Great Barrier Reef & Whitehaven Beach - July 17, 1999

Great Barrier Reef & Whitehaven Beach - July 17, 1999

We left soon after 8am to get to  Whitehaven Beach.  We had "organized" a trip with Air Whitsunday to visit the Great Barrier Reef.  It was a beautiful morning for a sail, but the minimal breeze was dead ahead so we motored the two hours to Whitehaven Beach.

Whitehaven Beach and Hill Inlet, courtesy of Cumberland Charter Yachts

After a short visit by tender to the famous beach, we prepared for our seaplane ride to the Reef.

Although we could see it, we couldn't raise the seaplane on channel 81.  But it soon landed next to "Temptress" and we learned from Dan, the pilot, that he was trying to reach us on channel 74, oh well.  We got on board via the dinghy and were off to the Great Barrier Reef.

Pilot takes our family for a seaplane ride

Dad took the first video since Sydney, and hopefully captured one or two whales from the plane.  Dan also pointed out a large sea turtle from the air.  It was a terrific flight including a circle over "Heart Reef." 

Heart Reef

My wife and older son saw a giant ray from the seaplane.  We landed at the south end of Hardy Reef and taxied to a small pontoon boat where another seaplane was tied up.  The other pilot welcomed us aboard.  They tied both seaplanes to the mooring and set the boat loose to motor to another portion of the reef.  We sat below and watched the fish and reef through the submarine glass in the bottom sides of the pontoon boat.

We quickly arrived at the reef's edge and they let us don our snorkeling gear.  The other seaplane had brought a mom, dad, daughter as well as a couple so there were nine of us snorkeling with the two pilots.

There was a tremendous volume of fish and underwater life.  Dad loved seeing the number of giant clams including one that was 18" to 24" long.  Mom enjoyed the long, silver "barracuda-like" fish as well as the parrot fish and many-colored fish.  The boys really enjoyed the giant clam and the fish also.  Since there was only a foot of water over the reef we were told to swim along the edge.  Near the end  of the visit, about an hour later, there was almost a meter of water over the reef, so they let us swim carefully over the top.  Since the water was so shallow and it was about 1:30pm the sun was directly overhead and we could see the reef very clearly.

On the flight back Dan flew us over Border Island, Hook Island, Hayman Island, as well as Hill Inlet, and Whitehaven Beach, before landing and letting us off onto our dinghy.

Hardy Reef (above), postcard similar to our goggle view

Mu older son and I sat on "Temptress" and read books while the younger boy and my wife took the tender to Whitehaven Beach for a couple hours.  At the beach they buried my son's feet in the sand.  They listened to the wind whistle through the pine trees on the beach.  They confirmed that the sand is "baby powder soft."  My wife found the words "Then I carried You," from the poem about Jesus' walk with us on the beach.  They had been written in the sand.