Story:
Whitsunday Islands We left Tinsel Town and took the Greyhound bus down to Airlie Beach, a popular base to visit the Whitsunday Islands and more diving sites on the GBR. Nice landscapes along the way, mango plantations and kangoroos, a few lucky ones hopping around, but more laying along road, roadkill. Airlie Beach itself is not much more than a strip of bars and travel agencies with lots of backpackers around. We expected to stay only one night so we looked for simple cheap accomodation. We ended up in a motel-style hotel (think Pulpp Fiction) and started looking for a sailing trip around the islands with diving facilities. Most were already booked so we have to stick around until thursday. For the mean time, we booked a day trip to one of the more popular sites on the GBR, Knuckle Reef. A large, fast Seacat took us out to a pontoon on the edge of the reef. Most of the other passengers came to snorkle only, so we ended up with a small group of 8 divers. The pontoon had an underwater platform inside to make a cool James Bond style entry into the sea. The reef was spectacular: colourful, a huge variety of fish and types of coral and i spotted a stingray. On the second dive, the guide took us to a small cave where he saw a white tipped reef shark, but he annoyed the shark and chased it away. I stayed behind a bit as the group moved on and then the shark slowly came back, swimming straight towards me. He stopped at about 3 m distance and then disappeared into the blue. Awesome, I almost forgot to breathe! Back in Airlie, we found out why our room was so cheap, there's a nite club accross the street (!), Mama Africa. Well, "if you can't beat them, join them" and it turned out to be pretty good dancing. Tomorrow, we leave for our sailing trip, stay tuned!
Whitsunday Islands We left Tinsel Town and took the Greyhound bus down to Airlie Beach, a popular base to visit the Whitsunday Islands and more diving sites on the GBR. Nice landscapes along the way, mango plantations and kangoroos, a few lucky ones hopping around, but more laying along road, roadkill. Airlie Beach itself is not much more than a strip of bars and travel agencies with lots of backpackers around. We expected to stay only one night so we looked for simple cheap accomodation. We ended up in a motel-style hotel (think Pulpp Fiction) and started looking for a sailing trip around the islands with diving facilities. Most were already booked so we have to stick around until thursday. For the mean time, we booked a day trip to one of the more popular sites on the GBR, Knuckle Reef. A large, fast Seacat took us out to a pontoon on the edge of the reef. Most of the other passengers came to snorkle only, so we ended up with a small group of 8 divers. The pontoon had an underwater platform inside to make a cool James Bond style entry into the sea. The reef was spectacular: colourful, a huge variety of fish and types of coral and i spotted a stingray. On the second dive, the guide took us to a small cave where he saw a white tipped reef shark, but he annoyed the shark and chased it away. I stayed behind a bit as the group moved on and then the shark slowly came back, swimming straight towards me. He stopped at about 3 m distance and then disappeared into the blue. Awesome, I almost forgot to breathe! Back in Airlie, we found out why our room was so cheap, there's a nite club accross the street (!), Mama Africa. Well, "if you can't beat them, join them" and it turned out to be pretty good dancing. Tomorrow, we leave for our sailing trip, stay tuned!
Comments (1)
What to do: Whatching at a computerscreen all day while being on the phone talking about numbers or.....swimming in the big blue see meeting up with a white tipped reef shark....HHMMMMMMM. GOOD CHOICE i should say!Checked out this shark on google, WOW!!
by Zusje on Oct 29, 2009
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