Cid Harbour and Hamilton Island

Ahoy shipmates,After a relaxing night at anchor, the crew of Young Endeavour awoke to a beautiful Whitsunday morning. After a brisk early morning activity to get the blood flowing, a hearty breakfast (see below) was had by all. Morning brief followed, the highlight of which was an information extravaganza by Salty, covering terms such as “scraping the bottom of the barrel”, and “not enough room to swing a cat” to name but a few…all terms with nautical origins. The “pool” was then opened for the enjoyment of all, followed by happy hour, another round of rope races, and lunch. With the forecast wind remaining from the east/south east we needed to make our way to the southern end of the Whitsundays to enable some decent sailing overnight. With that in mind we weighed anchor at 1300 and motored south from Cid Harbour, incorporating a “fly by” of Hamilton and Dent Islands with Youth Crew either aloft or on the bowsprit, enjoying the stunning weather (a landing jet at Hamilton Island provided it’s own fly by!). Once clear to the south, sails were set, I gave my sail theory presentation, and we have now set a course to the east in preparation for the on watch activities overnight, which will include the “bearex”, and exercise were each watch is set a challenge by their respective watch leaders involving the setting of a sail they have not used before. Our destination in the morning is the beautiful Whitehaven Beach…lovely. It’s now over to the boys…Fair winds,Captain Kenny Capitans LogAhoy land lubberrrrrrs, Today started at the carefree time of 0630, when we were woken by the beautiful sounds of Jack Johnson’s Bubble Toes blaring over the speakers. This was followed by our morning limbering of limbs and an amazing breaky of maple bacon, eggs two ways, yoghurt with fresh berries and Danish tarts. After breakfast we went for a fresh dip in the extraordinarily scenic sea off of Sawmill Bay in the Whitsunday’s which was followed by everyone’s favourite time of day, Happy Hour (this involves us cleaning the ship). Next we played the extremely competitive/non competitive sport of Rope Races, this involves competing against other watch groups by racing for different equipment and lines etc over the ship. Blue Watch is still currently in lead. No surprise. For lunch there was the simple sea fair of Fillet Mignon and Roasted duck breast in a plum sauce with Greek salad which we devoured before weighing anchor. Setting sail we passed the beautiful Hamilton Island, which we witnessed from high up on the fore mast. The day was round off with “Christmas in July”, roast turkey with rosemary potatoes, pumpkin, pork, crackle, peas and gravy, and for desert orange cake with ice cream and sprinkles. We are currently on Last dog watch (6-8pm), watching the whales off the starboard side of the Young Endeavour.Kind regards from Blue Watch Ziggy and Reilly “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but the moments that take our breath away”.Maya Angelou