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Published: October 26th 2014
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After a bit of a restless night on the boat due to the heat and a feeling a bit claustrophobic in my small low bunk I was up with the cook lol.
Everyone else slowly woke up and soon we were a full compliment and tucking into a hearty breakfast. It was a calm day out on the water and the sky was cloudless and it was going to be a hot sunny day :-).
After breakfast we went snorkelling, before we went out we had our safety briefing from Justin and then donned our stinger suits, they are a bit like wet suits only not as thick and heavy and easier to take on and off. As we were coming into jelly fish season we were advised to wear them, so we all looked like Desmond diagram lol.
We climbed into the little dinghy armed with our masks and snorkels and a few long thin flotation devices affectionately known as noodles. We made our way over to the large sand bank which is only visible as low tide and then disembarked. I'd never done snorkelling before so I had a go
in the shallow waters and failed at the first attempt. I really could not get my head around being able to breath with my head underwater. So Justin got me back in the dinghy and then we headed out into deeper water.
I got back in the sea and held on to the side of the dinghy first practicing holding my breath and putting my face in the water. I did this a few times and then started to use the snorkel initially for acres seconds and then built it up. Slowly I gained my confidence and eventually I headed off into open water with my noodle under my arms to aid me. The water was a little murky so visibility was a hindered but it was still possible to see the coral and a few fish. We had spotted a turtle earlier on when I was in the boat but that was the only one we saw.
After an hour or so we got back in the dinghy and then headed back to the Siska for a rest and a cup of tea. We all had fun and games getting out of the
stinger suits which we tied to the rails to dry off a little. Whilst we were chilling out we headed over to our next dive spot just off the coast of an island where the rich and famous stay in a 6* resort. Sadly we didn't spot any celebs :-(
We anchored off shore,got kitted up again and headed out towards the shore. Apparently we were checking out the 2nd or 3rd most sought after dive sites in the Whitsunday island group. Now I had got over my fear of snorkelling there was no stopping me! I had my noodle again. The water was much clearer and we could see loads of different fish big ones and small ones some of them coming up really close, yellow, purple, turquoise, multicoloured, black and white, orange etc. We even saw a couple of dory's amongst the coral. It was amazing just like you see on the telly :-) we were out for at least 40 minutes or so and it really didn't want to go back to the boat but our time was up sadly, but I get to do it all again on the Great Barrier Reef :-)
Once back on board the Siska we stripped off so to speak stowed the equipment away and had lunch and also gad to strip our beds ready for the next group of passengers. Before we set off Whitney and Justin went swimming with the big fish and fed them bread and Justin got a couple of nips from the greedy ones on his fingers lol. The afternoon was spent sailing back to Arley beach. First we used the engine then once we had a good wind the sails were opened up and the boat tilted as the sails filled and took us back to the mainland.
When the boat docked we disembarked and said goodbye and thanks to our crew - captain Mike, 2nd command Justin and our lovely host and cook Whitney. There was an after sailing party organised at the up and under bar next to the Base hostel, from 6.30pm meal deal and 8.30pm free beer and cocktail jugs. About half of us said we would be going but the sisters were heading off at 7pm so they couldn't make it and we didn't think the American girls would make it
out either. I walked back with Michelle as we were both staying at the Base hostel and arranged to meet at 6.30pm.
We checked in and retrieved our bags from the storage locker and then headed to our separate dorms. I chilled out, showered and changed and got ready to go out and met Michelle as agreed, she was waving at me when I arrived and it was a good job she did otherwise I may not have recognised her, she looked so different with make up on and straight hair lol. We joked how different we looked when we were not wind blown and covered in dry sea salt or in a stinger suit lol.
We had just got a drink and sat down when we were joined by the German couple Carmen and her man then we were joined by Rachel and Natalie. We were sitting outside and when they had gone to order I moved tables so we would have more room for drink and plates once the food arrived. As the evening went on we all chatted ate and drank, but no sign of the free drinks! Michelle asked about
the free drinks a couple of times, first she was told the waitress would come round at 8.30pm with the drink but later we were told we had to sit inside. When we moved we found that actually there had been ax reserved table for us all night lol, we just didn't know it!
By this time we had been joined by Charles, Paige, some of Charles's travelling buddies and the French guy and girl who's names I never found out. So the free booze flowed, the music played and the DJ tried to get people up and dancing. They even had two girls from the local pole dancing school trying to get us ladies to get up and bust some basic moves on the pole, needless to say they didn't find any volunteers.
The German couple left so we said our goodbyes. We found Justin outside with his mates so said hello and told him to come in and join us, later he came in with his mate but not long after Natalie and Rachel went outside and the boys joined them. The French contingency and Charles's friends carried on drinking inside but
Michelle and sat outside for a while as it was too noisy to chat.
Around 11.30pm Michelle and I left as we knew we had an early ish start tomorrow and we'd had enough to drink, there is nothing worse than being on a bus with a hangover lol.
Xxx
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