Whitsundays

Can you see a pot of gold??

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What better way to experience the Whitsundays than take a two day cruise. Snorkeling and sailing by day, then finding a quiet cove to be rocked to sleep like a baby. We boarded the Whitsunday Blue – a snazzy catamaran made to hold eight passengers and two crew. However we were quite worried as the winds were strong and the skies pretty dark. As we sailed out of the harbor, it began to rain off in the distance but as it turned out, this gave us one of the most stunning rainbows that we have ever seen. It was quite special. After that initial scare with the weather, the remainder of our time was perfect with mostly sunny skies. Our fellow passengers and crew were great fun and we really enjoyed it - that is except for a few short bouts of sea sickness. Although the sun was out, the wind was very strong which gave us quite the rocking as we traveled from cove to cove.

Another shot of the rainbow....

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As for the snorkeling, the wind and storms that had been quite common in recent weeks also made for some murky waters during our snorkeling adventures. The coral and fish were pretty nice even though visibility wasn’t the best. It was also exciting to a few baby sharks right out in the shallow water from Whitehaven Beach. We also saw a sea turtle as we left one of the coves. In all, we snorkeled four separate times and we had to wear wetsuits as jellyfish are prevalent at this time of year. Good thing too as Scott saw two of them on our final mornings snorkel. Sad thing was that our wetsuits got tighter and tighter by the last day which was a result of the fantastic food and snacks during our cruise.

In the end, it reminded us of cruising in the Caribbean back home. Next, we head to our final destination – Port Douglas for more of the Reef…..

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Tidbit of the day:

There are 74 odd islands in the Whitsundays. One of the options is to charter out a sailboat on your own without a qualified skipper. When I asked what qualifications you need, our hostess told us none. She then told us a great story where they heard someone on the radio one day calling in from one of these chartered boats. The person said that they had used both of their anchors and needed to get more. Wow! They just cut off the anchors after using them and somehow thought that there was a delivery service for new anchors!!! Too funny – well, scary actually.