I'll just preface this by saying both Jason and I think we're having withdrawal symptoms from our amazing 3 day/3 night sail around the Whitsundays Islands.  We are grateful that so many people talked us into the "sail" experience, since it was something we were initially questioning doing at all.

One of the most difficult things for us was choosing just the right boat to sail around the 74 island chain of the Whitsundays since there are literally dozens to pick from.  Thanks to the guidance of a helpful tour operater who steered us away from the "backpacker" scene and more in the direction of a boutique cruise ship experience on-board the Pacific Sunrise, we sailed the Whitsundays in style.  Basically this meant more comfortable accomodations (having our own private room and bathroom), less people on the boat, fully catered meals prepared by the ships chef and served to us by the crew, and a gorgeous and spacious ship to move around on.  This certainly made the experience even more enjoyable.

We both agree the greatest part of the sail was the lack of decision making we had to do.  There was no thinking involved in any part of it, just complete and total relaxation.  Each day was filled with gourmet meals, champagne toasts, laying out on the ships decks, snorkeling sessions on the Great Barrier Reef, walking along and sunning on Whitehaven Beach, playing cards, reading our books, viewing the beautiful islands, and making new friends with our fellow shipmates who were all so much fun.  This was definitely paradise for us both.

Although we had heard so much about how amazing the Great Barrier Reef was, nothing could prepare us for how vibrant that world truly was.  The coral literally took on a life of it's own, quite different from what we had ever viewed or experienced in Hawaii.  The array of brightly colored fish were so much fun to watch, and Jason actually ended up quite far out getting stuck following the same fish.  At this point we are quite revved up to do some scuba diving once we arrive in Cairns in a couple days, since the snorkeling definitely wet our palettes for more.

Now, we're back to the grind of actually having to think about what we do each moment of the day, where we go, what we eat, where we stay, etc.  We will certainly never forget our time on-board the Pacific Sunrise and how majestic the Whitsundays were.