April 25, 2001 - Wednesday - Whitsunday Islands
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| Off we sail around the Whitsunday Islands - Queensland, Australia |
Our boat, Freedom, didn't leave until 4 so we had plenty of time. The other guys wanted to spend it at the hostel and I decided to stay in town to explore the various shops and shore. I bought some aqua socks again and then went along the shore to examine the various marine life there.
Not much too interesting except for these giant 6-inch sleeper gobies around the bridge. I also found a place for people to swim. The large lagoon area was surrounded by backpackers and other people just chilling out and having a swim. I stayed there for a while before getting picked up and headed to the marina.
I should've gone to the marina first because there were corals growing on the floating docks with some reef fish swimming around. I even saw some very cute inch-long baby squids and other juveniles seeking the protection of the calm water around the marina area. I guess it acts as a nursery similar to a mangrove estuary.
We boarded the ship soon afterward and headed out to sea. We headed straight to where we're going to dock for the night, on an island with an inlet. It was sprinkling on and off and eventually we docked at nightfall. They pretty much just drove the ship on the motor the whole way, not sailing much at all.
I have a feeling they didn't know how to sail. After we stopped, dinner was served. It was T-bone steak with potato and veggies. It wasn't too bad and I almost had a second. I met 2 Swiss while on the ship - one of them was named Primo and the other one named Ronnie.
They sure could put the food away. Methinks Primo had two steaks. There were 5 leftover steaks that nobody ate. They served some chocolate cake with vanilla custard, which was pretty good. There wasn't much to do on the ship so people just sat around and chatted.
I also met these two Indian cousins who were pretty chatty, but conversation between everyone quickly run dry. There were several Brit girls who managed to continuously chat for hours and when I listened in, they did nothing except complaining about various things about their trip - like what I'm doing in this journal... heh...
There were little fish and even worms that swam to the surface during the night. People were using big flashlights to shine on the fish and such and eventually, they went to sleep too. It was a very uncomfortable sleep because the air was so stifled and hot. I woke up several times during the night in a cramped quarter but eventually went back to sleep again.
;)
