Whitsundays

We woke up to the roar of the engine about 7am. Niko already had a continental breakfast ready for us of toast, with different spreads, fruit salad and cereals. Andy drove us to Hook Island and they anchored. Ian took about 8 of us at a time in a small speed boat and dropped us off on the Whitsunday Island for a few hours. With our stinger suits in hand we all made our way up a walkway through the trees and found the lookout point. The view was gorgeous.

We then made our way back down and followed the small maps to find the cove. The Whitsunday Islands have the purest sand in the world – 95% silica sand. You can clean your jewelry with it.

We put on our stinger suits and went for a swim in the waves. We also all tried a human pyramid on the beach, which was hilarious! We hung out on the beach, played Frisbee and sunbathed all morning.

Ian came to pick us all back up at 11 and lunch was ready on the boat. We had rolls and wraps, with salad, different vegetables, cold meats, sweet corn and tuna. Our eyes were all too big for our bellies!

After lunch, anyone who wanted to scuba dive, yes you heard me, we ACTUALLY SCUBA DIVED, had a talk about it and had to sign some waivers with Storm. He divided us into teams of four and took us team by team to the shore where we did a quick introduction to our respirators. There was also 3 tests we had to pass to be able to go forward – getting rid of water in your mask, retrieving your lost respirator and equalising your ears by holding your nose and blowing, we had to do this every time we dropped a few meters in depth. (Aine, Eimear, Tara & Hailey, below)

(Anna, Liv, Me & Josh, below)

After a shaky start, as the bubbles really messed with my breathing, I couldn’t get a deep breath at the beginning, we swam off deeper with our flippers over the GREAT BARRIER REEF!!! There was so much colorful coral and beautiful fish. There was a HUGE fish called a Maori Wrasse which had a big hump back head and eyes that moved around like a chameleon. I touched it several times and at the end gave it a hug! Haha! I would definitely scuba dive again, after getting over the initial fear of breathing through the respirator and getting used to the bubbles coming out of it, it was easy. You just have to remember to keep equalizing your ears like you would on an airplane. We went down over 10 feet for our first dive which was pretty good! I took pictures on my underwater camera which I am yet to get developed! 

When we got back, Niko had put out some snacks, which we all scoffed. All this swimming gave us a huge appetite, not like I needed more of one.

The people who didn’t want to scuba dive had the option to snorkel the reef instead. When everyone returned to the boat, they pulled up the anchor and we took off for a small sand Island which is across from Hammond?? Island, can’t remember the name. It was a 6 star Island where Celebrities went, apparently they brag that they can have anything in the world shipped in within 24hours. Ian told us lots of stories – Madonna got kicked off the Island for being too much of a Diva and wanting the whole Island to herself. Rod Steward got kicked off for walked around the beach, drugged out of his mind, with only a guitar on with two girls by his side. Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers got kicked off for showing up at the formal restaurant in only a waist coast!

The small sand Island we were dropped off to is apparently where the Celebrities are brought over for champagne and strawberries if they request. I don’t know why though because it actually smells of fish!

But it does have a nice sunset!

 

They came back to get us in an hour and our dinner was ready. Spaghetti Bolognaise, salad and garlic bread!!! We got on the goon again and later on that night at about 11pm, when some of the girls had gone to bed, I was playing guitar on the back of the boat with a few of the crew and a dolphin came by to visit. I woke up a few of the girls and we watched it for about a half and hour. It was chasing small fish that were attracted to the light from our boat that beamed into the sea. It was also showing off a bit! I tried to get some pictures but it was near impossible in the dark!

A great end to our last night on the New Horizon!