A mammoth journey of 19 1/2 hours on the bus from Rainbow Beach to Airlie Beach wasn't the highlight of my trip. My first day in Airlie I relaxed in the sun and bumped into Nicki and Kristy, two girls I met in New Zealand.

Day two, around midday I boarded Wings 3, my boat for the next couple of days. By mid afternoon I was scuba diving at Mackeral Bay. Despite the visibility being relatively poor it was still great. Charlie, the dive instructor pointed out different flatworms and nudibranches. Unfortunately I missed the turtle, but so did the others, only Charlie saw it. That evening the boat set anchor in Nara Bay, we had food and then spent a while star gazing on deck.

Day three (day two on the boat), the crew were up early and set sail before any of us got up. We arrived at Whitehaven Beach by 8:30 am. It was stunning. The low tide provided an excellent view of the beach and every 6 hours the beach changes shape due to the tide, making our photos unique to our group only. After fun on the beach we went to Pitt Stop, a bay made famous by Michael Schummacha for another dive and lunch. This time, within a few minutes we saw a large green turtle. The visibility was slightly better too. Then Saba Bay for a snorkel and finally Board Point for the evening.

My last day on the boat and in Airlie Beach was completely relaxed. I was sad to leave the boat, as I could have stayed on there at least a few days longer, the crew were great and the food was amazing. It was time for final goodbyes to everyone in the evening when we met for food and drinks.