Under the Sea!

"...darling it's better down where it's wetter take it from me..." Yes, I have had the little mermaid song stuck in my head for the last few days. But I must agree, it is great under the sea.

Mally and I boarded a sailboat two days ago to begin our journey through the Whitsundays. We said goodbye to our shoes and hello to about 30 other passengers and crew members as we boarded our cozy boat "New Horizon". We then cruised for a couple hours through aqua waters and around lush green islands as the sun fell to the horizon and set amongst a colorful glow. We anchored in a bay for the night and enjoyed a scrumptious meal while getting to know our fellow passengers... from England, Canada, Holland, Sweden, Ireland, Israel, Australia... all over!

The next morning we cruised onwards and as the boat swayed back and forth I focused on keeping my breakfast from projecting itself overboard. I arrived in turtle bay with my stomach in tact and was cheered up by a great big turtle poking his head out of the water for a breath of fresh air. From there we left the boat (phew!) and took a small boat over to Whitehaven beach - known as one of the most beautiful beaches in the world and home of the sand used for the Hubble telescope. Having seen a few spectacular beaches in my life, I could not believe my eyes when I arrived at what is indeed the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. A mixture of pearly white sand and turquoise waters swirled in front of me with lush green forest climbing up the island behind me and the vast sea flowing endlessly in front. I took a walk along the coast, over the intriguing formations of windblown sand, and around the inlets of blue waters until I was alone with my beautiful surroundings, soothing ocean waves, and talkative beach birds - a relaxing haven in the middle of the sea.

I walked back to our group thrilled to see all the boys starting a game of soccer! Deciding that they needed a girl to join the group, I jumped into the match (and mally was not far behind). What a treat to play my favorite game among such beautiful surroundings. A perfect end to a peaceful morning.

After spending the morning on Whitehaven, we cruised off to Blue Pearl Bay. Here we began our underwater adventures where we saw so many more colors than blue. While snorkeling amongst the coral in our highly fashionable flippers and "stinger suits" Mally and I saw orange striped Nemo looking fish, neon fish that appeared to come out of the 80's, black and white zebra-looking fish, a blue gigantic (3ftx2ftxthin) fish named Elvis, brightly colored fish with mouths of white teeth crunching into the coral... a sea of colorful motion!

After snorkeling, we went deeper into the sea with an introduction to diving. We strapped on weights and oxygen tanks and went down and down and down. All sounds but our deep breaths disappeared and only the sun's rays indicated an outside world. We became a part of the underwater wonderland swimming past beautiful coral and our colorful friends. What an experience!

We spent the rest of the evening anchored in Blue Pearl Bay. This morning, we awoke to another sunny day and cruised over to a new bay for some more snorkeling... another relaxing tour through the sea. Today we saw more groups of colorful fish... swam amongst the schools, followed our favorites as they swam this way and that, and watched as blue clams shut closed when we kicked our way by.

Sadly, our snorkeling had to come to an end and we all boarded the boat to head back to land. We sailed to Airlee Beach through a mixture of wind, sun, and rain. While I was sad to leave the beautiful world below, I am quite happy to be on stable ground now. And our visit to the sea is not over for good... tonight we are headed to Cairns for some more underwater adventures.