a small part of The Great Barrier Reef

After 3 days & 2 nights on a sailboat I still felt the motion of the boat for hours. It will be hard to surpass this part of my trip. It wasn't all stellar, but it was more about experiencing than seeing. The Kiana, a 60 ft. boat had 12 passengers, most there for the diving on The Great Barrier Reef, not sailing. The mix this time was French, German, Canadian, South African, Australian and me.
When we set out the water was good, but after lunch it got a bit rough & we had some hurlage going overboard. I got queasy later in the day, but more when I was below deck. Needless to say, I stayed on deck as long as possible then succumbed & took some travacalm which helped a lot. I'm not sure where we moored the first night, but our morning took us to Whitehaven Beach which is apparently the 4th most photographed place in Australia after the Sydney Opera House, The Harbour Bridge and Uluru/Ayres Rock. So that means I've photographed the top 4. The problem with the GBR is that there are extremely dangerous jelly fish. Some are only as big as a thumb nail, but can cause death or something almost as bad. You see incredibly beautiful beaches, warm water and no people swimming unless encased in a stinger suit & in some hood. Beachgoing can be tedious. At Whitehaven I put on my stinger suit & hood to swim for about 5 minutes. After coming out of the water & getting the stupid thing off, I put it in my bag on top of my camera. Needless to say after a 20 minute hike back to the boat my camera got too wet to keep functioning. The photos may emerge at some point & I have promises of emailed pictures of the trip. Onward…to the afternoon. We motored some more, then it was diving/snorkeling time. It didn't occur to me that if I wanted to dive I should have a note from my doctor, but being a diabetic that is the case. No diving for me, only snorkeling which turned out better since we had clouds & some rain making deeper depths murkier.
I snorkeled once before & it was like, here's a mask & snorkel…go. My mask probably filled with water & got foggy, not conducive to a good experience. This time around us newbies got all sorts of instruction & encouragement plus a beautiful place to tool around. The fish & coral I photographed from the semisub were now right off my fingertips. It was awesome. We motored farther around Cook Island, went out again for more fun & beauty. Then it was time to sail to Hayman Island & moor for the night. The wind was up so we had a pretty good sail.
The lights of the boats attract squid which then lurk in the water unintentionally as bait. We were hoping for dolphins, but Brent our skipper said he sees them only every 4 or 5 times he's there. We asked when the last time was and he said about 5 trips ago. Woohoo! We could see the squid, bat fish, a huge fish I can't recall the name of & GT's which I also obviously can't remember the whole name of. GT's jump out of the water & loudly splash down, so we kind of kept thinking DOLPHINS!
but no. Then someone spotted a dolphin mom & babe, for the next hour plus 8 of us basically ran from one side of the boat to the other watching them & one other dolphin swim & feed. Who knows why that's so great, but it is.
Turtles were the other thing we wanted to see & I missed one in the afternoon because I was helping keep a towel from going overboard. Our crew went after everything that went over including a lid to a sunscreen bottle. Everything we have is a hazard to the ocean life. Apparently even sunscreen is bad because if it gets on the coral it does it's screening job & the coral dies. Back to turtles, I finally did get to see one swimming along, but not for long. As we went out diving & snorkeling that morning turtles were the thing to look for. Some divers saw one for a brief second, but none of us snorkelers did. But I saw more incredible coral & fish
who's names I don't know. It was hard to get out of the water & pack up to go.
We did, though & we had been promised a sail back to Airlie Beach with all sails up. Mostly because I had been talking to Brent about sailing & how I was there to sail more than to dive. Those of us who volunteered raised the sails & the brave of us went to the front of the boat for an amazing sail. The mast was at about a 45 degree angle instead of 90 degrees & even though we were on the high side the waves were big enough to drench us every 10 mins or so. At one point one of the women was literally hanging on to her husbands leg to keep from sliding across the deck. Brent used the motor a time or 2 because the wind was so strong that he was having trouble maneuvering. He was thoroughly enjoying it, but I think if at least one of the passengers hadn't been so keen to sail the sails would've been taken down & the boat would've motored back. All of us up front loved it, I'm not so sure about those at the back.
Firmly back on shore most of us met up last night for drinks, dinner & dancing. Another good set of people on their way to further adventures. I have no idea where I'm going next. Maybe another part of the reef for more snorkeling or maybe Tasmania. I'll let you know.