eye eye popeye!

Location: Whitsunday Islands

Date: 17^th May – 21^st May

 In the evening we set sail on Anaconda III. Anaconda III is a big sail ship that can hold up to 32 passengers and its crew. This is the only ship that actually goes out to the great barrier reef outside of the Whitsundays. As you might have noticed in recent blogs, Australia is suffering of.. let’s say strange weather. Winter time in Australia is usually ( another word we have learned to hate)the dry period... well this year... not so much. When we left the Airlie beach harbour we were warned that the ocean could get a little bit rough/choppy. Ah well all for the sailing experience right! The plan was to find a secluded cove near the main island and set sail again early in the morning. In the evening everybody got to know each other a little bit better but we all went to bed early.. anxious to experience how it is to sleep on a very rocky boat. 

In the morning we got woken up by the sound of the engine running which meant we were on our way to White Haven beach. Only teh most popular beach next to Bondi beach i think. Its sand is so white that they actually tell you to wear sunglasses at all times cuz it will hurt your eyes. Today is also Remco’s b-day but he doesn’t want everyone to know so we keep it quiet. We did a little b-day jump on the beach tough ;) 

HAPPY 23rd B-day dushi ;) lol..... 

At 12 we set sail t o Maureen’s cove where we will attempt to do some diving. However this is where problem 1 arose..... engine is not working! Now i can hear you all thinking but it is a sail boat doesn't need engines ( we were thinking the same and weren’t bothered by it at first). However you need the engine for power..... Powers gives us a working kitchen, anchor going in or out, “parking” the boat, and many more but most important it lets them fill up the DIVE TANKS!!!! Ever so slightly important on a dive trip don't you think? Ah well we did try to do a night dive in the evening but as soon as we hit the water... problem number 2 arose.... Because of the heavy winds ( sigh sigh sigh bloody Australian weather) a lot of sand ( and I mean about 8 cm) was covering the corals which means no nice corals to see but also very murky water!. The night dive was like swimming in milk, i could hardly see my own meters let alone the other divers. After losing each other twice we resurfaced and cut the dive short.  In the evening we refreshed our dance moves. We had some super cool Israeli guys onboard that seemed to know a lot of dance routines ( think Macarena but then on Israeli music). It kept us busy ;) it was a challange though to dance on a rocking boat.... no major accidents happened though.

The next day the engine was still “kaput” and we just chilled on the deck. At some point we all decided that we wanted to do some bushwalking on the island to have something to do ( our tanks couldn't be filled due to lack of ...electricity so diving was out of the question). At this point, hope of going to the great barrier reef was long gone. We had been at the same spot for nearly 24 hours now and still no sign of a working engine. After the walk we had a quick lunch and hoeray! The engine was fixed ( well kind off) and we set sail to Hayman island. The guys who were working on getting certified and 3 certified divers jumped in the water to get some under water time. Again i think the “vis” was about 5 meters so not great. We did manage to see a cool wobbegong shark ( i like those wobbies), a big groper and  a lot of sandy corals. We decided to not do a night dive here... wonder why ;)

In the evening they switched on the light at the side of the boat lighting up the water. Cuz what attrackts light? Fish... what likes fish? DOLPHINS! We all chilled out on deck waiting for the dolphin to come... first came the big travelli’s and then came the dolphins! So cute! In teh end we had 2 adults and 1 baby.... ahhhhhhhhh

That evening we practiced some more dance moves and admired the black clear starry sky. I saw the southern cross ( only to be seen in the southern hemisphere), learned about the milky way ( my star knowledge is very rusty).

The next morning we did some snorkelling in the same bay. We took some bread and wheatabix whith us and had some serious fun. Saw a beautiful eagle ray ( gray ray with blue spots), a seriously big grouper, a lobster and a lot of fish that were all very eager to eat our wheatabix.

The promise that we would stay a bit longer (to make up for lost time) was however not kept and we had to set sail back to the harbour. On our way we sailed right through a serious ran fall..... so why not test our raincoats and do a little dancing to stay warm!

All in all the trip was fun, but that is just because we tried not to let the bad stuff get into us. The fact that the food was not good, the engine was broken which meant that we didn’t move much and couldn't dive was a disappointment but I am not thinking 2 much about that! You only live once and we all know that can be cut short without a warning!

Ayo,

Marrem