane silver type to the brightly coloured and even a huge 'mammoth' one that looked like the offspring of jaws and an elephant!!! It was amazingly fun and relaxing to just gaze under the water at the fish and coral, whilst just floating there in a wet suit. The water wasn't cold enough to need a wet suit, but it was stinger season and you don't want to be getting stung: it hurts like hell!!!!
The weather finally broke about 5 mins after we started snorkelling and rained lightly for a few hours. As we were in the water anyway, a bit more rain wouldn't make any difference but what I did expect is the Josie it generates. When I was staring down at the fish/coral I could her the faint pitter patter of the rain on the surface of the sea: it was quite relaxing and intriguing at the same time.
The weather turned worse on the way home, creating quite large swells and some quite heavy/misty rain. You can see this in Pictures 28+ but especially in the video.
Whitsunday Pictures
Location:Whitsundays, Queensland
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