November 03, 2015
48: Great Barrier Reef at Reefworld (Hardy Reef)
Early early start! We woke up around 5:30am, and left the door by 6am. We reserved an hour to get to Airlie Beach for the Port of Airlie for our ship! The boat leaves around 8am, check in was at 7:30am.
On our way to the port, we saw brolgas, which was an Australian crane, and several other local species of birds. We also went by tons of sugar cane fields.
We got to the Cruise Whitsunday Port of Airlie and boarded around 7:45am. Our itinerary for the day was as so:
Our tour went the following route:
Around 9am, our boat stopped by Hamilton Island to pick up and drop off people. It was nice seeing all the resorts on the island! Our captain said it was more of a tourist town. We noticed most of our passengers were locals from different parts of Australia, which felt really cool. We're hidden among the locals!
After getting the conversation on possible tours, updates on packages and snorkeling procedures, morning tea break was available! Complimentary fruits and tea/coffee which was cool.
We arrived at Reefworld, the Whitsundays Cruise's pontoon out by the Great Barrier Reef. There's multiple things to do, like snorkeling, sun bathing, driving and riding a semi-submergable sub. Tons of things to do for a little pontoon!
Keri and I went snorkeling first and had a great time seeing the fish and reef up close. The water was really salty. Unfortunately we don't have underwater gear, or else I'd have taken a photo while snorkeling. However, they managed to get a lovely photo of us!
We had lunch around 12:30pm and then Keri went for his diving session at 1:30pm. While Keri was diving, I went and took the semi-submergible sub and saw the underwater reef that way. There were lots of fish and coral! So I managed to get some photos that way!
By 3pm, everyone had to board the ship to head back to land. It was definitely several hours of fun! It took 3 hours (including dropping off people back at Hamilton Island) to head back to the Port of Airlie. We had dinner at Airlie Beach area.
After several hours, I still felt the swaying and moving of the ship. Hopefully it'll go away after sleeping.