Hervey Bay

Ever since Tony told me we were going whale watching, I envisioned the wonderful blog that I would write. No funny stories, just wonderful memories from our trip.  Hmm, I should have known it would not be that rosy.

 

Tony planned a memorable trip to Hervey Bay, just north of Brisbane. Hervey Bay is a four hour drive, so we made it a weekend trip. Just before 7 in the morning on Saturday, we ventured out to catch the shuttle to our boat. The moment the captain stepped off the bus to greet us and said, “The conditions could not be worse for a boat tour”, we should have turned around and walked away.  No, we didn’t.  We continued on to pick up two more families and then off to the marina.  As we stepped on the dock, despite the calm seas at the marina, you could see the rough waters out past the jetty.  I shot a quick glare to Tony, but we marched on to greet even more families already on the catamaran. The captain stressed again how rough the water was and gave us multiple opportunities to back out.  I tried oh so hard, but little Ellis’s eyes batted up at me and he said, “Please, Mommy, let’s go.”  My mind told me to load everybody back in the van, but I couldn’t deny my little fella the opportunity for this adventure.  So, we set sail.

To say the water was rough might be a bit understated.  When I asked Tony to go and get me a life jacket, Hannah Grace’s eyes alone showed how mortified she was at the thought. “NO, MOM!” leapt from her mouth.  No turning around and no life jacket.  I am pretty sure we were not 2 hours into our SEVEN hour trip when Ellis began feeding the marine life with all that was in his tummy.  No turning back, no life jacket, and a sea sick child. *yippee* Although, I did not like the idea of my child being sick, I could handle his throw up. The sound and sight of everyone else throwing up, however, didn’t do so much for me. At that point, I didn’t care that I wasn’t wearing a life jacket. I was ready to hurl myself into the bay and offer myself as breakfast to the whales. 

The seven hour trip (I kept singing Gilligan’s Island theme song using “seven hour tour” in my head) was not a total loss.  Because the waters were so choppy, the whales were very active.  I loved seeing them fly in the air.  That part was thrilling.  Once we had seen several pods of whales, we moved to calmer water blocked by sandbars and used the sails to guide us.  At this point, everyone seemed to be feeling much better.  Ellis became a new child, running and jumping across the catamaran. I decided his seasickness probably helped with my nerves. I don’t know that I could have handled running and jumping when the boat was being tossed from side to side.  So, in the end, all was good.  We ALL agree, though, next time we will commit to half a day only in calm waters.