Australia: Day 6-7, Whitsunday Islands, part II

I realized after making this post that it'll be my favorite post from the trip.  We went to the most beautiful place I've ever been, and did the most fun thing on the trip.  Not to mention, it was Karen's birthday!

Day two on the ship was phenomenal. We woke up around 7am and it was warm enough to eat breakfast on the deck in bikinis. :)

Learning to sail.

With the Skipper, and Eric in the background chillin on the diving board. That board is where I experienced my favorite moments on the boat. One of which isn't documented. On our last day we sailed for probably three+ hours and I layed on it, one foot dangling off, in that first stage of sleep. It was heavenly.

Brooke and me with our London girls. Nadia (on the left) had Michael Jackson tickets for this summer. Bummer.

On the little motor boat headed to Whitsunday Island!

This photo (and all other photos of amazing quality) comes courtesy of Karen's awesome camera.

That is, hands down, the largest spider I've ever seen. I definitely didn't compare the two side by side, but I'd guess it was about the size of my hand.

Can't really see the spider in this one, but trust me, it's there! I was so creeped out to even be that close.

The look out point of Whitehaven Beach.

"Team Responsibility"

When we got in the water I was super nervous to get stung! (Thanks Shan.) I kept yelling at everyone to shuffle their feet instead of picking them up when they walked. I think that's what you're supposed to do, right? So you don't startle them? Anyway, we did see one, but he was friendly. :)

Until we came here I thought Lake McKenzie was the most beautiful place I'd ever seen, but now Whitehaven Beach takes the cake.

This is a very common spot pictures are taken for postcards of Whitsunday Island.

Turtle tracks. :) The night before one some of our group cam across some baby turtles headed the wrong way to the water so they rescued them! SO jealous!!

The sand was freaking amazing. The cleanest, most fine sand I've ever touched. It was like flour. It would squeak when we walked. "Squeaky clean."

Warning: there's about a million jumping/jumping attempts photos.

Group jump shots are tough.

Almost, but what happened to our arms?

Finally! (PS, we didn't plan where to put our legs/feet.)

No, I don't take myself that seriously, we were just being nerds. You'll see in a few more photos I really don't take myself seriously...

See? I'm not that vain.

Eric held down the fort while we had our photo shoot.

I really don't know why I'm still single.

Leaving Whitsunday Island. :(

Another party boat.

While we waited our turn to scuba we went snorkeling. Just when you didn't think Karen's camera could get any cooler, it had a contraption that made it water proof! Thanks Karen!

The W is for Whitsunday. Apparently my left hand struggles.

Again, photos don't do justice. The coral seriously was glowing, and the fish colors were SO bright neon!! It was awesome.

I love the reef in this picture.

One of the funniest moments on the trip. We were just sitting in this shallow water while we waiting for Tom to pick us up and take us diving and this weird German man in a banana hammock just came over and started talking to us, asking if we minded the music someone was playing. I couldn't really understand him, and actually wasn't really paying a lot of attention after this photo. I love Jenna's face.

This is the point I'm looking to Karen as if to say, I hope you're getting photos of this. Luckily she was a step ahead of me. The water proof case was still on her camera which explains the smudges, but still, she's pretty stealth!!

If you look closely you can see at this point I can't help but sort of chuckle to myself.

Our diving group minus one! :( Wish you woulda been in the pic Karen! Jenna's in the middle of me and Brooke. She was so cool! She's a Canadian who was doing a semester of university in Australia. How COOL is that??

That look on my face pretty much shows how I felt about this whole trip.

I was SO excited to go diving! It was the thing I was most looking forward to, and in the end, the thing I loved doing the most. It is a MUST do. I'd never been before (and wasn't certified so it was just an entry level dive, but still better than I'd expected.) I definitely want to get certified after this trip though. It was honestly unreal.

I was really worried about my sore ears from the day before, especially because I can't even go six feet in a pool without my ears killing, but as you can see I had no problem equalizing!

So the first time I saw Tom's face while we were under I thought, "What's wrong with his skin??" Then I realized, being under water just is not flattering.

So cool. We got to touch an anenome (Nemo's home.) The second you touch it it immediately suctions your fingers. So cool!

We got back from our dive just in time to experience the "snorkle bong." Well, experience via watching someone else. :)

Jenna took one for the team.

Jenna.

Our scuba group.

Tom and Lee (aka Skipper.) Um, Karen, what's not to love? Tall, dark, handsome, and Aussie? Okay fine, he was a dirty skank, but come on, he's a sailor!

Lee with Ben, one of the other sailors. The other crew member was Lee's girlfriend Jodi who cooked all the food. It was amazing!!

Red sky at night, sailor's delight.

Just before everyone (minus Team Responsibility) got trashed. I admit, after being heckled for not drinking it was pretty hilarious watching a 17 year old who didn't know his limits, pass out, and then get taken on a boat (after waking up) and rammed, accidently, into the dock. Oh man, Karen, I don't think I'll ever stop laughing when I think about that.

My other favorite moment on the diving board. Luckily I woke up before the sun came up (or anyone else woke up.) I just went and watched it rise above the hill and it was my favorite moment of the trip. It's what I call my "moment with God." It truly felt as if everyone else in the world was asleep. There was no noise other than the water, some birds, and an occasional fish jumping out of the water.

Sadly we eventually had to get off the sailboat. We had a few hours to kill so we hung out in the public lagoon (so nice!) and took showers in the outdoor showers by the pool. Yes, we soaped up, like homeless people, in our bikinis. Pretty white trash but hey, we were backpackers.

After an overpriced cab ride with a very chatty driver we made it to the Airlie Beach airport. The airport we flew out of was so tiny, the waiting area was outside. We flew to Brisbane that night and stayed another night with Freya and Nathan (world's best hosts) and then in he morning were off to fly again, into an even smaller airport...