The Whitsunday Islands are amazing... one of the most beautiful places I've been to... but remember that this is Australia... home of the wierdest and most dangerous wildlife... As well as the land animals (spiders, snakes, killer kangaroos, etc.) There are many marine dangers in the Whitsundays, including sharks (we saw a few... ok these aren't dangerous at all... but they do startle you a bit), stingrays (RIP Croc Hunter), sea snakes, jellyfish (box jelly fish, irikanji), as well as a few poisonous fish. However, the risks of being injured by these creatures are low... especially if you are out of Jelly Fish season...
Our second camp, was at Peter’s Bay. Peter’s Bay has some mangroves right in the middle of the bay… dry at low tide, almost completely submerged at high tide. You have to time it right to get to camp here or else you’ll have to walk a few hundred meters to camp.
The snorkeling was amazing… sea turtles, stingrays, beautiful corals, and thousands of fish… FYI, what you see on Discovery, or National Geographic shows use artificial light to bring out the colors of the coral and the sea… so when you are snorkeling or scuba diving… and you don’t see all the colors, don’t be disappointed… they’re cheating… But it’s also why the colors you see snorkeling are so much brighter compared with scuba. You lose the reds, then orange, then green… all the way down the rainbow.
That’s a green sea turtle (it’s not really green on the outside… but named “green” as they have green fat… if you open them up)… I got to snorkel above it for a good 5 minutes.
Here’s another turtle…
I got a good picture with her.
There are numerous resorts in this “national park” (National Park regs are very different in OZ and NZ as compared with US… lands are “leased out” for resorts, helicopters, planes are buzzing, and cater much more towards the tourist dollar vs. environment). We stopped by one of these resorts mid-day, the Hook Island Resort (the cheapest resort on the Whitsundays catered toward the backpacker dollar… they have camping sites here as well).
… for some ice cold beers.
Some action pics…
Oh… check it out. You get to see the Big Dipper AND the southern cross at night (maybe not at this resolution...) Or maybe normal people don’t really care about this? Anyway I was pretty excited. .
Some island wildlife…
…and more long exposure fun… (can you read what kate spelled?)
That night we stayed at Nari’s Beach on the western side of Whitsunday Islands. A very nice site that we shared with a nice local family who had a nice set up for boat camping… including a battery operated refrigerator, shower, stove, etc.
We crossed the Whitsunday Channel the next morning (with wind and current things can get choppy here… we were told), but it was glassy smooth for us and made it across with no problem.. and made it to Planton Island. Our last camp and we had the whole island to our self.
Kimbo and I went on an afternoon paddle around S. Molle Island and went on some of the hiking trails on the island. We only got to a few obscured views, but it was nice to move our legs and we saw some pretty flowers…
Next morning, we stopped by another small island, and made it back to Salty Dog Kayaks right at noon.
Back at Airlie Beach, after setting up camp and going to pay for our site, Kimbo saw a Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo knock down a coconut and smash this car’s windshield…
Bummer... a rental car too...
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