The crew on the boat had a really good camera with a waterproof enclosure so they took photos and I gave my camera a bit of a rest, although I did take some photos on the boat.

 

Thursday evening and we sailed off to another island for dinner, a few beers and a good night's sleep. I managed to get some interesting photos of the sunset, all red sky (a good thing!) and cloud.

 

Friday and more sailing, to Whitehaven Beach. The world's second best beach according to National Geographic (the best is in Mexico and a private beach). White sand, beautiful sea and a load of messing around by everyone. Stupid photos abound. The human pyramid didn't quite come off!

 

Another dive close to one island in the afternoon, less fish but did see a few sea stars (starfish aren't fish and aren't called as such here), a sea cucumber (weird to touch) and a giant clam. I also scraped the rock so cut my finger badly enough to have blood pouring out while underwater. Interestingly fun to watch. The blood didn't attract any sharks though. A band aid back on the boat sorted it out though.

 

The evening was spent with some more sailing, beer and sleep. I'd managed to get a little dehydrated so didn't partake of any beer, sticking with the water instead. Took a few photos of a full moon casting it's light from behind one island, across the water to the boat.

 

Saturday morning and we were all kayaking in pairs around for a couple of hours. Very tiring on the arms. Good fun though. Felt like my back was going to collapse so I ended up lying down to paddle. It worked and we shot through the water back to the boat. I also felt like shit after lunch so went to bed for a while. Woke up with the boat rocking about all over the place, went on deck and threw up over the side of the boat. Lovely sight! Calmed down a bit after that.

 

The weather for the 3 days was good. It was a bit cloudy at times but at least there was no rain and today's been hot. There were around 15 of us on the trip with a crew of 3. All excellent people. The whole trip was fantastic.

 

Last night and most of us were in Beaches in Airlie. Since the boat crew go there after every trip they have arrangements, so the first 4 jugs of beer were free with the proviso that if they get drunk in half an hour then we get another 4 free. Those first 4 were empty within about 15 minutes! Somewhere during the night everything began to catch up with me and I went to bed. Woken up later by banging on the door since Al had lost his key! Sat outside with him for a while having a natter before gong back to bed.

 

Today I feel exhausted. I didn't get up till 3pm. Coffee is keeping me going for the time being! I can reccommend Aussie Adventure Sailing to anyone planning a Whitsundays trip.

 

Cairns tomorrow. Hopefully will be able to get some more of the photos online as well.