Island Hopping I -- Susanne Jespersen at Whitsunday Islands

It must be since my favorite movie is Blue Lagoon that I fell in love with the Whitsundays. Basking in intense rays, we cruised the islands for three days. When I saw Whitehaven beach I was the first to dive in, leaving the M.S. Ambition in my wake. Taking deliberate steps once on shore, I was mesmerized by the purity of the sand beneath my toes; the sand (silica) is so white and so fine they can use it to make glass. It squeaked as I shuffled through it. At this stage my heart, my eyes and breath were so full I went wildly running through the sand dunes to release this flow of energy. I was about 6 years old again. My friends joined in. When the skip waved us back to the boat I felt as though someone were trying to steal my whole world away from me.

We moored our boat that night beside a beautiful little island key and stayed up late listening to some jam I’d taped from Ryerson student radio CKLN. It was beautiful and tribal, and one of only two tapes we had for the three day ride.

I was the first to wake on that beautiful morning and decided I had to see what lay ashore before we left our little island paradise. It was only a kilometer stretch of sand, like a sandbar in the middle of nowhere. I dove in again, swam about a kilometer there, through a gazzilion jellyfish – no joke – and made the island my home.

You must understand that these islands are very difficult to get to, and only one has any homes and resorts, so you can pretty much have them to yourself. It’s an incredible feeling. I guess Bill Gates knows that feeling too; he’d taken a helicopter to that resort and was staying on that populated nearby island, where our boat had moored the first night.

There was an annual beach party on Whitehaven when we arrived, but it wasn’t our thing. We moved on from that stretch of beach, down about 10 km to the most remarkable place I’ve seen in this world. We sat silent and in awe on top of Hill Lookout, where one could see the cappuccino-like swirling frothy sands amidst the lagoons. A blue butterfly wove its way through me and the Treehouse crew, then Tom pulled out his didge and played. It was magic. I feel these words unable to do the moment justice, and photos I will send can only show you one moment in time. The tides of Whitehaven are constantly changing, the view is always different and nothing can beat experiencing it for yourself.