Whitsunday Islands

As you can see from the daily balcony shot above, it was a gray cloudy day in the islands. We were just south of the Great Barrier Reef. There are 74 islands and all are a National Park..There are a few privately owned islands too. Hamilton is the biggest city, with an airport and a large marina. The airstrip is very short and only small planes land there.
‘Our tour was a late one. We boarded the tour boat right from the ship which saved a lot of time. We had a 3 hour narrated boat ride through the islands. Most were devoid of hotels and resorts. There were several islands with resorts but many had been destroyed by a cyclone a few years ago and not reopened. It reminded me of the Alaskan cruise, I took several years ago where we passed forested areas with no settlements along the shore. We were sitting on the back of the boat so there wasn’t much wind. It was also pretty warm. After awhile I went downstairs to get a Coke.. I had some peanuts in my backpack, so I sat and had my snack and a nice conversation with a man from Sanford, Florida. It’s near where my parents lived. He is a Florida native and worked for the Disney company. He’s my age, very nice looking…and married. His wife was on the bow of the ship getting windblown. We were delivered back to the ship after the boat ride so we didn’t get to see any town. One of the guys who plays cards went ashore in the morning and said it was a nice town, then he got soaked in a rainstorm and came back.
‘I did laundry when we came back, such a nice feeling to have clean clothes. I don’t dry my shirts all the way dry, so they were hanging all over the place til we got back from the show. It was the comedian/magician again. This time he cut off a man’s tie at the beginning and put it back together at the end. He’s pretty good. We came back to the room and got organized for our sail on the Great Barrier Reef tomorrow. It will be a long day-8 hour tour. At one point we will have the option to snorkel or go in a glass bottom boat. My snorkeling days are over, so we will go on the boat!

Photos are of the islands we saw today.