Whitsunday Islands, Great Barrier Reef, Australia 8th April 2023

When we were planning this world trip and Australia was part of our itinerary, the Great Barrier Reef was the main attraction.  We had been recommended the Whitsunday Islands and booked the four day trip to give us time to explore.  We were on the Blizzard (not the most appropriate name for a craft in the tropics!), a monohull sloop as we were informed, along with eight other passengers - a couple from Hamburg, a couple from Santa Fe and a family of four from, would you believe, Leigh on Sea.  Plus the crew, Sarah from Lincolnshire (but now an Aussie) and Sam from Canada.  Luckily we gelled as a group and everyone got on really well with each other.

The first morning when we set sail, we all got soaked going through a heavy shower but after that the weather was glorious, apart from a short shower on our return.  The crew put up the sails (there's probably a technical term for this!) at every opportunity and it was such a pleasure to sail with only the sound of the ocean.

We visited various parts of the inner reef, snorkelling for an hour or two at each location, as well as spending time on the seven kilometre long Whitehaven Beach of pure white powdery sand.  A couple of trails took us up to lookouts with magnificent views.  On our last day we stopped at a sandbar frequented by many turtles which we saw both when we were snorkelling and from the boat.

Evenings were spent moored watching the sunset followed by the stars of the southern hemisphere.  Unfortunately once again we had the opportunity to view the dark night sky but was hampered by a full moon.  Still beautiful though.

On our return to Airlie Beach it was with sadness that we bid farewell to our sailing buddies.