Whitsunday Island Cruising!

After a 12 hour train ride from Cairns, I arrived in Airlie Beach!

During my 3 night stay my accommodations were incredibly fabulous. I was upgraded from the hostel to the resort life - swim up bar pools and everything! The first place I stayed was Club Crocodile, which despite the youthful name was really quite impressive. Check out the pool!

After a great sleep in my private room I traveled to the marina where I boarded the Seaflight cruise to the Whitsunday Islands. We stopped at a point on The Great Barrier Reef and spent the day on their super innovative pontoon. It had sundecks for tanning, underwater viewing chambers of the reef, and a WATER SLIDE!

There were a number activities you could participate in during the day including scenic helicopter rides and private glass bottom boat rides.

In addition to snorkeling, the cruise offered diving - where I easily jumped at the chance to use my new certification. There was one other certified diver that I buddied up with. We did two dives at a location on the reef called The Knuckle Reef.

My favorite fish I discovered was The Humbug.

There was an underwater photographer that you could pose for - pretty cool! Really great idea for a cruise of this kind, he hung out all day taking pictures of snorkelers, guests on the slide or even couples looking for a photo opp. On the ferry back he displayed the images on each of the flat screens.

Unlike my dive boat cruise where we did a 'giant stride' into the water, this cruise had us swim off of a lower level platform.

At the end of the day I checked into Long Island Resort which was crazy awesome! They had pools and a jacuzzi of course but what really made it special were the kangaroos I woke up to just outside of my private room! I was steps away from the ocean and was treated to scrumptious buffet meals, just like a true vacationer.

The next day I embarked on my fully inclusive Camira Sailing adventure - aka free alcohol! The Camira is one of the world's fastest sailing catamarans.

It was windy while we were traveling to the snorkeling site but it was perfect tanning weather when we rested. I met a group of American College students traveling Australia that I hit it off with - the free alcohol  and buffet meals definitely helped get the introductions started! 

 

After some lunch and snorkeling we traveled to Whitehaven Beach where the movie 'Fool's Gold', starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, was filmed! We had about an hour there so we played a few games of soccer and beach volleyball.

I finished the day with a swim and jacuzzi at my new resort, Day Dream Island. I was sad to leave this fabulous place but the personal send off was a nice way to top off the weekend.

I spent the day exploring Airlie Beach and doing some shopping, followed by a short flight to Brisbane (pronounced Bris-bin).

Can't wait to see what is in store for tomorrow! Every day gets better and better.. not sure how I'll say goodbye :(