After another full day at sea we arrived at our next port of call, Airlie Beach. Here the harbor is too small for our cruise ship so we have to do what is called "tendering" to shore. You exit the anchored cruise ship and board a smaller "tender" ship and you are shuttled to shore. Once ashore, we met up with our excursion for a breathtaking ride out through the Whitsunday Islands. We boarded a semi-rigid inflatable boat with two 350 HP outboard motors (which gave us an indication as to how fast we were going to travel!) and were off. There are 70 islands that make up the Whitsunday chain and only 7 of them are inhabited.
For the day, we rode to two snorkeling sites and then capped it off with a short hike in the Whitsunday Island National Park. At the end of the hike, we had a picnic lunch on the beach. But not just any beach. This beach was chosen as the third most beautiful beach in the world by National Geographic!!! I'd have to agree. See below and in the photo album and tell me what you think...
One of the smaller tropical fish on the reef
Yes! He is that big!!!
Staghorn coral
Then some shots of the beach...
We then motored back to the pick up point, but talked our skipper into taking us on around to the dock where we could board the tender to the cruise ship. He very graciously agreed to and we roared over to the harbor using all 700 of the horses in the motor. It was a wild ride, but fun. We then boarded the tender and got a good view of our ship as we circled it in order to disembark.
Another day at sea then we arrived at the next port of call... Brisbane.
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