Whitehaven Beach

Bliss! That is the word to describe Whitehaven Beach in the Whitsunday Islands. Nearly 8km of white silica sand, turquoise water some of the other 74 Islands as the backdrop.
The cruise ship left Port Airlie at 7am and after a couple of stops at other islands to pick up a few more tourists, we took "the long way round" to get to Ehitehaven beach, avoiding the worst of the rough seas. The ship landed us directly onto the beach, after the crew handed out the mandatory full body swimsuits to avoid the sting of the Irukandji jellyfish. This jellyfish is about as big as half of my pinkie finger nail, apparently and is quite deadly.
We had 2 hours to take photos, swim, walk and just lay on the beach in the shade from the trees on the edge, taking in the spectacular view!
It was the most amazing experience! I will definitely be returning here, if only to show Michael how beautiful it is.
We then returned to the cruise ship, and left for Daydream Island, where we had lunch, found a rainforest walk across the island and gate crashed a beach wedding on Lover's Cove. It was a strange wedding with the bride dressed up in a very ornate marshmallow like dress which was not at all what I would have thought suitable for a beach wedding, but, I suppose, it was her wedding and she got to choose :)
As we got to the transit lounge for the return trip to Airlie Beach, it started to pour with rain, perfect timing since we were under cover by then.

Mmmm... now how long before I can reasonably expect to return to the Whitsunday Islands.... I've planted the seed already in Michael's head and with Candice going to uni 3 hours away in Townsville, we will definitely need to visit her soon ;)