I ♥ Airlie Beach! We slept in until 1pm today! When we eventually got up we walked to Jamaica Joe's for lunch, and then had a wander around the main street and the shops. Airlie Beach is a really pretty little town with a good mix of bars, backpackers (and normal people!) and boutique shops. I bought a bikini in one of them, and then we went to sit by the lagoon, which is nice and necessary because the sea is full of jellyfish! We met up with some of the p...

Back on dry land The boat left the mooring even earlier today - I woke up but went straight back to sleep as I quite like being rocked in my little bed in the cabin! We laid out on deck for a while, and Shannon, one of the crew, caught a yellow fin tuna. The next port of call was Hayman Island, where we stopped at Blue Pearl Bay. It was a really small cove, but the snorkelling was probably the best so far. There was so many fish that it was overwhelming at times...

The Great Barrier Reef We sailed to a spot on the Great Barrier Reef this morning called Bait Reef, where we moored for the rest of the day. After some sunbathing on deck (when the captain told us we couldn't wear sun cream because it damages the reef!) we went out on the tender in our snorkeling gear, and dived in off the side of the boat. The water was really choppy, and we couldn't see any land, so we were literally in the middle of the sea which was quite s...

Sailing and snorkelingThis morning we were woken up early for breakfast, and then we sunbathed on deck until we reached Whitehaven Beach, a beautiful long white stretch of sand on one of the islands. We spent a couple of hours there, and the girls did the introductory scuba course, which I wasn't allowed to do because of my asthma - I'm not bitter! The tender then took us back to the boat and we had tacos for lunch while the boat sailed to Luncheon Bay. Once we h...

The Anaconda IIIWe eventually got off the Greyhound just after 10am. The bus broke down at some point during the night, so we were late getting to Airlie Beach, and we didn't have any accommodation as we were going sailing around the Whitsundays that night, so we had to pack a small bag for the boat sitting at the bus stop! Once we had dropped our big rucksacks off in storage and checked in at the boat office we met Angie for lunch and then had a wander around Ai...