Whitsunday Islands and The Great Barrier Reef
9 October – 12 October
We checked out of the hostel on day three and made our way to the Able Point Marina where we found our new home for the next three nights, a 30 metre sailing racer called Spank Me. Most people who come to the Whitsundays take some sort of a trip and there are over 60 vessels to choose from, our was one of six that make it to the outer reef (many people choose to visit the reef from Cairns as it’s closer). We were introduced the the four-man crew who encouraged us to make small talk with the other 21 passengers whilst a few technical issues with the boat were sorted – it worked out quite nicely as our maiden sail was into the sunset, even the crew were excited by this. We arrived at our sleeping spot in Hook Passage and after a bit of dinner and a few cold ones we bedded into our (very cosy) beds.
We had been warned by the crew to expect early starts, maybe it was my own fault for not wearing my earplugs but at 5.15am I heard the crew rummaging around and, along with a few others, I got out of bed to see the sun rise and assist the crew in raising the main and head sails, an exhausting task. The reason for the early start was that the tide was going out and our fist stop was Whitsunday Island for a visit to the picturesque Whitehaven Beach, had we left much later the boat wouldn’t have been able to get its 15 foot keel through the surrounding reef. We arrived at Whitehaven Beach at 7.00am, this was perfect as it is a very busy beach with many day trips coming here but as we arrived before most of these day trips even left Airlie we had the entire beach to ourselves, there would have been over 200 people here after lunch.
Shawny came to pick us up in the tender at around 10.00am and we set sail once more for Luncheon Bay on a fringing reef. I’d always wanted to dive on the main reef but as Pezza has ear issues she is unable to do this, we therefore intended to take a snorkeling trip to the reef. Fortunately this boat catered for both snorkelers and divers meaning that I could dive without leaving Pezza stranded on land or a different trip. We were given our briefings and those of us who are not certified divers were told we would need to take a skills dive before we got to the reef and that would happen at Luncheon Bay as there’s an area off the beach shallow enough to do this and also enough coral to keep the snorkelers and certified divers happy for the afternoon. We dived and snorkeled until the sun went down and were all up for a much earlier night – having a lie in when sailing is not an option when the boat is tilted 30 degrees making you roll out of bed.
With my earplugs firmly in it wasn’t until the Skipper, Gary, started the engines that I woke up. A glance of my watch told me the true horror that it was earlier than the day before, 5.05am. It makes perfect sense when sailing to make the most of daylight and as the sun made its appearance over the horizon we were attacking the grinders and raising the sail. Today was a big day, Great Barrier Reef day. It was touch and go whether we would get to the reef as conditions were very choppy but Gary made the call to stick to the plan as the wind was forecast to not get any stronger. He was right and the wind that was present did a fantastic job of pushing us to Bait Reef in just an hour and a half. Breakfast was served and we had from 8.00am until 3.00pm to explore one of the seven natural wonders of the world.
Our Dive Master for the trip was Rob who was always happiest when in the water. On previous dives (including the day before) I have always suffered with pain in my ear and have been reluctant to go further than around 5 metres deep, today was a choice of a 12 metre dive or snorkelling. Rob sorted out my ear problem out easily and within no time at all we were kneeling on the sea bed 12 metres below the surface. We were underwater for 40 minutes and in that time saw the most fantastic and bold coloured coral and several reef sharks. My personal favourite was the ‘daddy’ of Bait Reef, Elvis, the biggest fish I have ever come across who is resident there with his three wives. He is very intrigued by the divers and swam up to every one and looked them square in the eye.
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From originally planning on one dive I was gagging for more and there was time for Rob to take me on my third dive of the trip, this time we explored much more of the coral, home to thousands of species of fish of all colours and sizes – very nice to tick off number 1 from The List.
We sailed once more to our sleep spot for the night which was an ideal place to see the sun go down. The crew dumped us on a spit of sand just off the coast of the exclusive Hayman Island and the whole boat disembarked and messed around on the sand with a few beers before we commenced the arduous task of ensuring the boat had no more alcohol on it for the morning.
By the time we arrived back at Abel Point we were exhausted but beaming from one of the most phenomenal trips possible.
I’ve cut the pictures down to a manageable slideshow, as ever on my Photo Page.
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Dude,
I was so jealous reading this – maybe we swap places next year???
xxx
Wow, very cool! I definitely want to do a trip like this soon… I’ve basically been in Sydney since I got to Australia but as soon as I get a bit more $$$ I will travel around a bit
@Stuoobs – haha, maybe!
@Brooke – it’s very worthwhile. The East Coast can get a bit familiar so a few days on a boat is very welcome.