Whitsunday Islands via Jet Boat

Today was the first of my two adventures in the Whitsundays.  My sister and I were booked on the Reefjet Whitehaven Beach and Islands Discovery Tour.  The shuttle bus picked us up just a little past eight and we boarded our ship.  The ride out to our first stop (Hill Inlet Lookout) was pretty rough and for those of you who know me from my dragon boat days I get sea sick real easily and real quickly.  Thankfully I armed myself with my seabands and some ginger motion sickness tablets.  I'm not sure which one was working harder but I managed to get to our first stop with only a tad bit of queeziness (sitting in the direct sea wind didn't hurt either).

 

The boat ride.

Our first stop Hill Inlet, Whitehaven Island

(We were brought to shore via a smaller boat to do a small hike to a look out).

View from the look out.

View from the look out looking towards Whitehaven Beach

We were at our first stop for about an hour as we needed to be shuttled via little boat from our big boat onto the island and back again.  While we waited for everyone to get back on board we saw a sea turtle swimming.  It was pretty cool.

Our next stop was the famous Whitehaven Beach.  It was incredible.  It stretched for miles.  The sand was white and real real soft.  The water was a variety of shade of blue/green and each time you looked at it it looked different. The only bad part was that the clouds were having fun with my sunshine.  But what ever, it was beautiful.  We spent about 90 minutes here.

Whitehaven Beach

(The boat I arrived on is in the background too)

Me sitting on Whitehaven Beach

From Whitehaven Beach, on Whitehaven Island we headed to our last stop - Border Island for snorkelling.  I didn't really know what to expect after snorkelling at the great barrier reef just a few days ago.  But again I was NOT disappointed.  This time I took a ton more photos (mainly coral again) but I did get some "wild life" pictures too.  I've included a couple of those for you to enjoy.

One of the fish I saw while snorkelling at Border Island.

A cool looking clam.

A sea turtle.

We stayed at the snorkel sight for about 90 minutes before we headed back to the mainland.  Again the waters were rough but again I managed to keep my stomach intact - thank goodness.  As we were approaching the marina the sun was setting.  It was a great way to end an excellent adventure.

Sunset from that boat as we were approaching the marina.

Tomorrow Debbie and I are heading back out to the islands, but this time we will be sailing.  I'm a bit worried that I really may get sick tomorrow but hopefully I won't and I'll be able to update this tomorrow.  We only have two more sleeps here in Queensland before we head back to REAL Australian winter in Melbourne.  Brrrrrrrrrr