Once again, this website believes that the Whitsundays does not exist and the only place in Oz is Mission beach! So we apologise for the wrong blog name, this is fro the Whitsundays!!

1st September 2009 - HAPPY 22ND BIRTHDAY SIMON! YAAAAY!!!

We pent the beginning of the day just relaxing by the lagoon and being bitten alive by sand flies- my count got up to 27 bites before i got annoyed and gave up! - joined by Carol and Chris and went shopping so Simon could get some new clothes with the money his parents had given him. By 4pm we had left Airlie and headed for the marina, stopping at coles to buy drinks and a birthday cake for the boat.

We reached Abel Point marina as teh sun was setting and boarded our boat at about 7.30pm. We took our stuff to our room (upgraded to the queens suite as it was Simon's birthday!) whcih seemes sooo small untill we saw the room that the other 3 had to share, there was only floor space for one person to stand at a time!

After very yummy snacks - cheese and pizza crackers with veggies and dip - we had a a few drinks and I helped to raise the main sail. No one else volunteered to help and afterwards I knew why, it was soo hard! We sailed through the night to a place on the whitsundays called Dumbell Island. It was quite eerie when we anchored as it was pitch black other than the moonlight and you could just see all these islands surrounding us. Sleeping on a boat for the first time was very strange - we got rocked to sleep like a baby!

2nd September

Woke up after a very good sleep to find it was raining :( We'd atarted moving at 5am so that by the time we woke up we were already at Whitehaven beach. We held of getting off teh boat untill the rain stopped and then got into the little dingy to get to the beach. The sand is made up of 98% silicone and was sooooo soft! It really was like walking on flour and it was just as white, it was beautiful and the colour of the water was nicer than Phi Phi! The onlt thing that ruined it was the dark grey skies! It very soon started to rain which was such a shame but it didnt last very long. we went in the sea for a little but but we had to wear stinger suits and it was so cold that we werent in there for long. So we spent most of the time exploring the beach getting bitten by lots of sand flies and sunbathing a little bit.

From Whitehaven we sailed to Luncheon Bay to do some snorkelling. The reef there was basolutely stunning and we saw so many fish. We also saw a ginormous fish called a 'maori wrasse' and it was huge!! Meanwhile, the guys on the crew thought it would be really funny to sneek up on us while we were all snorkelling and throw bread in the water! The fish went crazy and they were swimming right up to up and splashing the fins on our faces it was so horrible! We had some spare time after snorkelling to the boys were jumping off the boats, sumersaulting and flipping of the sides. I plucked up the courage to do a couple of simple non daring bombs but Simon and Dan went all out with their jumps, very impressive!

We then sailed on for w few hours up to Bait reef on the Great Barrier reef where we anchored for the night. The sea was a bit rough but luckily we all managed to keep up the yummy mexican we had for dinner. We spent most of the evening chatting to Eric, one of the crew, and his dad who had joined him for a holiday. He was such a funny little man and had some brilliant stories to tell. Had quite and early nigth tonight, a very tiring day!

3rd September

We sailed from Bait reef to Hook reef and Simon got to do his first dive. He went down to a very deep 23m this time, the deepest he's been. He saw so much on this dive. there was sharks, turtles and some amazingly coloured reef. His breathing's got better too and hes was down there for around half an hour and was really pleased with how it went, it was really cold though! He also got to set all his own geat up which looked so difficult to me but he knew exactly whay he was doing. There was no prescription goggles this time so I stuck to snorkelling but still got to see so much, even stroke a turtle which was brilliant! I also apparently saw a reef shark but with out glasses I couldnt see a thing! Apparently it swam right next to me but I couldn't see it! The sea was really rough and it was soo tiring - just to stay in the same place you had to really swim hard.

After Simon and the other divers came back we headed back to Bait reef. During the journey one fo the crew set up a fishing rod on the back of the boat. After a short wait he got a bite and reeled in a huge fish. It took a real effort but he managed to reel it in and get it on the boat. He then killed,gutted and skinned it ready for our dinner - it was delicious! A few minutes after someone spotted a whale and we all headed to the front of the boat just in time to see a humpback whale swim rigth under the boat. It was awesome to see it as we'd all been on the look out for whales and to see it so close up was stunning.

After our fresh fish dinner, Simon, Rebecca and a few other brave divers went out on their night dive. All they had was a tiny torch each and a glow stick on their tanks so they could an eye on eachother. Simon paired up with Rebecca for the dive and once they'd all checked their equipment, especially the torches, it was time to go! The got into the dingy to go to the dive site in the oitch black. He couldnt see where the sky ended and the sea began it was that dark, very scary but very exciting! After a count of three they tipped off the back of the boat. Simon's decent was really quick, he was one of the first down there and the nerves disappered. They reached a depth of 18m and then started to swim. They saw more sharks and a turtle that was so huge the instructor said it had to have been over 100 years old and also lots of scary night fish that if u shined your torch, other fish would see them and come and eat them! The water was much warmer than on the day dive and his breathing was even better than before. Just one problem though - Simon forgot to breathe out through his nose as he did his speedy decent and the pressure from the goggles left him with 2 very impressive black eyes! It was one of his best dives yet and really wants to do another night dive! Rather him than me, very brave!

4th September

Our final day on the boat :( We woke up to very rough seas this morning, I was very nearly sick adn Jo was sick bless her. We sailed to the Hayman Islands to Blue Pearl bay for our final stop. We didnt snorkel as we were all exhausted from the rough seas yesterday so we just relaxed on the tiny beach. It wasn't a sand beach though, it was all made of fossilised reef, it looked like lots of little bones!

We wern't there for long and then got back on the boat for lunch, Lauren ahve lots of course, her and her so called "prada willy syndrome" (she can eat and eat and never get full!) We got back to the marina at about 3.30 and headed straight for the hostel before heading out for our 'after party'!

Absolutely amazing trips, it really was one of the most amazing experiences either of us has ever had! Loved it :)