Our Skipper thought it would be a good idea to wake everyone up this morning at about 6.30am - by blasting music out over the speakers. Some people didn't like it, but me and Nikki didn't mind because we'd woke up at 6am anyway. When everyone was up and had had breakfast we were taken in a smaller boat over to Whitsunday Island, which is the biggest of the Whitsundays'.
We landed on a small pebble beach and took a short bush walk to a look-out. The view was AMAZING! It was of Whitehaven beach, which is 99% pure silica and the sand is so fine there that you can polish your jewellery with it. The sea around the beach was a beautiful turquoise colour and against the brilliant white sand looked stunning! Whitehaven beach is regarded as one of the Top 3 beaches in the world - the others being in Thailand and Hawaii (which we went to on our honeymoon). After spending a couple of minutes taking pictures of the beautiful view we walked back through the bush to make our way down to the beach.
After walking for about 5 minutes we made it to the beach and it was even prettier than it looked from the look-out. Me and Nikki took a walk down to the sea and the first thing we did was clean our wedding rings - people were right - it really makes the jewellery sparkle! We spent a couple of hours lazing on the beach and playing in the sea and then made our way back to the Habibi.
When everyone was eventually back on board we set sail again - this time to a place called Mantaray Bay - it was here that we were going to be snorkeling! Everyone was given a stinger-suit (apparently there are millions of jellyfish in the water here), flippers and a snorkel and then we all jumped off the back of the boat into the clear water. Almost immediately we were surrounded by thousands of fish - and when the crew started throwing bits of bread at us in the water, the fish started swimming up really close. We were told it's possible to see over 150 species of fish around the Whitsundays' - and even some Tiger Sharks! We didn't see anything like that, but we did see a fish, called 'Elvis', who was about 3 feet long - he was HUGE! Although it's not classed as the Great Barrier Reef around the islands, it's the same coral - and it was amazing. There was every colour imaginable under the sea - and even some bright neon coral that looked like the inside of a nightclub. I had an amazing time and loved snorkeling. Nikki gave it a go - but didn't stay in the water as long as me - she was worried about being stung by jellyfish or eaten by a shark, so she got into the small boat that was in the water and looked at the fish from there.
After an hour or so we moved on again, this time to Caves Cove. On the way the crew gave us coffee or tea and doughnuts to warm us up. The girls were all moaning that they were cold after getting out of the water - but the sun shining and it was lovely really. When we reached Caves Cove, the skipper dropped the anchor and said that this was where we'd be spending the night. He said that anyone that wanted to, could do more snorkeling here - but because he said we could also do it in the morning, I gave it a miss and had a snooze instead (I think my sea-sickness tablets are making me drowsy). Nikki also sat it out.
For tea tonight the crew made us a pasta bolognese and then afterwards we watched the sun set over the ocean and had a game of International Twister. I got to the semi-finals and the game was eventually won by an American girl. Because I couldn't be bothered to learn everyone's name, I was giving them nicknames instead. A French guy, who I called Frenchy, then took to calling me 'Husband' (or 'Usband with his accent) and pretty soon that was what everyone on board was calling me.
When the sun had finally gone down and Twister had been won, we sat around drinking and chatting. Some of the guys played a drinking game, but me and Nikki didn't join in because we'd ran out of beer! After a couple of hours, me and Nikki went up to the front to look for shooting stars again and then came to bed.
I looked everywhere - but had no luck Finding Nemo... maybe tomorrow!
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