Ok so after a long drive we finally arrived in Airlie beach. We confirmed all our details for our Whitsunday sailing and got ourselves ready or the following day.
We left Airlie beach around 1ish and they had lunch waiting for us, our boat was Wings 3 which is apparently the newest boat in the harbour - it has a hot tub, widescreen TV, slushie machine (only boat that does!) and me and Dave had booked a double bed which gave us alot more space then normally available - the boat and the crew were perfect. We set sail straight for Pearl Bay and Dave decided to book onto the full package of diving - he went for a dive and I went snorkelling, this was the best snorkelling i've ever had - the fish were everywhere and were so colourful - they would come right up to your goggles and peck at you, we was about to get back on the boat as there was only four of us in the water when the driver shouted out to us and pointed to the distance - we swam over and found a turtle, it let us swim around for a bit then darted of - we all get back on and Dave's dive had done well too. That night we all got in the hot tub and chatting until it was dark - Dave then went for a wander and called to the back of the boat where loads of large travelli were swimming around, apparently they are attracted to the lights - after a shower and dinner (which was lovely!) Dave called everyone out of the dining room again as there was dolphins at the back of the boat - they stayed around for a while and we all watched as it twisted and dived out of the water! So cool to see just off the back of the boat! All day the crew take pics and videos of you and after dinner you all sit round and watch them which is good and as Dave went for the full dive package we got it thrown in. Oh forgot to mention, one on the guys we met decided he would take a dare to eat a teaspoon of vegemite for a free slushie (it was only $3 dollars so not sure if it was worth it myself) but he did it and got a free slush - he was burping vegemite all night then which wasn't good as I was next to him!
The next morning i had to get up early as the boat was moving a bit too much for my liking and headed for Caves cove, Hook island - but not long after breakfast was ready - the cook on this boat was fab - we had a massive fresh fruit salad with yogurt, cereals, toast, muffins etc etc after breakfast Dave went for his first of two dives that morning and I went snorkelling - this time Dave managed to see turtles and got a fab photo of him and the turtle - think the following dive that day was as good as the first too. After Caves cove we headed for tongue bay and headed for the look out over Whitsunday's island - on route the mosquitoes were EVERYWHERE and Dave squashed one on the back of my leg - spilling blood all over his hand and my leg - b******s love me!!! The lookout was amazing and even though from the pics you can tell it was a little grey that day it was still fab - after the look out we headed down to Whitehaven beach - there was stingray prints everywhere and after some group pics we went for a walk in below knee length water and saw loads on stingrays - they were all around us then Dave saw a baby shark but it was too quick for us to get a pic -( It was then time to get back on the boat and before leaving we saw some huge turtles just by the boat - for about 30 min they kept popping their head up and each few minutes we had a sighting - gutted to leave that place really. We then all got in the hot tub again - dave had beer in hand then they brought us all out Nachos - even these were the best we've ever had so we sat eating our nachos, drinking whilst in the hot tub on our sailing boat around the Whitsunday's! So fab. That night they made.....you guessed it Nando's chicken AND chocolate cake! for dinner and after some more diving and snorkelling they put bubbles in the hot tub and we had our very own little foam party! That night the skipper got his guitar out and some peeps sat outside singing songs - Dave however was again in the hot tub and came to the back to see what was going on and managed to fall over (this is prob a good time to say this wasn't the first time he's fallen over - he managed to fall into the empty hot tub during the day! doh) They also put a film on - Hangover, such a good film but we had watched this a few times on our plane rides.
That night we docked in Nara - Hook island, another amazing fruit breakfast the next morning and after some more diving and another snorkelling trip for me we was back on the boat and docked again in Airlie beach - the crew had arranged a table or us all at one of the bars along the beach so we all dressed up and met up that night for a night out. The girls Lauren and Amy even managed to get Dave into the spirit and got him to wear fake tattoos and drew an aussie star on all the boys necks - didn't take long for everyone to get pissed again! (Dave swears its the goon!)
We had enjoyed what we had seen in Airlie so far and I wanted to do a heli ride over heart reef and whitehaven beach so we booked an extra night and me and Becky (we met up with the other girls again) booked ourselves on - unfortunately due to visibility it was cancelled - sooooo gutted!!!
Tonight's our last night here but bus leaves early so will prob take it easy and arrive in Magnetic island tomorrow or FULL MOON the following day woop woop