Airlie Beach / Whitsundays Day Trip

Oceania » Australia » Queensland » Airlie Beach
December 17th 2008

Published: December 23rd 2008

Edit Blog Post

LISASTU

Lorikeets

We went on to Airlie Beach and booked our day trip to the Whitsundays for the next morning.

In 1770, Captain James Cook sailed through the Whitsunday Islands and marvelled at the many bays and inlets that were a sanctuary for his weary sailors who, until then had experienced nothing but raging seas and rough weather. Little did he know that these islands were the remains of coastal range which sunmerged when the sea level rose at the end of the ice age.

They are now the largest off shore island chain on the east coast of OZ.

We were picked up for the day trip and met a nice english family from Essex and a young lad from Devon.

The boat was fast, twisting and turning, great fun, got a little wet and made your tummy turn (well mine anyway)

We went to two dive sites (BUTTERFLY BAY & MANTARAY BAY) for snorkeling and it was great the 1st one was very misty and not much coral but the 2nd was great, Stu went off on a little adventure and swam with a large turtle, he came back so excited! We did get some pics

Lorikeets

underwater but I am having trouble downloading them at the mo!

The water was pretty warm, we had to wear sexy stinger suits, Stu looked like a ballerina in his!! and I looked about 10 years old (no change there then!)

After snorkeling we went to a nice beach for some lunch, saw lots of turtles, stayed here for about an hour then headed back and stopped at another island for a rainforest walk and free time to see the sand bars, the water is amasing bright blue, hardly any waves, we also had a great day for weather, clear blue skies all day.

We would of loved to have done a couple of days, but this trip was excellent, well worth the time, if anyone is this way!

We left Airlie the next day and stayed one night at a town called Ayr, which was ok, but to be honest we didnt do alot apart from swimming in the pool and Stu listening to the cricket on the radio.

Additional photos below

Photos: 30, Displayed: 23