The WhitsundayIslands

Despite the news of Cyclones and the heavy rainfall that we had seen the whole way up to ArlieBeach, our trip was still going ahead and we were so excited to set sail. The Whitsunday's was by far the most exciting trip on itinerary and it was finally time to go!

We walked in the rain to the beach to catch the boat, lumbered with three days worth of clothes and prepared to get wet. When we saw the boat we were on our faces lit up, it was so cool. It was called the 'Power Play' which was a catamaran built to fit around 20 people. It had a huge living room, real bedrooms with double beds down below and its own Jacuzzi. We had definitely made the right choice, it was awesome! We got sailing after meeting all the staff on board, who were really nice and actually made the trip. The skipper wasted no time, and after a few hours of sailing and looking out for whale and dolphins, which we were not lucky enough to see, we had a feast for lunch, made my Toby the chef and then jumped in the water for a snorkel. This was our first taste of the Great Barrier Reef and it was even better than I imagined. Sarah who is scared to death of fish jumped in with me, while Chloe went with Caz, and as soon as she saw how cute the fish were I think she forgot what she was scared of. The snorkeling was awesome, and some of the fish were huge. The one thing we did see that scared us though were box-jelly-fish and those deadly ones that are the size and shape of contact lenses. We made our way away from them instantly and explored the reef. The colours were unbelievable, and despite the rain filling up our snorkels we were in paradise! After a few hours we returned to the boat to warm up (the sea was pretty cold due to the weather) and were greeted with smiley faces as Chloe and Caz were as amazed and me and Sarah, who was so happy she faced her fear. We were very proud! That night we watched a slide show of the days snorkel and Justine the dive instructor showed us some of the creatures we would see in the days to come. After the slide show we all sat around drinking and getting to know the group, who were really cool. I think a lot of people were dreading going to bed as it was extremely cocky down below! I actually slept really well after been rocked to sleep, but we got woken up around 5am, which is never pleasant, but when your shoved into the ocean at 6am you sort of have to get over it!

Our next few snorkels were equally as beautiful, yet the water was a lot rougher on the second day so we had to take shelter. We ended up going to WhitehavenBeach and spending the afternoon with the beach to ourselves. The view was so amazing despite it being a grey day, I just couldn't believe how good it would have looked with a bright green sea and white sand, it was a shame we did not see it on a sunny day. This beach has been voted the nicest beach in the world and you can definitely see why. We saw lots of sting ray but no sharks unfortunately; I think the weather was just against us. Toby had us posing for all these random photos which made us look like we were eating each other and lying on coke cans etc, it was a really funny afternoon. We headed back before dark and had another huge feast made for us, the food was so good. We then spent the evening laughing at photos and playing cards, which was cool; it was nice just being at sea to be honest. Caz and Chloe got quite sea sick though like many others and so they headed to bed, leaving me and Sarah with just a few people on deck, who were all lucky enough to see witness the coolest thing of the whole trip. We were all sat talking in the dark on the back of the boat when this Irish guy said something is in the water. I have no idea how he saw them but we all jumped to have a look, and were greeted by two baby turtles. They were the cutest little guys in the world, the size of your index finger! The skipper told us they would be a day old due to their size and lack of co-ordination. He also said that in all of his years at sea he had not seen anything like it. Only 5% of turtles make it after hatching, so to see two playing together in the middle of the ocean only a day old was extraordinary. I was so excited all night; I couldn't keep my eyes off the water! They even swam into Justine's hand because they were attracted to the light. That night is one I will never forget!

The final day was taken up by one early morning dive where we saw the biggest fish of the trip, they were extremely scary. The skipper also threw food into the water so hundreds of fish swam to our faces, Sarah was not impressed, you couldn't see for fish! The dive sight was really cool and there were lots more coral and different coloured fish, we even say mini Dory's and Nemo's which was really cool.

After our final snorkel it was time to get back to dry land, and the trip we had looked forward to since November had come to an end, it was so sad. The whole weekend despite the weather was so cool, It didn't matter that it was cold we all just sat in the Jacuzzi while it rained. It took about 3 hours to get back to the port, and most people were feeling pretty sick, it was by far the roughest journey. Once we got back to the mainland we actually felt like we were still moving for a few days. Our legs were like jelly but it was worth it! The Whitsunday's and The Great Barrier Reef are definitely up there on my favourites list, and are definitely not to be missed! People say that in ten years time the reef will never be the same again, so I feel privileged to have spent three days sailing around the islands.