We arrived in Airlie beach about 11am after another night greyhound straight from Harvey Bay. Somehow we both managed to get our own seats so we did actually manage to get some kip which is something : D. We went straight to our check in for our boat and then sorted out our stuff and had some lunch before embarking on our next adventure.

We got to our boat at about 12.30 like it suggested at met the other people that would be on our boat. There was a group of people that we immediately clicked with and ended up spending most of the time with on the boat itself. We went through all the relative safety checks and finally set sail. When we all first saw our boat the Freight Train we were all sat on deck with all of our luggage wondering how the hell we were all going to fit on the boat, but somehow after a while it didn't feel so small. And as there were only three couple Candy and i once again found ourselves sharing a bed, but at least the double beda were in another room so it felt as though we still had a little bit of privacy although we were sharing with the three couples.

It was a while before we made our first stop so we were all enjoying the sunshine on deck before we went for our first snorkal. We didn't have the best equipment and the only fins that fit for me included one that was slightly ripped so I felt a little bit like nemo did with his gammy fin. Our first snorkalling was alot of fun especially seeing all of the coral and getting to see my first nemo : D

When we got back to the boat it was already starting to cool down, but we still sat on deck drying off before we got changed. The boat was also making its way to our overnight point. We were served a feast of a dinner, spagetti bolognaise, garlic bread (something I haven't had since leaving home! Very yummy!) and salad! It was very good! In the evening we were all chilling out with a beer on deck and then were allowed to go to shore to check out a bar that was there. En route we also explored the underwater observatory that was there. The bar itself was nothing special and all of the drinks were overpriced. There was a few of us that wished that we had stayed on the boat where it was more enjoyable to chill out and relax. So when we got back to the boat we made sure that we did this before hitting the sack. We also managed to see a shooting star which was a really nice way to end the evening.

It was an early start the next day. We all woke up at 6.30am, had some food and then immediately went snorkalling. I wasn't keen on this idea and really wished that I had stuck to my initial instinct. The water was really choppy, my mask wasn't a great fit and I still had my gammy fin. I also kept on losing Candy so I wasn't in the water for long when I signalled to be picked up as I was really staring to panic alot. When I got back to the boat I made sure that I had a nice cup of tea : )

We had a little bit of time to chill out on deck before our next stop to Whitehaven beach. This is the beach that is usually shown on all of the advertising for the whitsundays and has sand that is mainly made up of silicon, so it is extremely white! The views from the viewpoint were absoloutely amazing and when you made it down to the beach the sand was so soft and the water was crystal clear and had these really small sharks swimming around. We had two hours here that when we were told that we had this much time on the boat it sounded like a really long time but when we were there it really wasn't. Another amazing thing about this area is that we got to see turtles : D so amazing!

We then departed to make our way to our next snorkalling site and had lunch on the way which was yet another feast of salad and lasagne! Our next snorkal sight was the best out of all of them! The coral and the variety of fish was amazing! There was even some really massive friendly fish but I'm afraid I can't remember the name of them, Candy's nicknamed them dog fish, lol! When we returned to the boat the fun didn't stop as we were feeding them bread and crackers, the grown up version of feeding the ducks. Our final part of the day was sailing to our next night time spot.

Tonight we had more fantastic food, roast beef, vegetables, mashed potatoe and gracey : D yum! We all spent the evening on the boat this time which was much better. The evening was alot of fun full of jokes and stupid stories which was refereshing to the usual travelling talk. It was really nice. I also ended up chatting to the skipper with Lucy and found out alot about the different fish and coral that we had seen.

Our second and final morning on the boat was yet another early start, 6am. This time we all had breakfast after the snorkalling. It was a much more enjoyable event than the previous morning as the water was alot calmer and clearer. We had fun swimming around and even swam to a shallow shore before returning to the boat. That unfortunately was our last stop before making our way back to the Marina and Airlie Beach. We did still get to take in some amazing views and sit in the sunshine before our return.

So we got back to shore : ( and checked into our hostel which was nothing special and then chilled out for the rest of the day by the lagoon in Airlie Beach. When I went to buy myself a sandwich in the afternoon I bumped into one of our little gang from the boat, Sona who was also sat at the cafe and invited her to join candy and I. After a little while she joined us and shortly after we were also joined by our other friend Neil and we had a really nice afternoon.

We then went back to our hostel to get ourselves ready for the night ahead. As part of the trip our boat was given a table at one of the bars and were also treated to some free food and beer! Unfortunately alot of the people from the boat were already making there way to there next destination, but at least the group of people that we had spent most of our time with were there : ) Sona had to leave early because she was also off to Harvey Bay but at least we had her for part of the evening. As you can imagine this night started out all nice but did end up with us going to club and being fairly drunk : S but hey we haven't been clubbing for a long while so it was worth it and it was a really good night.

The next day was a fairly lazy one. We still had to get up at a reasonable time so we could check out, but the rest was spent by the lagoon. We did get incredibly bored though as we really weren't used to being lazy and we had to try and fill the day with as much mundane stuff as we could think of. We were even counting down the hours to get back on the greyhound for our final greyhound journey upto Cairns.