12/02/2012
A sore head and an early start. A bad combination, but the
night before was worth the sore head and the day’s upcoming activity was worth
the early start so there were no grounds to complain. Once again we packed our
rucksacks with enough clothing and toiletries to last us a few days [we are
pros at this now] and walked to the docks. For the next 3 days / 2 nights we
were to be travelling around the Whitsunday Islands via boat; stopping off at
various points to explore some of the islands and also exploring the depths
below, containing the outer Great Barrier Reef. We’ve both been quite excited
about doing for some time now as everyone we’ve met said that they had the best
time and I’ve always wanted to try diving [even though I'm shit-scared of open
water] so this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
But there was one thing worrying us… We have met tons of
people who had either already done this, or were booked to, but none of them
were doing it through the same company as us. Everyone was saying they were
going on the ‘Clipper’ or ‘New Horizons’ which are both slightly larger boats
with a more party atmosphere than ‘Wings 3’, which we were booked onto. It soon
started to dawn on us that we might have done the wrong thing booking onto a
boat described as ‘calm and chilled out’ in case the description only attracted
the elderly couple seeking a romantic weekend break. It didn’t ease our
concerns when we got to the dock and the only other people there were three
members of a Chinese family [mother, father and 18-or-so year old son].
Luckily others started to slowly rock up the meeting point
and were more of a similar age to us so the worries subsided and once everyone
was accounted for, we got onto the boat and set sail.
We were put in a tiny cabin with three friends from Sweden; Fredrik, Josephine and Olle who, luckily, were all friendly as we all had to become fairly intimate rapidly. Everyone was pretty nice actually, I mean, we had a few couples who kept themselves to themselves which was fine but in general we had a good chat with everyone. The crew were also all really cool. Dylan was the skipper, he always had a white face due to his sun-ink [as he called it] and he was really easy to talk to and very laid back. He also did an awesome job taking us around the islands, avoiding all the storms that apparently kicking off around us [we didn’t see anything but blue skies] and taking us to the best snorkel / dive sites! Ian was I guess the ‘first hand’ but mainly his role was dive instructor. He was just really laid back also and really eased us into the diving so we didn’t panic underwater. Finally there was Rachel. She pretty much did everything else; Cooking, cleaning, photo taking, making sure everyone was having fun etc. Awesome girl!
We spent the morning exposing our skin to the sun’s rays
while we travelled to our first drop off site. Once there everyone put on their
wetsuits [which had to be worn whenever entering the water as it’s stinger
season and the waters cater for the top 2 most deadly jellyfish] and the
snorkelers dove into the water for their first glimpse of the underwater world.
I on the other hand, had to stay behind and have a safety lesson and a quick
‘how to dive’ lesson before I got to jump in after everyone else.
The dive was amazing. I can’t lie, there were a couple of
moments when I would look up and not see the surface and my body would kick into
panic mode for a few seconds until I calmed myself down, but in general I
really enjoyed it. We got to explore a few underwater coves and see bigger fish
that lived in the deeper waters. There’s this one fish that is probably the
size of myself [nicknamed Pricilla by the locals] that swam with us for a while
and had the opportunity to stroke her etc for a bit too, which was cool. I
think Scott saw her too while he was snorkelling, the socialite of the Barrier
Reef obviously!
One of the best things about the whole trip was that once we
got back on the boat, there was always a meal waiting for us. After a few
excursions camping and spending all over occasions in hostels, fighting for
kitchen space, it felt like luxury! We didn’t even have to do any washing up!
That night we all filled our glasses with Goon and spread
ourselves out across the deck so we could lie down and look up into the sky. It’s
a total cliché to say ‘I’ve never seen so many stars’ but there’s is nothing
else I can say, because I really haven’t seen that many stars before. The sky
was completely clear except for the millions and millions of white specs
shining down on us. Suddenly a shooting star would shoot past your line of
vision or a satellite would make its way slowly through the night but apart
from that everything and everyone was still; just taking in the moment. Without
wanting to sound too mushy, it was truly a beautiful sight.
We were reluctantly woken up at 6:30am the next morning so
we could grab some breakfast [still eating like kings…] before we hit
Whitehaven Beach. The skipper [Dylan] wanted to make sure we got there early
for low tide, as this was meant to be the best time to capture the scenery. He was a firm believer that this was the
second most beautiful beach in the world, only overtaken by one in Thailand because
you didn’t need to wear a wetsuit to bathe in that one. Obviously a photo doesn’t
really capture the true beauty of the scene, but I’ll let you judge whether Dylan
was right.
I’m glad we got there for low tide as we could really see
the swirling, shallow pools the area is so well known for. There area is also a
top breeding ground for stingrays and reef sharks. The sand on the beach felt
like you were walking on flour, it was so fine and pure white. Apparently NASA
wanted some for some reason [how informative am i?] and were willing to pay
millions for it, but the National Park refused to sell!
Rachel came with us and took photos throughout the day like us attempting to do a pyramid. It was so funny watching the Chinese family trying to be part of it. The dad got on one of the upper levels even though he was quiet a heavy bloke and the mum would just stand at the back and lean over, instead of hoping on. Needless to say, I don’t think we managed to do a full pyramid in the end, by the time the mum moved on everyone was too weak to carry on. Hilarious to watch though.
When the tide started to come back in, we moved on to a
couple more locations so we could do some more snorkelling and get a varied look
at the reef and the fish it homed. My favourite place we visited that afternoon
was called ‘Manta Ray Bay’ because the water was just so clear you could see
everything and really get a good visual of the vibrancy of the coral. The area
also boasted the biggest fish as an added bonus. It’s weird thinking about it
as I can remember snorkelling on holidays with my sister, and anytime even the
tiniest of fish came into view, we would be rushing out the water screaming.
And now here I was, literally jumping into open ocean with fish the size of my
arm circling us. Some were so friendly you could outstretch your arm and they
would graze past and let you pet them. A really cool feeling.
I honestly have so many photos from this place, I want to
post them all – but I’ll try and reframe from doing that. They’ll be on Facebook
when we’ve finished our east-coast travels!
Another sore head, another early start. It was Valentine’s
Day and Dylan wanted to give us one other opportunity to have a date with the
fishes before we set sail for home. I’ve got to admit, the last thing I felt
like doing that morning was to go for a swim, but we put on our wetsuits and
dived in to be greeted by lots of turtles! A truly amazing way to start any
day! They are so graceful and uncaring that you’re swimming with them [which we
later found out was because they get stoned after eating the jellyfish]. They
were by far, my favourite Valentine’s Day date.
Another amazing couple of days. Having some new experiences
and meeting to fab new people! I feel I need to give a quick shout-out to Miles
from Cornwall, Mama Africa and Lauren from Jersey [not the American state] who
provided much laughs along the way – wouldn’t have been the same without you!
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