Day 6 – Tasman Island and Port Arthur…and Ghosts!

Ahoy shipmates…hump day! I love an eloquent youth crew…makes my job a breeze. As such, over to Red Watch. Fair winds, Captain Kenny.———-
Day Six – Thursday 9th January 2020
Red watch began the day with the Middle Watch (Guts Watch, 0001-0400) and had the good fortune to see a pod of dolphins that glowed due to the bioluminescent plankton in the water that they were swimming through. It was magical as they left glowing trails through the sea. We all then had the pleasure of listening to White Watch’s morning wake up song, with a rendition of “Footloose”. After breakfast, all the youthies came up on deck to watch us sail through Tasman Island gap, which was a small passage lined with seals and magnificent dolomite cliffs. The cliffs are the biggest in the Southern hemisphere and date back to the Jurassic period. Some youthies watched the tight squeeze from aloft to get the best vantage point. Daz the Navigator gave us some awesome facts about the gap and Salty entertained us with a few more stories and some more naval jargon. Captain Kenny gave us some pointers on Sail Theory which we then implemented in some practice tacking of the ship, and setting and furling sails. Kenny took three youthies from each watch during every tacking drill to further their knowledge of the tacking process and the importance of tacking on a sailing vessel. Not long after, Adam cooked up a storm with some beef vindaloo and lamb cutlets for lunch – what an absolute legend. We then pulled into the famed Port Arthur, and landed ashore. We sat under the shady trees with our watch leaders to have our mid-voyage talks to refocus on our individual and team goals, and ascertaining where we could go from here to improve. When that was done, we were given the remaining 1 ½ hr to explore Port Arthur in all of its tragic but beautiful glory. It was a very hot day and many of us took refuge in the old stone buildings and cafes around the grounds. We made it safely back to the ship and then had a deck BBQ that was fit for a king. Burgers were available with every possible filling known to man, and the picturesque Port Arthur was the backdrop to our meal. We took a couple of group photos to celebrate the occasion and to mark the mid-point of our long voyage. As of writing this, we are preparing to go back ashore to Port Arthur for a ghost tour tonight which many of us are keen for but many also wary of what we may see tonight as it is one of Australia’s most haunted sites. We are all quite tired as the watches alter our sleep schedules quite severely. However, we are in good spirits and most of us have found our sea legs. We miss all of our families but we are finding ourselves in good company. Love to everyone reading this, especially our mums and dads- from Claudia, Georgina and Hannah in the mighty red watch.