To be honest we have been having too much fun to blog! Alexa and I spent the last 3 days living on a boat in the Whitsunday islands. It was hard to leave and I wish we were still there (vs an overnight greyhound bus).
First we arrived at Airlie beach and stayed at another base hostel. This was more like little apartments which was cool. Our roommates for the night were 3 girls from Spain (Madrid and Valencia-one named carlotta!!) and it so happens that they were going on our same boat trip! So we went to dinner together that night at the hostel pub. Very exciting because they actually had reasonably priced food and it tasted good!!! Woohoo! Meals were $10 and included a beer! My kind of deal :)
Anyway there was some major drama prior to dinner. I was in the shower and luckily missed most of it. Apparently Alexa picked up her suitcase and out of the corner of her eye saw a cockroach fall off. She calmly asked one of the spaniards to investigate and the three girls just lost it and started screaming and all jumped onto one bed yelling and pointing. (alexa here: actually, i calmly said "girls, dont scream but i think theres a cockroach over there." lost cause...the girls went bananas. "ayyy dios mio!! Me madre!!! Ahhh!!! Es enormé!!!")At this point I was done with my shower and thinking that someone was murdering all of my roommates. It was a pretty great site to see! 4 girls huddled on a bed pointing at the cockroach as it moved around and yelling/crying for their mothers. I understood all the Spanish as they were yelling :) anyway in the end Alexa sucked it up and got a guy from another room. (sidenote: when i went to find said guy, he said oh! I heard you guys and thought you were having a party! Good to know if we were being murdered no one would react!) A guy from wales (they are always so nice!) came to the rescue and laughed at us for standing on the bed and screaming. He didn't seem phased at all and picked it up with his hands (psycho) which caused a lot of screaming and horror from Spain. Anyway after that we were happy to leave and go to the pub. Alexa and I had one beer and called it a night but apparently Spain had to drink off their tension and "entered the boat with a hangover" the next day! Poor girls... That night we stayed in the top bunks only to avoid any critters... So the 5 people in the room slept on 2 beds with 3 empty beds! Don't judge until you are in the situation!!
Timeout - Just waded thru a river with our bus. Did we mention it's been raining a lot here?!
Anyway so the next day we walked down to the marina in the rain and boarded our boat Wings 2 in the rain. Spain was pretty much out of commission the rest of the trip between the hangover and seasickness so we didn't see much more of them. There were 24 people on the boat and a skipper, a dive instructor and a cook/cleaner person from England, new Zealand and south Africa respectively. Pretty cool. The boat was small but somehow we all fit pretty well. There was a main room with the kitchen And tables to sit. Then downstairs on either side there were 2 bathrooms and 2 bedrooms. In each room there were 8 beds. Alexa and I lucked out and got a double bed to share which was awesome compared to a very skinny bunk bed! (alexa again...people really do think were dating). So I have to say boat living wasn't that hard to get used to and it's the perfect place to be if you want to get away from the world for a while! Nothing but ocean and islands around for miles :)
On the first day we decided to try diving again. Since Alexa hadn't completed the first dive this was her first long dive. It was awesome!! The guide was much more attentive to us and took his time and we understood everything that was going on. It was also a lot easier the second time to get used to breathing underwater. I think I am hooked! Career change please. We saw so many fish including a huge Maori wrass fish who came right up to us and let us touch it! (used to be a female fish but now is a male...complicated). We saw heaps of fish and had a nice swim around the cove. Back on the boat we showered and got ready for dinner. Showers were very small and to prevent the boat from running out of fresh water you had a time limit of about 3 minutes! But actually it wasn't that hard to do and everyone manages to clean up ok in time for dinner. The first night we had a feast!! Salad and rolls and a potato bake and veggies and chicken or for me stuffed peppers :) (or for Alexa because she eats my leftovers :-) )mmm nice living! We also had chocolate cake for dessert!!!! After dinner we sat ourselves down on the back of the boat and watched huge fish swim in and out of the lights. There were baby sharks and dolphins! We watched a dolphin eat a squid and ink squirted everywhere!
For entertainment we played cards and got to know the other people on our boat. There was a gaggle of english people and I'm sorry to say they really just formed a group themselves and weren't friendly. So we joined the international group. As in there were 2 groups: English and international (or not from england). It was fun! We were also the healthy group as one German pointed out because the English all smoked and drank a lot and our group didn't really do that. Our group consisted of us, Germany, Sweden , Switzerland and Denmark!! Learning so much about different places. Fun facts: Denmark is part of the EU but uses their own money (krowns), they say skull instead of cheers, and they can understand Norwegian pretty well. We learned a card game called sevens which Alexa is now obsessed with! At the end of dinner the skipper talked a bit about the fish we had seen that day and where we would go the next day. The mood on the boat was great, very relaxed and easy going. We had to be up by 630 so we didn't make it a late night. Sleeping on a boat is heaven between the gentle rocking and the white noise of the waves and generator - slept like a baby!
The next day we woke up to a breakfast spread of fresh fruit! (and the anchor chain being pulled up...so loud!!) We sailed to Whitehaven Beach which is the number 2 best beach in the world. Its made 98% out of silicone or something like that. Beautiful!! We had a great time walking to the beach, taking lots of group photos on the white sand (pyramids and jumping woohoo!) then we put on our stinger suits and went in the water. It never got too deep which made it perfect to see small stingrays and lemon sharks! The Spanish girls even had a towel that was the American flag (bought on a trip to Miami) so we were able to take an all American photo on the beach :)
After that we got on the boat again to go to a second snorkel/scuba area. Breaking news: it was sunny!! We almost forgot what it looked like and were able to sunbathe out on the front of the boat on the way. Doesn't get much better. (see the "I'm on a Boat" music video for an approximate idea of what our trip was like).
So scuba diving the second day was even better!! We saw amazing colorful coral and then went to the bottom to hold a giant sea cucumber. So many nemos!!! Fun fact...the female nemos (which i think are actually called clown fish?) are in charge and when the head female dies, a male turns into a female and then mates with her son to continue the clan. Very cheeky business these fish engage in...sorry to ruin Finding Nemo for everyone! As we looked up a big sea turtle followed by a huge batfish swam by!! We swam behind it and were able to follow it in a circle as it checked us out. Coolest experience ever. Saw its cute little face and everything :)
while we were diving the instructor brought an underwater camera to take photos of us (which we later bought). One of my favorite memories is at this one piece of coral he stopped us to each take a solo photo with the nice view. I swam up and smiled and he took the photo and I moved over. Next was the turn for this german guy who swam up and posed in front of the coral. Next thing I see Alexa swim up right in front of him with a big smile and 2 thumbs up! I didn't know why she was getting right in the way of this guys photo but I figured she would move. The instructor tried to signal to her to move back but clearly she didn't understand because she kept posing and smiling for the camera meanwhile completely cutting the German guy out. Later we learned she had no idea it was the Germans tub and thought the instructor was signaling her the whole time. It was pretty hilarious because she was being so (unintentionally) rude and so happy about it!! All smiles and thumbs up. I started laughing underwater which I learned is a very strange experience! Good times...
After scuba we were able to casually snorkel around the boat and look for little reef sharks. I say casual because they had noodles for those too lazy to swim (aka Alexa) and so we spent some time floating around enjoying the views!
Fun sea turtle fact- they apparently are always stoned which is why they just float around and are so easy going. They get this high from the toxins in the jellyfish that they eat!
So we were on cloud nine the rest of the day. Actually I had some weird sore throat thing and went to bed at 930... But Alexa was social! (she was very determined to win her new game of sevens and to beat the obnoxious Swiss girl who liked to interrupt conversations with her terrible stories on repeat and taking "sexy" photos on the beach that were definitely not sexy. Yes this is alexa and yes im still bitter!!!) After 9 great hours of sleep I was good as new and we woke up early for one last snorkel session before we had to return to land. Alexa and I might take to the seas and join the life of a snorkel/scuba instructor if employment is hard to find back home. We were in heaven! Of course the day we leave the sun comes out and it's warm and sunny!
We met up with the group that night for dinner and to celebrate st Patrick's day a day early! As fun as it is it's hard to meet such great people and make friends knowing you prob won't see them again. But who knows in Europe we are gaining quite the network of people to visit and places to stay! Next trip!
Our Whitsunday adventures came to an end with an overnight greyhound bus to Hervey bay which is where the trip to Frasier island begins! I have to say we both slept pretty well on the overnight bus, almost the whole 12 hours haha. We met Minty, the coolest english girl, when we got off the bus and were waiting for the hostel. But now I'm foreshadowing! I'll let Alexa tell the next part :)
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