Airlie Beach and Whitsunday Islands

Not Shown:  The Shrieking Eel

We all loaded into the Cruiser to spend a day snorkelling the Great Barrier Reef, and then spend the night before heading back Wednesday at a leisurely pace.  This simple statement required seven people to be fully packed and loaded by 5:30am.  Nevertheless, we made it in time and the drive was uneventful.

After the effort to get everyone to the tour on time, the tour we booked had boat problems (otherwise known as "not enough paying customers"), so we swiched it up and did a day trip bumming around Airlie before the big snorkel trip Wednesday.

We had a really fun family day.  Without a real timeline or destination, we just wandered the countryside and found some cool spots and took many pictures. 

The sugar cane fields are in full bloom, and we also went to Cedar Creek Falls pictured to the left.  Due to lack of rain, it was more of a Cedar Creek Trickle, but the water was inviting (for some) and they had a little swim.  When we finally settled in for the night we stayed at the Crocodile Club where the water was one degree above freezing and Leona practiced her snorkelling skills. 

It was one of those sweet days that are difficult to explain without being there, but just the right mix of kids, adults, patience and fun. 

Who says Mackay is just a mining town?

The "Cruise Whitsundays" tour is a large catamaran that drives you out to a floating pontoon platform 95km off of the coast!  The pontoon has an underwater viewing area, submarine, glass bottom boat, waterslide, and many other ammenities.  You couldn't even see the Whitsunday Islands from the platform.  Being so far out there the coral is in better shape, but it also is closer to (and zoned the same as) fishing areas so the fish are less plentiful.

Yeah, just a giant floating Pontoon Platfrom with a waterslide 95KM off the East Coast of Australia

The part of the Great Barrier Reef (actually a collection of thousands of reefs, not just one) that we dove is called "Knuckle Reef".  It was nice to see the reef, there were lots of small fish but alas, no sharks or large fish.  We got some great pics and video of our day.

It was a very full day of snorkelling, water sliding, sun tanning, and open water adventuring.  All of the kids (Alyn, Austin, Leona) snorkelled the reef, which was pretty cool.  First time for Leona - another checkmark on the bucket list!

Leona giving Jon some pointers

We understand that Denise Caruana (nee Abell)'s family once owned the Whitsunday Islands, or a large subset of the anyway.  So the marina that we launched from was actually named after her family!


Not many days left before the wedding, we're not sure what new sights we'll see in the next two days!  Will keep you posted.