First off thanks to everyone who have been leaving comments. It's great to hear from you. I want to apologize for some of the blogs. I noticed that some of the sentences don't make sense. It's the damn autocorrect. Plus the Internet is dodgy (unreliable or unavailable or both) so I'm rushing to get the blogs out when the opportunity arises. I don't often have time to proofread them carefully.

We set sail on the Southern Cross from Airlie Beach to explore some of the 74 tropical islands that make up the Whitsunday archipelago. The Southern Cross was a boat built for the Australian sailing team for the Americas Cup races. It came in second but her design was used in the race that Australia won afterwards. The Whitsunday islands are in the heart of the Great Barrier Reef.  We sailed to Whitsunday island and moored so we could take a short bush walk to a lookout that has one of the most stunning views I've ever seen - Whitehaven Beach which is recognized as one of the worlds best beaches. Caitlin said it would be one of the most amazing things we will ever see. I was sceptical but, as usual, she was right. It is 9 km of pure white silica sand and turquoise sea. It was in a bay that the most recent "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie was filmed. It's against the law to take any sand away from here. It's big trouble if you get caught taking any. I don't think I'll test this law so you'll just have to take my word for it. We then made our way to the beach and had a swim in the warm water. It was a very hot day. Again, we had to don a stinger suit due to the jellyfish in the water at this time of year, which wasn't ideal but still refreshing. We saw a huge sea turtle and a stingray swimming around. Well , I saw their shadows but some people saw them. Then it was back to the boat for a fantastic lunch and off to another reef to snorkel. I still didn't see Nemo but I was in the middle of hundreds of fish that were swirling all around me in the same direction. It was quite surreal. It almost made me dizzy. The reef here wasn't as nice as the one we saw near Cape Tribulation but it was still beautiful. Then it was back to the boat all too soon to make our way back to the marina. Everyone was totally chilling on the way back. It was a perfect day.

There is an island (Hayman Island I think) in the Whitsundays that is a 6 star resort frequented by stars. One of the crew told us some stories. Madonna was there with her entourage and demanded that the pool and bar be open only to her group. The resort said no and Madonna had a "hissy" (temper tantrum) so the resort kicked her off the island. Then there was Rod Stewart who apparently likes to walk around naked. The resort asked him and his 2 lady friends to put some clothes on and he wouldn't so he was kicked off. Lastly, the Red Hot Chilly Peppers went to dinner and the resort asked them to put on a tie. They said sure so went back to their rooms and returned with ties on and sat at their table. The problem was they only had ties on. So they were kicked off the island as well.

I really hadn't been sailing before but have friends who love it. I quite enjoyed it but still prefer power boating. It seems like so much work and it's wind dependent. We had the motor going for most of the time even with the sails out. Vic and Donal helped set the main sail. It took a while to perfect the technique but they did it....with casualties. We think Vic's elbow bashed Donal's watch. Vic's elbow was bleeding profusely and Donal's watch didn't make it. The entire face was broken.

Some of the girls wanted to go out again so after dinner about 8 of us met and went dancing. We hit 3 nightclubs - Magnums, Paddys and Mama Africa. It was so funny - at least 5 young people came up to me to high five. I wasn't sure what was going in until they said "Cairns!". I had met them when we were out dancing in Cairns. They remembered me but I did not remember them. The people here are so friendly.…and young. We'd be standing around and guys and girls come up to you and just start talking to you. It's like we were bf's. They told me some stuff that you would not normally share with a total stranger. We met people from all over including Arizona, Germany, Sweden, Australia, Switzerland and one girl who was out of this world (or at least out of her mind). She had long blonde hair and was dressed up like a hippy with a flower tiara. We also met a German girl who shoots kangaroos for a living in Canberra. Apparently these animals do all sorts of damage to crops. During the course of the evening we lost most of the group. There was only 3 of us left by the time we left - Nikola (Swiss girl) and Franciska (German girl), and me (Canadian girl). We had a lot of laughs and met a lot of people. I love these gals!!! We returned to our hotel at 3:30ish and then I had to do laundry. :(