Airlie Beach and the Great Barrier Reef

A few days ago, we traveled to Airlie Beach, a town along the coast of Queensland and a very popular tourist area for access to the Great Barrier Reef. Early the next day, we were picked up by a tour company and taken to the marina to board one of the Whitehaven Express boats for a day seeing some of the reef area.

The coast all along the length of northeast Australia and Queensland is dotted with islands. The Australian continental shelf extends out a considerable distance to include these islands and the Great Barrier Reef, which is a massive area extending from Bundaberg to the northeastern most tip of Australia. Lots of sailing craft  were out, though we were on a motor craft.

At each stopping point, the boat's crew lowered a motorized rubber dingy to transport us in groups to the shore.

The crew members were colorful characters, particularly this guy who sported a uniquely styled hat.

Our first stop was a lookout location at the end of one large island. We hiked up a long trail to get a view of Whitehaven Beach, said to be the most photographed beach in Australia because of its white sand.

The colors of the water were incredible. This photo is pretty accurate. Tides constantly shift the sand around and create different patterns and depths. We could see stingrays from this high point as they cruised around on the sea floor and on the white sand.

Later, after completing a top secret mission, we posed for this picture. Actually, all of us were encouraged to rent these suits for the day. It turns out that all of our wondering about sharks in the Great Barrier Reef was misplaced. The real problem is jellyfish. (In fact, there are several other critters that can be dangerous too, but I won't go into that.) Two species of jellyfish, the Box Jellyfish and the Irukandji have nasty stings and the second of these can be fatal. Box Jellyfish are fairly large and can be seen, though usually too late. The Irukandji are about the size of the end of your thumb from the first knuckle to the end. They are small and nearly transparent, and you don't know if you are stung until about 45 minutes too late. The suits prevent stings, so we didn't hesitate to use them.

We did a little initial swimming at another part of the beach, while the crew fixed a lunch. When the food was ready, we discovered that the following guys were more than willing to come begging or stealing. A gull swooped down and took Margaret's steak off her plate before she even got settled. (She called the three second rule and washed it off, though she said it was still a bit crunch.) The Lace Monitors just wandered around at our feet looking for scraps, though they were not hesitant to sniff at skin. I don't know if they would bite or not, since we didn't give them a chance. The one pictured here was probably a meter long. (I'm all over metric now!)

At the end of the day, we were allowed to do some snorkeling. Kathie and Murray got in a good half hour or more. I got out for a bit but got winded so only managed 15 or 20 minutes and didn't see as much and also didn't get to try out my underwater camera. Have hopes for another chance later on in the trip.