The Whitsunday cruise was fantastic! Out of everywhere I have gone in the world, this is most beautiful place I have ever seen. My brother and I sailed on a 62-foot boat this time. Sailing is the definitely the way to see the Great Barrier Reef. There were 12 of us on the boat, coming from England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, and some fellow Canadians. I didn't click with this group as much as last time, but what was better this time was the scenery and the reef. The first night we cruised to Nara Inlet on Hook Island. Our cabin was so hot that we took our mattresses and slept outside on deck every night, sleeping under the stars.
Whitehaven beach was even more beautiful than last time, which I didn't think was possible. The tide was a little lower so there were white sand bars everywhere. I felt like I was in one of those tropical calendars that I used to have pinned up in my locker in high school. I have never been in such warm water. Believe me. I am a wimp when it comes to cold water. I even thought the water in Hawaii was too cold. This water was unbelievably warm and crystal clear. You could see manta rays all over the place. I was careful not to step on them. We spent hours just relaxing and frolicking in the waves.
We then sailed for hours to the outer reef, to a reef called Bait Reef. You could barely see the mainland anymore, we had been sailing out to see for hours. It seemed like we would have been in deep ocean, thousands of feet deep, but then suddenly we were only in a few meters of water and you can see the bottom. We arrived just in time to see the sun set. The next morning we woke up and could see the reef surrounding us. The exact location was called "The Stepping Stones".
It was shallow enough that we decided to snorkel, scuba diving wasn't necessary. I couldn't finish my breakfast fast enough, I was so excited to jump in. As soon as I jumped in I was surrounded by Bat fish, Giant Travaleys and Hump Headed Maori Wrasses. Then I saw the coral. Honestly, it was so beautiful that tears came to my eyes. It was like I had landed in another world, on another planet! The Great Barrier Reef is Amazing!!!! The Stepping Stones were big hills, or shelves, made of massive coral formations. I have never seen such diversity of coral... such vibrant colors! We saw two White-tipped Reef Sharks, two sea turtles and so many types of coral (branching, fan, brain, shelf, lettuce...). I pointed out one of the reef sharks to my brother, who is extremely afraid of sharks, and he squeezed my arm so hard out of fear that I had a bruise for days. I was so pleasantly surprised to see how healthy the coral looked. The coral was in much better shape on the outer reef than on the fringing, inner reef. The further away it is from the coastline, the better, since the closer reefs get damaged a lot more. We snorkeled for hours. I didn't want to leave.The last day was a sail to Nara Inlet. Barry, our Aussie skipper let my brother and I sail the boat for a while. Barry, was quite the character, filled with funny expressions for everything. My brother asked where he should be steering the boat and Barry's response was: "Just go right through the guts of 'er!". Ummmm... yeah... ok.
So, here I am back on Magnetic Island. This is the last day here until I head back to Sydney and then fly home. Yesterday, I relaxed on the hammock most of the day. Today, I jet skied and scootered around the island with my bro. Our hostel is closing for renovations so the kitchen is permanently closed. We've had to go into town every day for meals. The temperature is sooooo nice, around 30 degrees everyday... just the way I like it.
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