Whitsunday Cruise

Bad start

So, we had decided against an excursion out to sea yesterday because the forecast wasn’t good enough in terms of temperature, sun and wind.  But we instead committed to a trip for today as the forecast looked better.

We woke to on-and-off rain and 100% cloud cover, seemingly far worse than yesterday’s weather.  The saving grace so far was that today’s boat was larger and more enclosed, and a very civilised start with a pick-up at 0925.

The pickup arrived in the form of a large bus.  We were one of the last to be collected and were dropped off at the nearby marina within minutes.

After short formalities, we were led on to a widebody boat, named Pina Colada, seating about 40 people.   We departed about 1000 for a 90 min ride to Haslewood Island.  It was a drizzly and cloudy journey.

Snorkelling

Anchoring on the western side of Haslewood facing Whitsunday Island’s famous Whitehaven Beach,  we were issued our snorkels and giving a good briefing as there were many first-timers.  The conditions looked awfully uninviting with complete cloud cover meaning the underwater visibility would be poor.

With promise of water temperatures around 23.5 to 24.0 degC, I was coaxed into the water.  It was breathtakingly cool but after a while I adjusted.  I swam towards the reef where I saw nice coral and some colourful fish such as the parrotfish. I felt that the water was extremely buoyant, suggesting it was very salty. Either that, or I’ve put on more body fat.

The weather had improved slightly but I returned to the boat feeling I’ve had enough.  Soon after, it was glorious and I couldn’t help resist a second snorkel.  While light in the water was better there was a bit of sandy suspension which detracted from its beauty.

Whitehaven Beach

When we all returned onboard from the snorkelling, a good lunch of nice bread rolls, cold cuts and salads were served.  We chugged slowly across the water to Whitehaven Beach.

While I’ve seen many white sandy beaches before this one was special.  The 7km of 98.4% silica sandy was extremely fine and powdery.  We were given 90 minutes to enjoy this slice of heaven in the most glorious weather.

We walked, swam and tried stand-up paddle-boarding.  While it was scorching in the sun, it was a little cool in the water at first.  It was my first time of the board and I managed to stand up on my third attempt but maintaining a vertical possie while moving took a couple more attempts.

During our stay, a couple of seaplanes dropped in with their guests.  And here we were, making the journey by humble seaborne means.

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Hill Inlet Viewpoint

We left Whitehaven Beach about 1500 for the short ride to another part of the island where we would disembark for a short muddy walk to the viewpoint to lookdown at Hill Inlet.  The tide was high-ish which meant that we didn’t see too much of the characteristic swirl in sea/sand that’s often depicted in pictures.

Nevertheless, we had a good panoramic view which included Whitehaven in the distance.

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Back to the mainland

We had to detour back to Whitehaven before returning to the mainland.  Our boat had to bring tables, chairs and canopies for guests for one of the seaplanes.  And now we had to retrieve them.

After that, we cruised past Hamilton Island, which was surprisingly built-up with high-rise, before returning to Airlie Beach after 1800.  We were about 20 mins late.

The crew told us that we’d be dropped back to our accommodation in two vans so we made sure we were one of the first to board, in cases he meant one van making two trips.  Just as well, because he actually meant the latter.  We were fortunate enough to be the first to be dropped off.

Back at the Kipara, I had a shower and put on our laundry while Kim went back to town to grab dinner.  He bought from the same place as last night and we were happier with the meals than last night’s.  Our choice of fried kway teow and chicken in satay sauce were tasty.

It had been an unexpectedly awesome day in view of the very unlikely weather conditions at the start.