Paddleboarding at the Whitsundays

Today a trip over to the Whitsunday Islands, tempted by the marketing of Whitehaven Beach being the best in Queensland. We are part of a group of about 30, certainly the only ones from the UK, with the bulk being from Japan. The boat is basically a large speedboat and the captain loved showing how it could cut through the waves. Certainly we had fun as the boat rode the waves and it crashed up and down like a rollercoaster on Brighton promonade. Our first landing was to walk up to Hill Inlet lookout and see the fantastic beach - no wonder the scene is used in all the travel brochures. Paradise. Then off to Whitehaven Beach and whilst the weather was not exactly sunbathing, it was pleasant enough to sit and just enjoy the lovely sand and calm water. We try our arm at paddleboarding; well, Diane has had a lesson a couple of years back, so she did quite well, firstly on her knees, then standing up. Keith had never done this before, so was a real novice, but managed to stand up quite a bit, but that was also mirrored by many dives into the sea as well!

We move onto a part of the sea near some coral and do a bit of snorkling. We've done snorkling in many parts of the world, but this one was a bit disappointing as the sea was quite choppy and the water was not that clear. Whilst we saw some different coral to what we had seen before and some fish that were very colourful, the overall experience was not as good as we had hoped. So, back to the boat and onward to the harbour. When there, we have a quick meal at a new restuarant of fish and chips, listening to a competent guy playing some good covers, mainly Motown. We catch a young couple dancing to the musician for a while - the girl in a lovely white dress with the guy in a sort of DJ suit - both very current and trendy. Takes us back to our youth.