Up early for breakfast so we could catch the bus to the marina ready to set off on our catamaran adventure out to the Chalkies and Whitehaven beaches.
The crew of three were very friendly and the Captain was amusing although you sense a lot of it is just spiel that he dishes out every trip. It was a beautiful sunny day and almost pancake flat with very little wind. Perfect day for the beach but not so great for sailing so we made our way to the beaches mostly on engines.
It didn't take long to see our first wildlife as we spotted a couple of humpbacks off the port side (get me, 10 mins on a yacht and I'm an expert). It's great to see whales but after our Coffs experience we are a bit blase about the whole thing now.
We sailed for about an hour or so to Chalkies Beach where we were going to snorkel. Ali and Emily got the tender into the beach so that we could be sure Em was happy snorkeling before going into the deeper reef, I jumped off the boat and swam in to pick them up. Emily was fine and we started along the reef looking for cool stuff.
To be honest the reef was a little disappointing, clearly it has been visited many times and most of it was dead. There were still fish to see but I've snorkeled in better places before and as this was the Great Barrier Reef I'd have hoped for more. I think they keep people off the really good reefs as the whole reef is protected.
After beers, food, cocktails etc we moved across the channel to Whitehaven beach. Ali took the tender in with the bag of towels whilst Em and I swam the 200m into the beach. She did really well considering the water was really deep and I know she was apprehensive about what was in it.
The beach itself is stunning with the finest sand I've ever seen. It is 98% silicone which is pretty unique and apparently it will destroy electronics if you aren't careful. I walked up to a small viewing rock through the bush for some vista pics whilst the girls froliced in the sea. It was clear to see what damage the cyclone earlier in the year had done as lots of trees were down and it wasn't as lush as you would expect. All part of nature and it will recover in time. The captain said a large chunk of the beach had been washed away as well.
After a couple of hours of perfection we swam back out to the boat and made our way back to the marina partly under sail and partly under motor. Another turtle and more whales finished off a lovely day.
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