Lovely islands, not so hot about the boats

So today was the tour of some of the Whitsunday islands. Up again at 6:30 and not back to our apartment until 5:30. In-between we travelled about 150 km, hit a couple of islands, did some more snorkeling and hit one of the more spectacular beaches I've ever been to.

Understand, I'm not a beach person. Cathy's the beach person. The idea of lying on sand, which will take you days to get rid of, and slowly roasting like a pig on a spit in the baking sun is not something that appeals to me. I like the warmth and all, but if we're at a beach, odds are I'm under an umbrella or a shady palm tree. But Whitehaven beach is different. It's about 7 km long and the entire beach is made of silica sand. It's exceptionally fine grains, cool to walk on and not a total pain in the ass to get rid of later. Plus with the tides and currents, the beach was an interesting shape. We could also wade out for hundreds of metres and the water still wouldn't go above our waists.

(Cathy would like to add that it's important to note that the water was warm.)

So that was nice. The snorkeling wasn't quite as good as what we had near Cairns, but it was still fun. I had the same reaction, actually. I burst out laughing the first time a school of fish burst past me, swimming by in a flurry of blue. I've never really done something like that before. It was quite odd, but still good. I think if we ever moved to Australia, I would definitely pick up scuba diving.

(Cathy adds she saw a sea turtle and it was very cool.)

The only problem with the snorkeling and the beach was all the boat travel. It appears I'm just not built to kick around on the water. It's nearly two hours after I got off the boat and I'm still felling nausea from the day's travels. I didn't get sick, but I can't say I really enjoy feeling this dizzy and out of sorts this long after being back on dry land. Oh well, we'll figure something out if we ever move here.

Not sure what Monday will bring us. The original plan was to hit a few more of the islands, but in lieu of today's nausea, the idea of hopping back on boats is not entirely appealing. So it might be a day of sloth, either at a local beach or on the deck of our apartment. It's vacation, after all. No need to be going flat out all the time.

More tomorrow, including perhaps some pictures of Sunday's journeys.