Holiday - part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Fauna

The next morning we said goodbye to Airlie Beach and took a water taxi out to our island resort - Palm Bay.

I'd read about it on someone's blog where they'd been there for honeymoon and said it was 'paradise'. It offered bush walks, snorkelling, sea kayaking, stand-up-paddleboarding; it had a pool, a day spa, tennis court, and restaurant. Most importantly for us, it wasn't anywhere as expensive as Hamilton Island, and didn't look as crowded as Daydream Island. While the accommodation options were limited (queen bed units - Raewyn brought an airbed mattress to sleep on) it was a small price to pay. An additional advantage was that it was an 'adults only' resort. No offence to families with children - we were all children once - but we did enjoy having a kid-free zone for a few days.

Departing Shute Harbour

Palm Bay

Happy Bay - one of the bush walks, to an abandoned resort

Happy Bay

We also spent quite a bit of time in Palm Bay itself, paddling in the sea kayaks (or on the paddleboard) and snorkelling. In the resort information it said there were reefs on either side of the bay, but we didn't see much on our first 'expedition' - the visibility in the water wasn't great and we didn't really know where we should be going. After that failed attempt we took the kayaks out again to see if we could find the reef that way. The visibility was better and we were moderately successful.

On our last full day we went out snorkelling again, where I was able to take the following pictures. In some places the coral was quite sparse on the sandy sea floor, but in other places it was denser and more similar to the sites we'd been to on the tour.

We actually did one and a half snorkel trips - on the second one, Raewyn took a sea kayak while I snorkelled. She had had enough of snorkelling but wanted to go out on the water, while I was keen to go snorkelling again but wasn't sure if I would have the physical stamina to get out and back. So to have her nearby in a kayak was a welcome safety net! (I did end up hanging onto the back of the kayak when we came in.)

I liked the purple/yellow fish

Pink coral with blue tips

We had seen a few glimpses of turtles... one on the tour, another on our walk to Sandy Bay, and another that popped its head up briefly in Palm Bay. But the best sight I had was to see one just hanging out on the reef shelf, hardly moving despite my repeated duck-dives to take its picture. It was hands-down the best experience I had on this holiday!