Thursday, 1st March 2018
Today is the 1st of March – this means we have another 15 days before we deliver the camper in Cairns. There is still so much to see and do – starting off with today – our trip to the Whitsunday Islands.
We were ready and waiting for our pickup by 7.45 a.m. and this was way on time. We were the first ones and after several pickups around town we arrived at the harbour to check in. In total we were 18 of us – 4 Asians, 2 Germans, 4 Chileans, 2 Canadians, 2 American, 2 British and us 2 Dutch. Our hosts were Johno and Beth together with the skipper (didn’t get his name).
The morning was still cloudy, however we didn’t have any rain and temperatures were good for sailing with the catamaran – we all received a hamper bag with our lunch , cookies, muffins, yoghurt, apple and water – that was all the food to keep us going for the day. By the time we had set off, Gerry had already eaten his blueberry muffin and chocolate chip cookies which were meant for the morning and afternoon break. As we had not eaten a proper breakfast, I had brought a couple of sandwiches with me and Gerry had one of these too. Oh my, the sea air really did open up his appetite!!
We were speeding along a number of islands for about 45 minutes when we came to Whitehaven Beach. The skipper had changed the program as the tide was out so we landed on the most northern part of Whitsunday Island where we could go swimming, paddling and walking on the beach with its silica white sands. However, we had to wear wet suits as a protection against stingers – those awful jellyfish that could send you right to hospital if stung!! That’s the lesser attractive thing here along the reef – as the waters are warm, jellyfish come to the coastline and are a really big hazard. Hence, I too had to put on a wet suit – and I am so claustrophobic……… Well my wetsuit was quite large so it did not encapsulate me completely – that happened when I went into the sea and gradually got used to it! The sea was beautiful to swim in and the sands on the beach were really fine! All these islands are National Parks and both marine life and fauna are heavily protected.
And then it was time for Gerry to try his skills at paddling…………. And of course I was there to photograph these special fun moments. Actually he didn’t too bad – well he’s done windsurfing in his young days but now he felt good just paddling away straddled on the surf board!
After an hour’s stop at Whitehaven Beach, we boarded the catamaran to drive to Tongue Bay where we could swim, watch out for baby sharks and stingrays in the shallow waters inside the reef and then a walk up to the Hill Inlet Lookout.When we left Whitehaven beach, we ran into heavy rain with stormy wind! Straightaway we were given rain jackets as well as rainproof bags to put in our camera equipment – but this rainfall did not last long so by the time we reached Tongue Bay, we could enjoy the beautiful beach.
I decided to spend time on the beach – without the wet suit – to have some lunch while Gerry went back for a swim. After about an hour, Beth and Johno rounded us up to go for our walk up to the Lookout Point. It was an uphill boardwalk and when we came to the lookout point ……….. the view was just magnificent! The Aborigines inhabited these islands for thousands of years before the Europeans came to settle here – and they had full respect for their natural surroundings. Just look at the pictures of pristine beaches, silica white sand and the rainforest that heads down to the beach. Am so glad that all these islands are under the World Heritage program and national parks.
Once back at the Bullet – our catamaran – we then headed to the northern part of Hayman Island for some snorkeling. As it had rained a lot and the sea was not so clear, this snorkeling session was only to see the fish.
Now here’s my story: I’m claustrophobic about anything clasping me so even putting on snorkels – anyway got myself into the wet suit and went out in the little dinghy – Gerry was very helpful and positive – so got into the water and literally had my snorkel mask on for less than a minute and could see the wonderfully yellow coloured fish, striped fish and a really huge one – Trevally – but than I just couldn’t take it any longer. After some time just swimming and looking through the water, I got back into the dinghy – It was enough what I had done – but one day I will need to overcome this claustrophobic phobia (don’t know whether that sounds right!!)
As there was still time, we went to another cove to snorkel where coral would be visible. However those who did go down said that the water was still very unclear that they couldn’t really see any coral – but there were still many colourful fish swimming around!
Finally we were on our way back to the harbour and the sun broke through – and it was really scorching – glad we did not have that all day!! Beth handled the ropes well when we got into the harbour where the waters were mirrors still – that was a beautiful day out on the sea!
Our transport was waiting for us to take us back to our camping grounds and all of us were dead tired after a day on the water. Once back it was shower time and as we had not eaten all our lunch, we had taken our doggy bags back home and this was our supper – tasty pasta salad and fresh green salad and a bread role. Good that we had this, as I wasn’t in the mood for cooking anything and neither were we in the mood to walk back to town!!!
It was an early night – especially as tomorrow will be a travelling day – heading to Townsville some 250 km further up north!
