Day 31 Of The East Coast

Day Thirty One Of The East Coast

Location: Airlie Beach

Sailing in the Whitsunday's & Snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef

I had slept terribly ... a combination of a loud man snoring and excitement.

We were up and away by 7-20. We were slightly late and the lady was waiting for us 'Julie'. She took us over and introduced us to the other passengers. We were very fortunate be sharing the boat with one other family, from Pennsylvania.

We were then introduced to our ski[[er 'Reg' and help 'Albert'. They were originally from the Netherlands and had come over on the $10 boat.

Once our de-brief on the boat was over we drove out of the harbour.

When we were far enough away the sails were put up and we caught the wind. We were sailing!!! Initially it was daunting when the wind took us as it felt like the boat was going to tip!

The sailing was so peaceful and smooth (unless we hit a wave).

Even though it was a perfect sunny day, as we got further out to sea it was a bit cold.

We sailed past N/S Molle, Daydream, Whitsunday and Hamilton Island.

It took us about 2.5 hr to reach Bali Hai Reef (black Island). We had the entire Island to ourselves!

We moored up, got kitted out with wet suits, googles, snorkels and flippers. We were then taken over to the Island in a smaller boat.

Once we had changed we swam out. We instantly hit the reef. It was unlike anything I had ever imagined. So colourful, the brain coral looked so funny! We were both shocked at the amount of fish and variations.

The snorkelling continued to get better the further out we went. I think it also helped the more i got used to the snorkel after engulfing a lot of water.

We even saw Nemo!!!

We would swim with the coral very shallow then it would drop off meters down.

We snorkelled for 2 hours and it was knackering. I was definitely ready for lunch.

We were served prawns, salmon, chicken with salad. It was all very tasty and so fresh.

After lunch we also had a chance to explore the Island.

It was then time to head back to the boat, Marcus decided to swim back to the boat. Albert and Reg threw some food out and a load of huge bat fish swammed Marcus and the boat!