After an 11 hour bus journey we arrived in Airlie Beach where we had arranged to do a 2 ½ day and 2 night cruise around the Whitsunday Islands. Gemma and James who we met in Kho Samui recommended a boat called Wings 2 - a catamaran which was primarily a water activities boat and a social boat which meant not nuts but not dead quiet/boring like the relaxed boats we had heard about where everyone goes to bed at 9pm - perfect! We booked into our hostel which was more of a hotel resort than a hostel but for similar money so once we checked out our room and were happy we booked an extra night straight away! We booked a 4 bed dorm which we ended up getting to ourselves so a private room for dorm money - good start! Didn't do much the first night apart from grab a snack in the bar and go to bed early - sitting on your ass on a bus all day tires you out!

We had one full day before getting our boat so we took a walk down to the marina and checked in for our cruise, ordered our bus ticket for a couple of days time, and bought some breakfast supplies from the supermarket! We took a walk around the lagoon down beside the beach then jumped on the bus back to the hostel where we chilled out beside the pool and Jacuzzi - hard work all this travelling! Not a sunny day so we headed down to the shopping centre swinging in past Hungry Jacks (Australian name for Burger King) for a romantic dinner before heading back to the pool. We had been really good the last couple of days with our budget so we decided to treat ourselves to a beer and a cocktail in the Jacuzzi after the sun went down!

The weather was perfect the day of our cruise which we really weren't expecting as the news had been predicting floods and awful weather for the area since we had arrived. We left our bags with the travel agents and went for an all important drink stop. I (Craig) got 6 beers for $20 (about £13!!!!) and Laura got a sophisticated box 2 litre box of wine aka Goon for $10 (about £6). We brought our supplies down to the boat, met the crew and hopped aboard our home for the next 3 days. The boat was really nice and spacious on deck (plenty of room for sunbathing) but was pretty cramped below deck in the bathroom and cabins - 25 passengers plus 4 crew was a tight squeeze! The crew gave us an introductory talk and told us that we were the first trip in 4 weeks that had good weather - result! They explained the do's and don'ts for the trip which basically involved having fun, not getting too drunk and sticking to 30 second showers (we are serious - small fresh water tank on board so limited water). We sailed out to our first stop at Haymen Bay (think that's how you spell it) for some snorkeling and scuba diving. I had decided to one scuba dive so it was time for me to get my wetsuit, vest and tank on and get in the water! After a brief 10 minute skills lesson we were 7-8m below the surface - hard to explain what it is like unless you are down there but it is very surreal….but absolutely amazing. After 45 minutes we were back on the boat and I had quickly decided that I had to do another dive on a different site - I was quickly getting addicted! Laura decided to give the snorkeling a miss today and instead helped the skipper Lela, who was nuts, drive the tender (small dingy boat bringing people to and from the main boat) picking people up and dropping people off at the beach. Once back on the boat we basically all sat around getting to know each other, drinking beer and wine and eating delicious food which Ian, the boat chef, had been working on all afternoon! Almost everyone on the boat seemed really nice and we spent a lot of time talking to a couple we met near the start from Banbridge - always nice to hear the home accent. We relaxed on the front deck for most of the night checking out the stars (saw a few shooting stars also) and then down at the back of the boat where they switched on neon blue lights underwater that attracted some massive fish which was cool. We watched a brief slideshow of the days photographs and headed to bed around 10:30 pm ahead of a 6:30am alarm call the next morning!! No lie ins on this boat!

Day 2 began with a 7am breakfast and scuba and snorkel straight after. I (Craig) went diving again at Luncheon Bay with Brian (the guy from Banbridge) and Laura decided to suit up and give the snorkeling a go this morning! We both had a brilliant morning in the water seeing clown fish (Nemo's) and Maori Wrasse (enormous fish with Mick Jagger Lips). The coral was amazing with so many different types and colours and during the scuba I was swimming at the bottom of a coral wall which was far taller than a 2 storey house - absolutely class! After Luncheon Bay we were back on the boat for a short trip round the coast to Manta Ray Bay where we both went snorkeling for an hour or so. I (Craig) would have loved to keep diving but it was just too expensive so I had to stick with the snorkel instead which turned out to be great and still allowed me to see lots of coral and different fish! Laura seemed to have her confidence back now and not only was she snorkeling away on her own but did a spot of free diving (holding her breath and swimming down as far as she could go) to check out the coral at the bottom of the bay - go her! Once back on the boat, we grabbed lunch and relaxed on deck on our way round to Whitehaven Beach (Google this and try not to be jealous) which is in the top 10 beaches in the world! It was so hot and sunny but we persevered up to the lookout point and got some great snaps. It was then a trip down to the famous Whitehaven sand which is so fine and pure (around 98% silica) that it really does feel like you are walking on flour. NASA used sand from this beach to build the lens on the Hubble Space Telescope and have since tried to buy the beach for $600m which the Australian Government refused! You also get a $100,000 fine if you are caught removing the sand from the beach - so we made sure we were well cleaned off when leaving!! Got lots of funny aspect photo's (see photo's to see what we mean) and cool one's of the beach in general before we left! We even saw a small shark which kept circling about 3 meters of the beach - looking for birds to eat apparently!!

Once we got back on the tender (which took a bit of doing given how bumpy it was) we headed back for the boat and our last night aboard. On the way round to our mooring point for the night we saw dolphins in the distance and a sea turtle right beside our boat who was coming up for one of his two breaths of air that day!! Spent the last night much the same as the first relaxing on deck, having gorgeous BBQ food and watching a slideshow of the days photo's. Felt really late because of how much we had done that day but by the time we were heading to bed it was only 10pm!!

Our final day started with a 6:30am snorkel, no better way to wake up than a dip in the ocean off the Whitsunday Islands!! We both stayed in for around 30 minutes swimming around the fish and coral which was just as good as before. Got out of the watr and had breakfast and spent our last few hours on the boat sunbathing up on the front deck - miraculously I (Craig) didn't get that sunburned - miracles never cease!! Got into the marina around 12 noon and said our goodbyes to the crew and the people we had met…..at least until tonight as we had arranged to meet for a drink. We had no hostel room to go to on our final day as we were leaving on the 11:45 pm bus so we had to spend the day by the lagoon, in internet cafés and bars!! We collected our bags from the travel agents around 5pm and dumped them in lockers at the bus station after quick showers at the marina and the lagoon - best we could find for free! We grabbed a pizza between us for dinner before heading out for a couple of drinks and to meet the group in Beaches (hostel and bar on the main road) where we were given some free beer and wine which is always nice! Said our final good byes and headed down to the bus station for our bus to take us to the next stop of Agnes Water and the Town of 1770. It won't be fun as it is a 10 hour trip but we'll hopefully get some sleep along the way!!

Check out the photo's of the diving - the last few underwater shots we cannot take the credit for - these were taken by the dive instructors so thanks to them. Some of them were taken on our trip and some were their favourites from other Whitsunday trips - we thought they were all pretty amazing and hope you guys like them!

Craig and Laura =)