Day 7
Summary: Snorkeled, sailed back to Airlie beach, and got off the boat
Wednesday, January 8th
Since the hull is open to all the bunks, we all kind of woke up when the deckhand started making toast and tea for breakfast. Greg and I slept well despite it being fairly hot and sticky, but we were pretty tired and are good sleepers anyway. There was a small window hatch above our bunk that opened up to the deck that we had open all night to let in some cool air. During the night, I woke up to raindrops falling on my face and quickly stood up and shut it! Some passengers spent the night on the deck and I could hear them coming downstairs to get out of the rain. It was a short shower though and when we woke up it was bright and sunny.
My bottom lip got burned from the intense sun the day before and when I woke up it was swollen! I could definitely tell myself, but it wasn’t super noticeable to others.
We had some breakfast and sailed to our first of two snorkeling spots of the day!
Greg and I had each snorkeled once before, so we had some experience, but were excited to see what it was like in Australia. We had to wear wetsuits that they referred to as stinger suits because there are lots of jellyfish in the water and their stings can be very serious. Some of the jellyfish were huge so you could avoid them, but most of them were clear and tiny so you could brush against one while swimming and have no idea.
Along with the stinger suit, they provided us with snorkels, masks, and noodles. Greg didn’t use a noodle because he’s a good swimmer and can float really well in salt water. I used a noodle so I wouldn’t have to worry about treading water since the current was surprisingly strong!
They had some fish food so Greg fed some to these fish.
We hopped back on the boat and sailed an hour to the next spot which was shallower so we could see a lot more activity.
We saw a bunch of giant clams! So cool!
We saw two sea turtles! This first one was the larger of the two. I’ve never seen a sea turtle in the wild and I was so happy! I love how their flippers look like wings in the water. They were just minding their own business while all of us followed them around observing while giving them space.
This second one was a little smaller. In the video footage you can hear me giggling into my snorkel and saying, “so cute!” over and over. It was awesome.
Here I can really tell my lip is swollen! It was uncomfortable with the snorkel pushing against it and the salt water made it sting a bit, but I was still having a great time seeing the turtles and coral reef! I figured maybe the salt water would help it heal? Not sure. There was nothing I could do about it anyway so I didn’t let it bother me too much.
We boarded the boat again and had lunch while we sailed back to the marina at Airlie Beach. They put a shade up which was nice after the full day of sun yesterday.
We enjoyed the scenery, I read my book, and we listened to music. Greg asked our tour guide if there were any good Australian sea shanties. Our guide looked at the skipper knowingly and said, “I think it’s time for the song.” He queued it up and as soon as it started we thought it was hilarious. It’s called “What a Bloody Great Day to Go Sailin'” by The Wolverines and it became an anthem for our tour group for the rest of the week anytime we went on a boat or just anytime, really.
We arrived back on shore around 5pm. We taxied back to our hostel and got our luggage out of the lockers. Greg and I shared a bunk room with three other girls from our tour group. Everyone took turns showering off two days’ worth of sunscreen, sweat, saltwater, and sand. It was marvelous.
They did have a “shower” on board the sailboat, but it was really a shower head that attached to the sink in the bathroom that you could use to rinse off. Not many people bothered with that, especially since we had limited amount of water and you’re just going to get sweaty again instantly anyway.
Greg and I walked over to the grocery store nearby to get food for our 10-hour train ride the next day. We saw everyone else in our group there as well, searching for something to buy that could serve as a lunch on the train and not need to be refrigerated or heated up. We ended up with fruit cups, granola bars, chips, and trail mix.
At 7:30, we walked to a restaurant called Boaty’s because apparently they have a deal with the sailing company and you can get discounts if you just came off their boat. We saw the deckhands there too!
They were going to have karaoke there, which normally I would love to do, but it wasn’t going to start for a while and we had to wake up the next day at 4:30am! Some people in our group stayed, but Greg and I went out for ice cream with the girls in our bunk room. We went to a place called Cold Rock which is Australia’s version of Cold Stone! The name made sense when we walked in and saw the slab of stone where they mix the toppings in with the ice cream. The owners of this franchise were explaining how Cold Stone uses a frozen granite stone while Cold Rock uses frozen marble – fun fact! I had strawberry with mini M&M’s that was meh, but Greg really liked his cinnamon mocha latte milkshake!
We reorganized the stuff in our bags and got ready for bed so we could get some sleep before catching the 5am shuttle to the Prosperine train station. We are headed to Cairns tomorrow!
Thanks for reading!
-Rebecca
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