CAIT AROUND THE WORLD

April 2, 2023 — Our first full day on the boat. It was an early morning wake-up call, but I got a serious kick out of how they wake you up on this boat: Disney songs. It really put a smile on my face. The beautiful sky that we woke up to helped, too, and even the sight of rain misting over the ocean in the distance was just perfect. (What wasn’t perfect was that the rain caught up with us later in the day, but more on that in a bit.)

We set off from our anchorage and headed to Whitsunday Island. We saw Whitehaven Beach from a distance as we sailed around to the other side of the island, where we were able to anchor and then head to shore using the dinghy. The spot where we anchored on the other side of the island is called Tongue Bay, and it’s a gorgeous sight in and of itself.

From Tongue Beach, we walked through the forest to get to Whitehaven Beach. We had to put on stinger suits to swim just off the shore because of the prevalence of marine stingers in the water (it figures, doesn’t it? The prettiest beaches and you can’t just swim). There were supposed to be stingrays and sharks just offshore, and even though I didn’t see any stingrays, I did see a shark! It went by me, calm as could me, while I was walking back into shore because I hadn’t seen anything. It also happened that I was one of the only people on my tour who I heard saw a shark. So that was cool.

I stretched out on my beach towel and read my book, enjoying myself…until the rain started. And it poured. It also didn’t really stop. We all retreated to the shelter of the trees and the split-off point where you could head up to the lookout. When it slowed down, I didn’t figure there was any point in standing around and I headed back down to the beach because it seemed to be stopping at least a little bit. (It wasn’t.)

One of the crew who had come ashore with us came by and shuffled us all off to the lookout a little early so that we could get back on the boat. It would have been a lot more brilliant in the sunshine, but the views were still pretty impressive in the rain.

By the time we got back to the boat, I was so ready to rinse all the sand off me and get dried off. While we waited to get picked up in the dinghy, I stuck myself down in the water at Tongue Bay and washed most of the sand off. Back on the boat, I got the rest off with the extra sheet for my bunk and dried off since my towel was sopping wet. I felt a lot better in warm, dry clothes. We had lunch on the boat and it continued to rain.

Now, even though it continued to rain off and on all afternoon, I stayed mostly dry by sitting inside the saloon and reading my book (I’d started the Chesapeake Bay saga by Nora Roberts in a nod to the fact that I was on a sailboat). I say mostly dry because I did get wet again when I went snorkelling.

This was the major redeeming part of the day. Think about the pictures that you’ve seen of coral reefs, videos, anything. You’re expecting it to be super brightly coloured and varied and Finding Nemo gives you really high expectations, then actual pictures and videos from people who have actually been to a coral reef disappoint you. You’re not expecting anything all that great, but you still have to see for yourself.

I was flabbergasted. I was prepared for a cool-but-not-that-cool experience based on videos I’d seen on the Internet but it’s actually incredible. If you ever get the chance to snorkel on the coral reef in the Coral Sea, you do it. I saw so many tropical fish, even an “I’m obnoxious” fish (remember the one fish kid from Finding Nemo?) and so many others. Schools literally swam all around me and seemed to come out of nowhere. Literally the only way it could have been even better would be if I had seen a turtle. (And apparently some people did.) I was in the water for forty-five minutes and I was buzzing.

After I dried off and got changed again, it continued to rain and I continued to sit inside most of the afternoon. I read for a long time, with a break to play UNO.

We had a fish fry up for dinner (and, miracle of miracles, it wasn’t raining). That night was supposed to be the White Night party (remember how much time I spent shopping for that in Brisbane?) but I got changed just long enough to get a couple pictures and then put my long-sleeve shirt back on because it was kind of chilly with the rain and the wind on the water.

I went to bed at nine o’clock after going outside just long enough to see what it was like under the little tent they had to try to protect us from the rain and after playing a few hands of cards. I watched a couple episodes of Modern Family and then worked on falling asleep to Mrs. Doubtfire, although that didn’t really work. I actually wound up just dozing for most of the night.

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