Hello people! We're back on dry land again after an amazing three day sailing trip around the Whitsunday Islands! I feel so relaxed now...

We set off from Abel Point Marina at Airlie Beach on Tuesday lunch time and boarded the SV Whitehaven with 22 other passengers and three crew members. After settling into the sailing we dropped anchor at Caves Cove at Hook Island where we got to go snorkelling in the Great Barrier Reef. It was absolutely beautiful - the reef was a myriad of vivid colours and there were hundreds of brightly patterned fish swimming past us. Back on board there was tea and cake waiting - I felt like I had died and gone to heaven! We carried on sailing then and watched humpback whales (a mother and child) in the distance whilst the sun set over the Whitsunday Islands. Just incredible. Night time was spent downing goon on deck with our fellow passengers who were all really nice.

Had a 6am start yesterday and we headed for Tongue Bay where we spotted sea turtles before mooring the boat and going to see Whitehaven Beach (voted one of the top five beaches in the world don't you know!). The sand there is pure white, it's like walking on flour it's so soft, and the sea was translucent turquoise. Hughie, one of the crew, took us to Betty's Beach just around the corner and we spent the morning swimming and sunbathing before having lunch back on the boat.

The afternoon was spent snorkelling at Mantaray Bay and we even saw species that we recognised from Osaka Aquarium. Following that, we went to Langford Island to watch the sunset whilst eating snacks (there was relentless feeding going on for the entire time we were on board). After dinner we watched a slide show of photos taken by the skipper during our trip and got quite tipsy on the goon again. One of our fellow passengers seemed a bit tapped - she was 22 but sounded like Rab C Nesbit, insisted on walking around in pyjamas all the time and was going off on tangents to anyone within earshot - highly amusing! This morning was another early one and we spotted dolphins then went for a swim before getting back to the marina.

I think snorkelling there is one of the best things I've ever done. And the scenery we saw was awe inspiring - I just can't articulate how beautiful it is. So I'm on a high today and not even bothered about the 12 hour Greyhound trip we'll be doing to Hervey Bay this evening!

Love you all loads x x x