Sailing, Snorkeling and Magnetism
Another 18 hour coach ride north from Rainbow beach consisting of 2 tacky films and disturbed window knocking head sleep I reach Airlie beach and 6.30 am. Airlie is the jumping off point for sailing the whitsundays and by 7.30 am i had completely explored this extensive one street town - a collection of hostels, bars, hostel-bars, cafes and cafe-bars. Life in Airlie revolves around the sun, (inspired by Galileo) consisting pretty much of get up, go to the lagoon, lie in sun. After a day or two of Airlie life i wandered along to the mariner to find the boat that i was booked onto. 'Otella' was an ex around Australia race winner, a mono hull with 14 passengers and 2 crew. During our trip we took in Whitehaven beach, a beautifull network of sandbars, submerged by crystal blue waters. I also had my first experience of snorkeling on one of the reefs surrounding the islands. Coral and fish of every colour imaginable surrounded me, slightly disconcerting at first. When one fish 'bit' me i started flapping around until i worked out that my thumb was still where it should be. The variation of colour and shape of coral was facinating; jagged spires, large flakes, waving tenticals, clam like mouths in an array of blues, yellows purples and reds. One evening i tried my hand at fishing off of the side of the boat. I can safely say this was not my forte, catching precicely nothing. Got a couple of nibbles on the line but nothing wanted to bite. For my next stop i couldn't resist the attraction of magnetic island (see what i did there)... Thus called as captain cooks compass went a bit wobbly when he sailed past it. In fact, it isn't magnetic at all but is incredibly beautiful and chilled out. I've just been exploring various secluded (often destered) beaches around the island and last night climbed up to an old WW II fort positioned at the top to view the sun coming down. At one point i wandered face first into a very large and scary looking spiders house. Having heard so much about the deadly properties of our 8 legged friends in these parts, this sent me scampering backwards in fear for my life. It took me about 5 minutes to pluck up the courage to walk under the thing as was convinced it had positioned itself to strike... On the way down from the forts I saw my first kuala. The evening being their most active time of day it was engaged in the taxing process of chewing.
posted by justplainnigel @ 2:14 PM
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