Stumbled upon in 1770 by Captain James Cook 49
days after Easter (Whitsunday), the Whitsunday archipelago emerges from the
Coral Sea amid the Great Barrier Reef. The seafaring Ngaro people called this
paradise home until 1870 and hunted these waters in bark canoes. Nature’s brushstrokes
are astonishing here: pure-white sands meet cerulean waters, swirling together
at sandbars to merge into a palette of turquoise, cream and emerald-green
hills. From the moment Cook recorded seeing them, it has been every sailor’s
dream to witness these 74 islands firsthand. Glassy, invigorating and
impossibly blue, the waters provide the ideal oasis for relaxation and idling
away a few hours on the beach.
We sailed in
here early in the morning as the sun was coming up. There are 500 residents on
the island that just live here and do not work. There are 1500 people that live
and work here and there are about 5,000 tourists at the time of year. The homes
are in the millions. There is special housing for the workers.
In the 70’s a
man bought the islands and put in all the infrastructure. He leveled a mountain
into the sea to create an airport, for which he was fined $100,000. But, in the
90’s he went bankrupt and lost the islands. In the early 2000’s Bob Oatley, who
owned Rosemount vineyards, sold them and bought the islands for $2 million. He
then invested over $1 billion into the island. Our guide said that today it
makes a profit every day.
This was a
beautiful island. We really did not have a tour, they just tendered you to
shore and told you to do what you wanted to do. Where the tender dropped us off
was a beautiful marina. It holds up to 312 boats and some can [ay as much as
$75/hr to be here. It also had a few shops there. Everyone drives golf carts.
The only other vehicles are the small tour buses.
We then took a
shuttle to the other side of the island (5 minutes away) and we were on the
beach side of the island. They drop you off at a resort on the ocean. It is on
a beach called Catseye Beach. The water felt great as the temperature was in
the 100’s. It was turquoise blue.
From there we
took the shuttle back to the marina and hopped on a free tour bus that took you
up on a hill that overlooked the bay. On the way up we saw some of the magnificent
homes that were along the way.
Once we got up
to the top is was a spectacular view.
We then came
back to the ship. We were only in port till 2 PM. We came back and had lunch
and decided, since we had our suits on to enjoy the infinity pool.
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