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The bus rolled into Airlie Beach at 3.30pm & we found our hostel which we had got two nights at free as part of our package with the Whitsunday's & Fraser Island trip. We were in the smallest of rooms with three bunk beds, James, Claire & I had to go on the top of each bunk. We went for a drink in a Mexican bar during happy & that was goodbye to the detox. On the way home we got a Subway & a box of Goon between Claire & I & James got one for himself.
We sat outside & chatted to our roomies Chris & George from Dorset & a German girl who didn't stay long, I got a little tipsy & it was a nice evening. Monday morning Claire made James & I peanut butter on toast & a cup of tea each as I think she was feeling the most alive out of the three of us. We spent the day around the lagoon & then had a pot noodle for tea followed by more Goon & an interesting conversation with a crazy one legged man who was trying to tell us his thoughts
on Deja Vu, (I think he was on drugs or something, he wasn't all there!)
On Tuesday we checked out & took our bags to be stored as we weren't allowed to take our big backpacks on the boat; we got to the Marina & then got the boat about 11.30am. There was fifteen of us plus the three crew, Anneka, (the skipper), Carly, (the diving instructor) & Billy, (the host/cook). The boat was called Powerplay & was fabulous, we had chosen it as it had a heated jacuzzi on the front of it, leather interior & was a bit more luxurious than the other boats we had the choice of.
Our group was pretty friendly & as we headed out from the harbour everyone was chatting on the front in the sunshine. We headed out towards Hayman Island where we did our first dive in Blue Pearl Bay at a site called 'The Maze.' It was interesting as it had lots of little alleys to go through & swim under, over & around although the coral wasn't spectacular & visibility was pretty poor, (again I think I have been spoilt with some of the most amazing dive
sites, creatures, high water temperatures & fantastic visibility).
We got to go in the jacuzzi which was lovely & warm, we travelled down past Hook Island & through the passage between Hook Island & Whitsunday Island, mooring up for the evening off the coast of Whitsunday Island. The journey to there from Hayman Island was quite rough & the majority of the boat felt seasick. We had a lovely dinner on the boat & some wine, chatting & reading & enjoying life on the ocean waves!
Wednesday morning we got a small boat over to Whitsunday Island just before 8am & we were the first people to climb up to the lookout & down to Whitehaven Beach, where Billy took loads & loads of wacky photos for us which was good fun. Claire played a bit of football with James & Lee, another guy off our boat & I attempted to be arty taking photos of dead trees & my shadow!
It rained on the little boat on the way back to Powerplay, (the big boat) but we headed up to the north side of Hayman Island & did a dive in Mantaray Bay, my mask annoyed
me for the whole dive & kept fogging so it wasn't the best of dives, despite spotting a shark.
We did another dive later in the afternoon at Luncheon Bay, just Claire, Carly & me, where we got to see a turtle, swim through loads of passage ways & because we are both quite good with our air consumption, stay down for a good while longer, it was like having our own private guide for the dive.
We moved further round the island where we watched sunset & then did a night dive at Langford Reef! This was my first night dive & as the water temperature had dropped we put on two wetsuits to keep us warmer. We had a torch each & although it was a bit spooky it was really good being under the water at night & surfacing under the moon & stars. James had told me that when I did my dive to hold the torch against my body & wave my hand in front of me so I did that & could see all the Plankton & little particulars in the water light up, that was cool. Claire & I jumped back
onto Powerplay & straight into the heated jacuzzi with a glass of wine under the moon & stars, I felt very spoilt!
The following morning, Thursday, we did a dawn dive again at Langford Reef but the visibility was pretty poor & the current was really strong & pulling us in the wrong direction. We did see a stingray though, although I have been spoilt with beautiful coral & wonderful marine life in previous dives so the five we had done here off the Whitsunday's weren't in my top dives.
We got back into Airlie Beach at 11am & James, Claire & I spent most of the day by the Lagoon, relaxing & drinking Goon, (well we had to wait till 11.50pm for our bus to Town 1770 & Agnes Water & we had nothing else to do, plus it was else stuff to carry with us. In the evening we went to meet some of the people off our boat in Beaches bar & club & had some free wine.
Our trip on the Whitsunday's had been really nice & despite the rain we had a good couple of days & got some more dives in.
And so at 11.50pm we headed onwards down the east into cooler climates.
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