Our boat, the Anaconda III. We think she's about 102', but no one could tell for sure.
Our cell, err, “cabin.” Steven was annoyed because the boat claimed to be “luxury,” however we’ve heard from others this is actually a really good boat. We don’t want to know what the others look like. Yes, it is very messy, however it's really difficult to organize such a small space - it was diffcult enough for both of us to be in the same room.
The seas were a bit rough and a few people were not feeling well and fed the fish:/ Again, thank goodness for the seasickness patches, they came in handy once again…for both of us this time. We anchored in between two islands in Hook Passage where the seas were calmer and as some of the passengers stayed up, we called it a night.
Day 1: After a not-so-pleasant night’s sleep, sleeping next to the generator, we awoke to breakfast and Captain Max (aka grumpy old man) driving us to Whitehaven Beach on the Whitsunday Island. It now made sense to us as to why we left in the evening and sailed when it was dark – we were able to enjoy the beach all to ourselves before the madness of other boats arrived.
We were able to enjoy the peaceful white sand beach for a few hours before heading to our next destination, Luncheon Bay on Hook Island, for some snorkeling.
We anchored in the same spot and once again called it a night.
Day 2: We awoke still not sure if we were going to make it out to the Great Barrier Reef. Max grumbled something about how the boat had gone out to the reef the previous week and it really shouldn’t have – the weather was awful. Emerging from our cell, oops “cabin,” the deckhands said we were indeed going to the reef! This was the first time in the past 4 cruises so even the crew was excited. The swells were pretty big and most of us stayed on deck so as to not get seasick.
Steven helping to put up the sails:
After about 3 hours, we anchored just outside of the Great Barrier Reef at Bait Reef and took the dinghies to the snorkel spot where we swam around for about an hour. The current was strong and did not make for the best snorkeling. After a quick lunch, we were off to another snorkel spot on the other side of the reef. Stephanie stayed on the boat this time. Steven saw both orange and pink clown “Nemo” fish. This is the time where an underwater camera would have come in handy…alas, the once-a-year snorkeling doesn’t really justify buying a new camera. One of our sailing companions had a really cool underwater digital camera so we’re going to try and get some pictures from him.
We once again anchored, had dinner, and went to bed early to try and get some sleep.
Day 3: Three hours back to the islands and we were at Blue Pearl Bay near Hayman Island for the last snorkel. We were told Blue Pearl Bay has a ton of fish, more than at the GBR, and we were not disappointed. Some of the deckhands threw in pieces of bread so the fish would swim around us – it was overwhelming at times to have that many fish circling around, looking for food.
Once again, crazy hair and a full beard - can't expect much when we've only showered 2 minutes in 3 days.
After our snorkel, we sailed back to port – we were all desperately looking forward to a long, hot, shower considering we were only allowed a one minute shower per day. With limited hot water. We can tell you that we both really enjoyed the shower back at the hotel, we’ll even venture to say it was one of the best of our lives.
Whoever was staying in town for the evening was invited to go to the local bar to meet up for drinks. Interestingly, the Australians put more emphasis on Good Friday and not so much on Easter. Bottle shops are closed and only bars serving food are allowed to operate on Good Friday. In order to buy a drink, we had to order a main meal…and even after that, we were only allowed to buy drinks an hour and a half after ordering our meal – we had to show our food receipt to the bartender. Needless to say, it was an early night.
A few pictures of our group, looking much better after a good shower!
4 comments:
beautiful sand!
Oh, man! That little cabin! Good job on making the best of it and still having fun! Glad the patches worked. :)
Too many rules to buy beer!
i think "cell" is a very apt description :/ the beaches look beautiful though!
we only had cold water in the jungle and as our friend MoP said "breathing while showering is totally overrated." ha!
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