Hamilton Island (Whitsunday Islands), Australia - Along the Great Barrier Reef

Today is Thursday, February 15.  Our ship laid anchor at about 5:30 a.m. in Cid Harbor, just off the shore of Hamilton Island, one of 74 islands that make up the Whitsunday archipelago.  (The archipelago takes its name from the fact that Captain James Cook stumbled upon this area in 1770 when his ship ran aground on the Great Barrier Reef some 49 days after Easter (Whitsunday).  Turns out his counting was inaccurate, but that's history.)  Our destination was Hamilton Island, a privately owned island with a population of about 1,280.  There is a marina on the island, as well as shops and restaurants in a small downtown area, and a large resort on the side of the island that is opposite the marina.  I took the the above photo at the resort.  There are also a number of private homes.

But before I get ahead of my story about today's half-day visit, let me begin by posting a few first-light photos.  As they reveal, the geography here is stunning.

Within minutes of taking these photos, the sun began to rise and looked like this:

At 7:15 we were tendered to the marina on Hamilton Island.  The marina area looks like this:

From an elevated spot on the Marina side of the island looking out into the bay, here's what we saw:



















We took a short tour around the island in a small shuttle bus and got out on the resort side.  Apparently Viking contracted for the use the resort's facilities, including the pools and beach, by the ship's passengers.  And that's exactly what we did.  Here's what the resort side looks like:

After awhile, Janis and I walked from the resort side to the marina side and then returned to the ship.

We had a sailaway time of 1:30 p.m.  Here's the view as we shoved off:

























Viking apparently arranged for another helicoptor to fly its photographer around the ship as we headed off.

As is typical when we leave a port we've visited, crew take in the flags that had been set out for the occasion.



In no time, people were in the cafe having lunch and some were in the infinity pool, the smaller outdoor pool adjacent to the cafe's outside eating area.



Our early sailaway was dictated by the distance we have to cover in order to arrive, as scheduled, in Cairns early tomorrow morning.  Once there, Janis and I are going on an 8-hour excursion by catamaran to the Great Barrier Reef where we will snorkle and otherwise take in all that we can.