Today was spent on a boat visiting the various islands and snorkelling. Having decided that I had had enough sitting around in the rain, I opted to do just a day trip on a boat, rather than 3 days, as was the original plan. I checked the weather forecast and it didn't look too foreboding, so decided to take the plunge and booked one of the more expensive day tours. I was picked up by bus from the hostel at 0730 and driven to the marina, where 24 of us set off for a day out - and it wasn't raining!! The boat was called Mantaray and we headed out into the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, which is a preservation area, meaning that removing even a shell from one of the beaches can result in a hefty fine. The Whitsunday Group consist of 90 islands, which are mostly continental, being the tips of underwater mountains. The majority are also uninhabited and very peaceful. First stop of the day was at Hill Inlet, where the boat moored in the bay and took 8 of us at a time in on a small tender. From this beach we followed the track to the observation point on the top of the island, from where there is a beautiful view of Whitehaven Beach and the surrounding islands. From here I wandered back down to Whitehaven itself and spent a leisurely hour there reading, which I thankfully smothered myself in factor 60 for. Despite the day being very overcast, I was stunned by the amount of sunburnt people on the return journey and you could quite easily spot the little bits I'd missed. The sand on this beach was the finest and most glaringly white I have ever seen, the only other place being close is the Maldives. Back to the boat for an impressive lunch (it's definitely worth paying for the better boat!) and then onwards to our next destination on the reef. Here we could go snorkelling if we wanted and obviously I did. For this we had to don stinger suits, which protect against jellyfish stings. They are similar to wetsuits, but made of very attractive, clingy licra - I felt like I should have been in Pan's People or Legs and Co.!! Am I showing my age now? The underwater world was spectacular and some of the fish I saw were about half the size of me. It gave me a great opportunity to make use of the underwater case for my camera as I floated completely motionless on my noodle (long bendy foam floaty device). I soon lost track of time and was out on the reef for about an hour, before swimming back to the boat, having avoided all the jellyfish and sharks mum. Well, it was such a nice day after the rains and we had only a tiny drizzle at one point. When I got back to Airlie I went for a wander around the town in the dry for the first time and even saw the lagoon. This is also known as the gene pool - something to do with youngsters getting drunk and amorous and heading there for privacy, instead of their dorms. I'll leave the rest to your imagination. It was also the site of a drowning whilst I was in town - a young Irish lad was found at the bottom and the PM showed that he'd had a lot to drink. Needless to say it wasn't somewhere I was wanting to go for a dip. Tonight I pack for my JetStar bargain basement flight to Brisbane, where hopefully it won't be raining and I'll be able to do more. See you there S xx

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