One of my favourite things about expedition cruising is seeing parts of the world that are difficult to access any other way.
We disembarked the Scenic Eclipse II in Cairns yesterday after being lucky enough to visit Great Barrier Reef islands including Lady Elliott, Great Keppel, Percy and Magnetic. While some, such as Magnetic, are just a 25-minute ferry ride from the mainland, others involve a 12-hour boat ride to visit.
It was our second visit to Lady Elliott Island after enjoying an awesome weekend there as our Christmas present to each other. Our first trip involved flying from Sydney to Hervey Bay then boarding a tiny plane across to the island.
This time around we climbed aboard zodiacs from the ship and arrived on the island for a snorkelling expedition, where I debuted my whale shark stinger suit, which received lots of enthusiastic comments from the expedition crew. It is very out there, though DD reckons it looks much better than he was expecting …
I was still a bit shy about wearing it at that point, so hid behind DD for the selfie above…
The next day we headed to Great Keppel Island for a water aerobics class at the beach, kayaking, stand-up paddle boarding and sea bobbing.
Here’s a pic of what a sea bob looks like …
Whizzing around on sea bobs was soooo much fun. I have no idea why I felt the experience required sound effects, but I spent the whole time making racing car sounds like a five year old!
Meanwhile cousin Dave reckons doing his first-ever aqua aerobics class on a Great Barrier Reef island was one of his top three highlights of the cruise.
After lunch DD and Dave went for a bushwalk while I kicked back on one of the top deck daybeds with a cocktail.
Next stop was Middle Percy Island (pictured main) for a fantastic day of kayaking and exploring. The island is located 130km south east of Mackay and is maintained by volunteers who live off-grid for periods of time in a couple of huts. There’s also an A-frame “Percy Yacht Club” to explore, filled with yachtie memorabilia from the many vessels that have visited the island.
We had a lovely time chatting to one of the long-time caretakers, a sturdy, spritely old bloke called Marty.
It was so serenely beautiful to kayak into the island’s mangrove-lined lagoon, which is only accessible at high tide.
Afterwards, DD’s cousin Gillian was lucky enough to score a private yoga class on the sand with the ship’s wellness coach.
Later in the afternoon we sat on the top deck sipping Margaritas as a pair of dolphins undulated past the ship and gorgeous islets surrounded us.
Some of the more cashed-up guests took helicopter flights over the island as we lazed in our top-deck cabana and cooled off in the pool.
The next morning dawned rainy in Airlie Beach. We took a twirl along the boardwalk and I did a little shopping in the boutiques lining the main street before we returned to the ship for lunch and another lazy afternoon.
Our final stop on the voyage was Magnetic Island, a return visit following a holiday there in 2022. Coincidentally we booked an excursion aboard the same yacht as our previous visit: Pilgrim.
The team at Pilgrim are amazing and take such good care of their passengers. We climbed aboard and sailed to Radical Bay, where we went ashore for fresh Moreton Bay bugs and prawns, fruit and cheese, including the most stunning local Gallo macadamia cheese, which I loved on our previous visit.
The wines served aboard are from Tamburlaine, featuring labels designed by my talented artist friend Michele Heibel, while the yacht is owned by friends of the son of my beloved late Aunty Barb.
We hugged and reminisced about what a special woman she was and how much we missed her. Aunty Barb was one of my most supportive blog followers, always sharing so much laughter and kind words.
We arrived back at our cabin after the sailing adventure to discover the Champagne and birthday card from the Captain that I mentioned yesterday.
Then it was time for a pre-dinner Champagne at Lumiere’s Champagne Bar and a selfie with the maitre de before dinner for two with DD. Here’s the menu … snails possibly something not high on my delicious list, but I tried one …
We sipped Chateau Neuf de Pape red wine served by the amazing sommelier Alex, who ran us through a masterclass earlier in the cruise when I told him the sad story of visiting various cellars in Chateau Neuf de Pape with my ex-husband and collecting a case of our favourite drops … which were subsequently stolen in Valencia. Sob!
We made up for the loss during the degustation dinner!
My birthday dawned with a last breakfast on board and a scrambled together gift from DD of two travel magazines. He’d been planning to give me a submersible trip aboard the ship, but the water was too rough throughout the cruise for it to be launched.
The submersible looks like this …
And while I am still freaked out by that Titanic submarine implosion a few years back, I was willing to give the Scenic Eclipse one a red-hot go.
Ah well, maybe one day we’ll get a chance to travel aboard the Scenic Eclipse again …
Then we made our way to Cairns to return to the real world. The youngest was waiting to collect us and we made the long trip to the Northern Beaches to collect the dogs and have a quick bowl of birthday pasta at Lucky & Pep’s.
I came home to flowers, chocolates and an apartment that had been scrubbed clean from top to bottom while I was gone!
We had a sensational time on the cruise. The staff and food were amazing and so were the island visits. The shore excursions were a bit hit and miss. It was frustrating to be taken to Airlie Beach rather than somewhere more picturesque.
We also felt it was a missed opportunity to be travelling to the Great Barrier Reef and only have one opportunity to snorkel. Plus the region is so picturesque, but there was no scenic cruising – it was all done at night. One of our favourite parts of previous voyages has been sitting on deck watching beautiful scenery glide past.
But it was still a blast and we felt very lucky to experience so much pampering.
OK, back to the real world with a thud – it’s time to get up, walk the dogs, then catch the bus to work!
Song of the day: Pink “Get the party started”
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