Week 9 – Whitsunday Islands to Cairns Highlands
The highlight of this week was our 3 night sail through the Whitsunday Islands. This is a group of 74 islands, within the boundary of the Great Barrier Reef. We were on a 3 masted Mediterranean Style Schooner, 135 feet long and 200 tons. With only 10 other passengers and a crew of 5, we snorkeled and cruised between fine meals. The coral here was the best I have ever seen. Although we had to wear stinger suits, to protect us from the deadly box jellyfish, we did not wear fins in order to protect the coral from damage. While snorkeling we saw a Wobbegone shark, a green turtle and a sting ray. From the boat we watched a dolphin chase fish, more green turtles and 3 dugongs. This was only the third dugong (related to a manatee) sighting that the boat captain has had in 15 years.
After the boat trip, we went to Magnetic Island. We heard there were koalas there, so we went to find some. We did find three, but the biggest surprise was finding a mother with a joey. This was something we had not seen before even in the zoos or koala sanctuaries!
Heading inland we toured Paronella Park, a Moorish Castle built by hand by Jose Paronella in 1930 as a gift to his fiancée. Since then the castle has been destroyed by floods and fire but the current owners are working hard to restore it. It is a fascinating story of what one man can do. From there we saw several waterfalls on our way up to Cape Tribulation.
The highlight of this week was our 3 night sail through the Whitsunday Islands. This is a group of 74 islands, within the boundary of the Great Barrier Reef. We were on a 3 masted Mediterranean Style Schooner, 135 feet long and 200 tons. With only 10 other passengers and a crew of 5, we snorkeled and cruised between fine meals. The coral here was the best I have ever seen. Although we had to wear stinger suits, to protect us from the deadly box jellyfish, we did not wear fins in order to protect the coral from damage. While snorkeling we saw a Wobbegone shark, a green turtle and a sting ray. From the boat we watched a dolphin chase fish, more green turtles and 3 dugongs. This was only the third dugong (related to a manatee) sighting that the boat captain has had in 15 years.
After the boat trip, we went to Magnetic Island. We heard there were koalas there, so we went to find some. We did find three, but the biggest surprise was finding a mother with a joey. This was something we had not seen before even in the zoos or koala sanctuaries!
Heading inland we toured Paronella Park, a Moorish Castle built by hand by Jose Paronella in 1930 as a gift to his fiancée. Since then the castle has been destroyed by floods and fire but the current owners are working hard to restore it. It is a fascinating story of what one man can do. From there we saw several waterfalls on our way up to Cape Tribulation.
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