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The marathon journey from Kroombit to Airlie Beach started at 7am after not much sleep and breakfast on the ranch. We changed buses at Rockhampton again and made our way up the east coast. The journey wasn't as bad as I was expecting and we made it to Airlie Beach just after 5pm.
The people on the bus were meeting in one of the bars at 7.30pm so we checked in at our hostel, grabbed a shower and made our way to the bar. We were only intending on having a few drinks with sailing out to the Whitsundays the following day.. but it never turns out like that does it?
We bumped into some girls from Surrey who we'd previously had a good laugh with and shared a room with in Noosa so we ended up staying out alot longer than expected. We hit a few bars and then a club at the end of the night, Mama Africa's, before making it back to our rooms in the early hours again.
Morning came around and it was nice, hot and sunny.. perfect for the start of our 2 day/2 night Whitsundays sailing trip around 74 islands. We checked out of the hostel and sought about getting some alcohol for the trip since we could bring our own. We weren't sure how much to take with us so we thought we'd better be on the safe side by getting a crate of beer each and two bottles of rum.
We checked in at the sailing operator and made our way down to the harbour at 11.30am. We met the 11 other people and 3 crew we'd be sharing the trip with but we had totally misread the situation with the amount of alcohol we had brought. The Powerplay boat we were soon to board was a diving/snorkelling boat which we had no idea about. The crew, passengers and a few passers by seemed surprised by the amount we had brought so we felt a little silly since the others had hardly brought any.
The Captain, Annika, diving instructor, Sam, and host Karen introduced themselves before briefing us on the rules and regulations. With it being a diving boat we weren't allowed to drink alcohol 8 hours before a dive so that meant no drinking during the day and the bar closing at 12 midnight. We got our heads around the rules and set sail into the sun toward the Whitsunday Islands after 12 noon.
The Powerplay is a sleek, turbo powered catamaran with a huge deck space providing three separate lounging areas aswell as a heated spa and BBQ.
Anyway, we were heading toward a diving spot off one of the islands which took about 2 hours to get there. Initially I wasn't going to bother doing a dive as I prepared myself for a chilled 2 days but I thought I might as well give it a shot, especially as I have booked onto an Open Water Dive Course next week further up the coast.
I have never done a scuba dive before.. I don't even like the sea or being underwater but I wanted to test myself and fight any fears I have. Sam gave us a short basic lesson in diving, enough to get us through our first dive and then we were ready to go.
We arrived at the dive spot kitted out in scuba gear and heavy oxygen tanks. I was in the first group of four people as we lowered ourselves onto the small dingy boat to take us to the shore of one of the islands. I thought I would be nervous but surprisingly I wasn't.. I was kind of looking forward to testing myself.
Slowly but surely I got the hang of the breathing apparatus and began to enjoy what was going on around me under the water.. schools of fish swimming by my face, some large, some small. Manoeuvring myself into various positions was easier than I expected too. I had a few moments were I felt uncomfortable with the breathing but I managed to calm myself and continue with the dive. It was a weird experience, one which I enjoyed and after 35 minutes underwater we surfaced and climbed back onto the dingy boat. So glad I had a go at another thing which I've never tried before.
Once we had all returned to the Powerplay we enjoyed coffee and biscuits to warm us up before setting sail toward the place we'd be settling down for the night. We managed to catch a glimpse of the sun setting behind the clouds as we kicked back with a few beers. We enjoyed a lovely tea and spent the rest of the night getting to know each other whilst listening to music and looking over the pictures on the projector screen which had been taken throughout the course of the day. The majority of the people onboard were in bed by 11pm but we stayed up till after midnight on our best behaviour so not to wake anyone.
Breakfast was at 7am and we awoke to a cloudy/cold day. We set sail to the famous Whitehaven Beach where we would step ashore to make the short walk up to the viewpoint overlooking the lush white sands intertwining with the crystal clear waters. As I mentioned, it was a cloudy day but the view was still stunning! We made our way down to the beach shortly after that to play some games and take some fun photos. We stayed for about an hour before heading back to jump aboard the Powerplay.
We set off toward another dive spot but I had no intention of getting into the water this time as it was too cold and I was happy just kicking back and relaxing on the boat after a hectic two weeks. After the dive we had some lunch and moved on to another dive spot but the winds had picked up somewhat and the weather deteriorated so it became unsafe for another dive. The Captain made the decision to move on to the place where we would sleep for the night. With us arriving earlier than expected we had the whole afternoon to ourselves to chill out, play games and watch movies on the big projector. Obviously it would have been better if it had been glorious sunshine but we were all content being able to chill out on the boat and we could have a few beers too.
We ate another lovely tea, had a look through more of the pictures taken during the day and spent the remainder of the night drinking on the back of the boat. The weather had calmed down throughout the evening and we had a great laugh staying up till 1.30am.
It was another cloudy start to the day and the seas were quite choppy. After breakfast at 7am we headed to the last diving spot of the trip but the Captain had to call it off again as the seas were too dangerous.. I don't think many people fancied the cold dive anyway. After a short time we headed back to Airlie Beach across some ridiculously choppy waters. I've never been on a boat that has swayed from side to side so much.. I was fine but a few of the passengers were sick including Rich, much to my amusement!
We docked back at the harbour around 11am where we thanked the crew for a great trip.. the weather could have been better but I enjoyed it nevertheless. The crew and passengers would all meet up later in the evening for a night out so we headed back to our hostels to get a nice warm shower and a few hours sleep.
We all met up in a bar at 7.30pm for some free drinks organised by the tour operator and then moved onto some other bars in the town. We bumped into the girls from Surrey again and the Chilean lad, Jose, who I had worked with for 3 months in Stanthorpe. It was another good night ending up in Mama Africa's again before hitting the sack at 2.30am.
xx
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