10.-12.11.18 the Whitsundays

On 09.11. we arrived in Airlie Beach in the morning after a night drive by bus. Unfortunately, it was raining and my mood was not the best after the drive. The place was pretty loud and touristic and I was quite overwhelmed by it. It is the place from which all tourists visit the Whitsundays... Just like us the next day.

After the night, we had to check out until 10 o'clock, but we could store our luggage in the hostel. We only had a small backpack with some clothes with us. At noon, we went to the harbor. There was a small sailboat waiting for us. At first, it looked really tiny! But in the end, I just loved it! There were 14 passengers and 2 crew members. Not much happened that day, we sailed for a long time until we reached a bay where we spent the night. There was a delicious dinner and we spent the evening on the deck with nice conversations to get to know each other. There are also other boats where there is a party all night and where there are up to 30 passengers... But I was very glad that we chose the Mandrake boat! 👍😊

The next morning, we started very early because we wanted to see the sunrise... We had to go through damn high waves, which was not so easy on an empty stomach... I couldn't stay below deck during the trip because it was sooo wobbly there! I felt a little queasy 😅

After the sunrise, we went ashore to the main attraction, the Whitehaven beach. We had to walk to the other end of the island and stopped at really good viewpoints to get an overview. After countless photos, we went straight to the beach and also went for a swim. Because the tide came in and everything looked different, we went back to the viewpoint before we had to go back to the sailboat at 11 o'clock. After lunch, we went to the first snorkeling spot. My first time snorkeling was pretty strange! 😝 But in the end, everything worked out and we saw a lot of fish! After a short ride, we were at the second snorkeling spot. There you could admire beautiful corals. However, the corals were pretty damaged and colorless everywhere. The Whitsundays are already part of the Great Barrier Reef, but there are already a lot of corals dead there.

In the evening, there was another great meal and cozy togetherness.

The next day went by way too fast! We had one last snorkeling session with fish and corals, and the hope for turtles... but turtles were not to be seen. 😕

Afterwards, we packed our bags and headed back to the harbor of Airlie Beach. I felt that time went by so fast! In the afternoon, we went ashore again and the group split up. Back at the hostel, we spent the day showering (there was no shower on the boat 😝), washing, shopping, etc., and in the evening, we went to a bar for the after-boat party. Unfortunately, not everyone from our group was there. There were only eight of us... But it was still a nice and fun end to the tour!