Here comes the sun again

The Whitsunday Islands and the Great Barrier Reef - February 15th-19th, 2009

Sleeping on deck really has it's advantages. After our second night we were awoken by another beautiful sunrise which helped to nurse a slight hangover.

The day started out with another, "(Fleetwood) Mac Morning" as they were eventually dubbed and we enjoyed yet another sunny beginning. We started sailing for Whitehaven beach, the most photographed beach in the world where we trekked up a hiking trail to the lookout point. The lookout point provided an amazing view of Whitehavenbeach, unfortunately the tide was high so it was almost entirely covered, regardless it was great.

The moment took a hilarious turn when Lisa, our new Canadian friend made her way to the top of the lookout point looking for Shaun, a crew member from the boat. The following conversation followed loud enough for the 70 or so people at the lookout point to enjoy:

Lisa: Shaun I have a problem

Shaun: What's wrong?!

Lisa: I have to go number two

Shaun: Uhhh...go back to the boat then

Lisa: I can't, it's coming now

Shaun: I'm not sure what you want me to do
Lisa: I don't know in Canada we have out houses and shit...

Lisa made friends with the forest.

We got to spend a couple hours on Betty's Beach which was adjacent to Whitehaven. Thankfully we dodged the rain once again as the skies opened up just minutes before we left the beach.

After returning to the boat we sailed around to another island, the site of our second dive. The second dive was just as amazing as the first. We spent 50 minutes diving at depth's around 15 metres and saw a ton of fish and other aquatic life. Shaun took us through another cavern but this time it was about half the size, needless to say claustrophobia set in and I held my regulator in my mouth to ensure that it didn't snag and get ripped out.

We finished our dive and headed back to the boat for lunch. Due to the lack of wind on the trip the amount of actual sailing was limited so our skipper Gary thought he would make it up to us by taking us to a resort for the afternoon. We spent the afternoon/early evening relaxing poolside and enjoying the swim up bar. It was an awesome afternoon and by the time everyone was back on the boat more than a few people were in the bag. The night consisted of more drinking, a great dinner and another fellow Canadian managing to fall into the giant cooler, nearly fall off the ship and finally dropping her iPod into the ocean. Needless to say an incredible evening for her...

Almost everyone slept on the deck on our final night which was great as there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I once again got up at the crack of dawn and enjoyed a beautiful morning.

We spent the morning and early afternoon sailing around the islands before finally heading back to Airlie Beach. The group was heading out for drinks later in the day but unfortunately school was calling us back in Sydney. We said goodbye to Spank Me!, the crew and our new friends and headed to Hervey Bay, the halfway point in our trek back to Brisbane. The weather was great, the people were great and the experience was amazing. If you are planning on heading to Australia do not leave the Whitsunday's off your list of things to do!