The Whitsunday Islands are a popular destination for Aussies for vacations, destination weddings, snorkelling, fishing, and sailing. For us, they’re mostly a “rest stop” en route to Indonesia, and a first chance for folks to experience the outer portions of the Great Barrier Reef..

We’re not actually setting foot on the islands today, but will be seeing them from the water.

---

Our included tour here was billed as a an easy “Panoramic Journey Through Stunning Island Waters”, cruising through the Whitsunday Islands on board a large (100-150 passenger) air-conditioned catamaran. All of the other offered excursions involved snorkelling in the fringe reefs of the Great Barrier Reef, kayaking, or helicopter rides; given our lack of swimming skills and the price of the helicopter tour, we were content to simply cruise.

This part of the ocean is full of coral reefs; there is not enough depth for our ship to get close to the shore, so we were at anchor again.

Unlike what we’ve done before, for the first time today we did not go in the Viking Sky’s tenders but instead boarded directly onto the chartered catamaran from the Sky’s hatch.

---

---

But before our afternoon excursion…. football!!

It may have been Monday morning here, but it was Sunday evening in New Orleans where the Kansas City Chiefs were playing the Philadelphia Eagles in the Superbowl.

Since 99% of our passengers are North American, that’s a big deal, so naturally Viking stepped up with a full-blown watch party on the pool deck.

---

---

---

---

---

---

Ted enjoyed the wings and corndogs. I didn’t partake of the tailgate party goodies, but at halftime deserted the pool deck for a quiet spot in the Explorers Lounge where Martin in Mamsens plated a piece of Norwegian Eplekake (apple cake) and unsweetened whipped cream for me.

---

The football game was over well before our 2:00 p.m. excursion. (Eagles 40 : Chiefs 20).

We were forewarned that depending on the weather and water conditions at the time of our visit, our skipper would plot the best course to showcase all the islands have to offer. Since the skies were grey and the sea rolling a bit, I took a meclizine before boarding our catamaran. With the strong breezes and open decks, I really didn’t need it, but better safe than sorry.

We passed iconic resorts and stunning natural scenery, as well as the fringe reefs found around some of the archipelago’s 74 islands, but honestly the narration was so focussed on details of the resorts, the golf course, the homes, and the beaches that it felt almost like a real estate presentation. Nonetheless we got a sense of the natural splendour of the area.

---

The one fact that surprised me was learning that Shute Harbour, at Airlie Beach, was Australia’s second busiest harbour after Circular Quay in Sydney! That’s almost entirely due to the number of tourist vessels and ferries, although there are also lots of small barges bringing goods to the islands and taking garbage away.

Dinner in the World Café tonight featured a Vietnamese station. This was the first time I’ve ever been disappointed in a specialty station. The pho was lacklustre, and the only two entree dishes featured were chicken over rice, and Vietnamese chicken in tacos shells.

Despite that, we sat beside friends and had a nice chat.

There was no after-dinner show, since the Super Bowl was being screened in the theatre for those who were on excursions while it was live this morning. We’d delayed our dinner to a bit later than usual, but still had time to linger over lattes before the band started at 9:00 p.m. in Torshavn.

Tomorrow we’ll reach Cairns around 1:00 p.m. and have a free afternoon to wander around. It’s an overnight port: on day two we have a full day excursion in the rainforest.