14 March : Whitsunday Islands

After a nice breakfast, we headed up around the northern tip of Whitsunday Island and down the east coast. The destination was Tongue Bay to anchor the boat and go ashore for a short hike to a lookout of Hill Inlet followed by a walk down to the beach to see sting rays, lemon sharks, many types of fish, and dugong. We saw all of these other than the dugong which is a bummer since the last several boats all saw them out here. The water was a little murky and most of the photos were a little too far away to realistically keep.

Before, during, and after lunch in Tongue Bay, I was on turtle lookout. I saw one but it took its breath (or breaths) and departed before the camera could zoom over on it. These things go down for 45 minutes at a time and slow their heart rate down at night so they can be down for 10+ hours. We headed north to Luncheon Bay.

As we approached the bay, I was so excited. This is our first snorkel in Queensland and there are so many fish and coral. I was first into the stinger suit sitting with my mask and snorkel over by the ladder ready to be taken by dingy over to the drop point. Of course, not everyone was so ready to get in the water on a moment notice so I spent 20 minutes baking in the sun in a 1mm black suit. Ouch.

+Jill and I saw a ton of fish and I tried to take good underwater photos but the water was just slightly too murky and it was partly to mostly cloudy obscuring the sun just enough. A lot of the photos ended up not very interesting. "You had to be there!" We did get a few shots that are worthwhile.

I was the last one out of the water to head back to our boat. Cocktail time! Then we had a great 3 course dinner by the onboard chef. It is amazing what he can do with such a small space and he took into account several allergies or "requests" with aplomb.