Day 4: 12/6/13
I was up around half eight this morning. I'd to repack my bag so that the things I'd need would be in my small bag. It was hard enough to do considering we didn't know what we would need!
I had said I'd meet the Swiss, Luana, and the Italian girl, Maggie for breakfast. So we went and checked in for the boat and then had a nice breakfast by the water.
We had to be at the marina for the boat at 11:30. One of the guides came and spoke to us all about diving and medical conditions and stuff.
We didn't get on the boat until after 12 I'd say. They took all our flip-flops and put them in a big bag as the only time we were going to need them was at the beach. We then sat in the kitchen area while they greeted us and gave us a safety briefing- hold on while you're walking around the boat and stuff! The kitchen was barely big enough for us all! The captain was an English guy, the dive instructor was an Australian girl and the host who was doing everything else was a New Zealand girl. The captain sailed out of the harbour while the dive instructor spoke to us and then the host showed us to our rooms. It was a catamaran type of boat with two wide parts at the side that the boat was sailing on. Both of those areas were for sleeping. There were eight of us crammed into one corner. There was a bed in the pointy bed for two people and then one on top. Along the left well there were two bunk beds. Set into the right wall there was a double bed and then a single bed that was like a coffin!! The passageway between the beds was just the width of one person so there was nowhere to leave your stuff, only on the bed!!
When we all had our rooms we all sat at the front of the boat and they spoke to us about safety for snorkelling and diving. They didn't say half as much as the crowd in Cairns did- they seem to be a little more lax. I don't know if that's a good thing!!
When we pulled up, we were at Luncheon bay. Some people went diving and most of us went snorkelling. There were loads of fish and coral here. It was much shallower than where we went in Cairns so it was easier to see everything. We learned that the coral that looks wriggly just has if feeders out and is the same as the plain ones. We saw loads of fish- Turquoise and green fish, Blue fish, black and white fish...... There was one gorgeous one that was bright purple and green- I think it was called a parrot fish. There were Big schools of fish pecking at the seabed- scraping algae off the bottom it seems. I definitely saw way more than the snorkelling in Cairns. It would be great to have a DVD of the things you could see as there's so much you'd nearly forget them!
After snorkelling we dried off and sat around waiting to be fed. First we got crackers, veggies and dip. Then we got sausage rolls and then we got dinner! There was barbecued chicken with salad and a potato bake. We were defintely spoiled! We are the dinner on the front of the boat and then we were called inside for desert. They gave us cake- orange and poppyseed- I've never had it before but it was lovely!! Then they showed us on a map where we had sailed today on the Whithsundays and showed us some photos of different wildlife we should expect to see in the sea and stuff. It was a pretty long talk but good!
Afterwards we all went out to the front of the boat chatting again. The captain was there and a group of us happened to sit with him. There was something about him I didn't like. I'd say he was younger than me but he was very arrogant or something. He was very posh too and reminded me a bit of Breiffne from the Apprentice!
I think there were about 24 people on the boat- me obviously, 3 Canadians, 2 Swiss, 4 French, 1 Italian, 2 German and then all the rest were English- that makes about 11 of them! There were 4 London lads and two London girls who looked about 20-22 and had brought loads of drink! You could tell they were planning a right session. There were three girls travelling on their own and one couple. These were the ones I ended up with most of the time. Some of them were drinking, some weren't. I hadn't bothered to bring drink as I'd either be hungover and not enjoy the whole boat experience and the snorkelling or I wouldn't even drink much so it would be a waste of money!! There was a bit of a divide in the group then between the people that were here for drinking and those that weren't- it didn't really matter though as there were enough of each.
The captain turned the outside lights off around 10:30 so the group I was with all went to bed. I was tired anyway for some reason. The bunk bed was absolutely tiny. It was made for a person about my height but as I had my bags at the end it was really squishy. It was really narrow and you couldn't really turn in it and it was rock hard!! You could eat the waves lapping outside aswell and once you lay down you really got the swaying effect! It took me a little while to go to sleep with all that but then I slept soundly!