Login
Day 6 – Whale of a time at Middle Percy
Dear readers, I hope this dispatch finds you well. I really do hate to rub it in, but we have just had another amazing day! I can’t help it, ladies and gentlemen, I’m just telling it how it is. But don’t take my word for it… here is a fantastic account of the day by a couple of very likely lads, Will and Anders. Enjoy:
“First things first… Saturdays are for the Boys. Weren’t we ready for another beautiful day on the Whitsunday’s. An early wake up, approximately 0645, to the sound of MATTY and others belting out a ridiculous tune of ‘Baby Shark DO DOO’. We all stumbled out of our racks to hear old mate Sailmaster Tugga’s voice letting us know that we have to go eat some breakfast and that we were going into anchor at 8am.
We were up on deck shortly after, in our swimmers, and we were confronted with a sensational view of the exquisite Middle Percy Island. We could see the palm trees and the beautiful water from the trip. We got into the boat and B-Rad drove us over to the island. We stepped off into knee deep water to see an amazing view, coconut trees and coconuts all over beach. There was a A Frame Hut that was filled with historical memorabilia that dated back to 1947. Yachts, boats, and ships that have gone onto the island, leave a little piece of their ship behind in the hut and all of the memorabilia was so fascinating to see.
The scenery was a pictureresque image of paradise at its finest. Nothing like we had ever seen before. We felt like we were in Fiji, it was overwhelming feeling of joy and happiness and peace because of the isolated from the world. We cracked open some fresh and old conconut on the conconut spike, drinking and eating them before we were interrupted by whales breaching metres from the Young Endeavour boat that was at anchor.
As the tradition, we added a piece of history to the collection in the hut. All the staffees and youthees of the voyoge 16/18 Airlie Beach – Gladstone signed a Young Endeavour 30th Anniversary flag, which was drilled up in the walls of the hut.
Other adventures were made in an exquisite cove, eating fresh oysters cracked off rocks and attempted mud crab hunting through the brown mangroves that were an electric red colour once cracked.
We met a bloke who had lived on the island by himself for 15 years ongoing, eating goats and kangaroos of the island for food and generating his own power through solar panels.
After arriving back from the island, the anchor was brought back up, and we set out for sail. We set and furled many sails throughout the afternoon/evening, learning more everyday, heading towards Great Keppel Island, for about 10am tomorrow morning. The sunset was matched with the beauty of more whales breaching, as we kept our eyes pearled trying to capture the Green Flash.â€
Will – “To Mum, Dad, Angus, Georgie, Mia and the boys, lots of love and cant wait to tell you all about the trip, see you soon.â€
Anders – To Bugs, Shella, Nosey, Dj, Mitchy and Til, Mum, James, Ayden, Ethan and Tristian, after the seasickness passed, every day just keeps on getting better, it is so beautiful here and miss you guys heaps.â€
Zac- “Just another quick one to Tyra, missing you heaps can’t wait to see you again. I hope you’re not too stressed with exams and they’re going well. I love you heaps, see you soon ïŠ
Latitude/Longitude:
Conditions:
Weather: Fine Wind: ENE 10kts Swell: SE @ 0.2m
You might also be interested in
Ahoy there Land-lubbers! Today has been the wettest yet! After a busy night of anchor watches and little sleep due to the rolling seas, this morning’s weather seemed promising. We awoke to a beautiful sunrise in Wineglass Bay with dolphins in abundance, chasing and playing alongside the boat. However, there was a spicy **Insert ‘Wannabe’ by the Spice Girls here** call over the intercom from Chucky to don some wet weather gear. The ‘Captain’s Challenge’ (aka the Pre-Command Day Examination) took place after morning briefing, used by the man who makes the sea seasick (El Capitan Gav) to test the Youthies capability to sail the Young Endeavour by themselves. This was made incredibly difficult by the rain. While many hands were on deck and climbing the rigging, the elected navigators were busy (and dry) pinpointing our location. Given the circumstances, we were able to successfully complete the Captain’s Challenge with 10 minutes to spare! There was a brief respite for lunch, cooked by the ever-amazing Haydo and his Gordon Ramseys’. After which, all hands were back on deck to continue setting and furling sails. This task quickly turned from practice into reality, as we were hit by several squalls that became progressively worse over the course of several hours. The Youthies fought bravely against the roaring winds and blistering cold rain to furl the sails. We succeeded in making the ship safe. We have weighed anchor, and are taking shelter in Prosser Bay (near Orford) tonight. Command Day gives the Youthies (almost) total control of the Young Endeavour for 24 hours. This evening, we conducted elections to determine the leadership team that will be running the ship throughout this period. Here are the results: Captain Paige Sailmaster Sophie Navigator Lochie Officer of the Watch Jeremy Red Watch Leader Summer Blue Watch Leader Jack White Watch Leader Alistair Chefs Aria, Tiffany & Anna We wish all our (land-lubber) families back home all the best. Love ya, Gibbsy and Jezza xoxo
Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 6 of our voyage. The strong northerly’s experienced yesterday moderated overnight and by the early hours of this morning we had entered Great Oyster Bay and were now motor sailing due to the light conditions. Just before sunrise we altered course to the east and transited through Schouten Passage which gave the morning watch an opportunity to view the western side of the Freycinet Peninsular and witness a spectacular sunrise. Once safely through the passage we altered course to the north, handed in sail, then proceeded directly into the famous Wineglass Bay where we came to anchor at 0830. Once at anchor we conducted the normal morning’s activities and have spent the rest of the day enjoying this beautiful part of Tasmania. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Liv and Mei who have done a wonderful job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav Ahoy there! This morning started off with a “funny” parody of “Let It Go” from “Frozen” featuring a memorable yet un-relatable line: “the vomit never bothered me anyway”, created by Red Watch. Thankfully, White Watch could sleep through this as they were on guts watch from 0000 to 0400, where they worked as a team to set the storm jib in a record time of 40 minutes! Other highlights of the night included learning about navigation, steering the helm by the wind for the first time and our famous midnight café featuring a lot of vegemite. Some very special guest dolphins swam around the ship and looked truly majestic as they glowed with bioluminescence. We anchored and woke up to the stunning view of The Hazards at Wineglass Bay, which we later hiked up and saw a spectacular view of Young Endeavour looking gorgeous in all its glory. But before this, we had mid voyage chats where we evaluated our goals and how we’ve progressed since the beginning of the voyage. We then played the inaugural bin ball championships created by Bucky at Wineglass stadium featuring a sand court. Unsurprisingly, White Watch won with a tight score of 3-2 in the finals. After the hike, which we were told was going to be around 20 minutes but ended up being more than an hour, some Youthies took the chance to have a quick swim before going back to the ship. Tonight’s dinner menu included lamb satay curry and grilled chicken, as well as a special addition of Hoppy’s Sundae Bar, which proved to be very popular. Most of us decided to have dinner on the deck and take advantage of the picturesque view of Wineglass Bay. As always, a big shoutout to our Head Chef Haydo and Masterchef assistants for keeping our bellies happy! After dinner, we had a self-reflection “Stop Start Continue” workshop in our watches where we wrote about certain aspects we want to work on to improve ourselves. Hopefully we will see that we have been able to make progress on our goals when we get to read them again in six months’ time. We believe in you, you got this! Currently, we’re waiting to start the anchor watches (our favourite) and preparing to set sail again tomorrow. Finally a shoutout to Mum, Dad and Ruben miss you guys so much. Remember I’m looking at the same moon and stars as you are, Love you - Liv Shoutout to Dad as I live out his dream of “enjoying good food on a navy ship”. Mei This is Liv and Mei signing off J
Hi Everyone, Welcome to Day 5 of our voyage. Overnight and during the early hours of this morning we continued to enjoy a great sail around the southern Tasmanian coast with all of the watches kept busy with setting and furling sails and doing some practical navigation. By sunrise we were located just to the south of Bruny Island now just sailing under fore & aft sail and hoping that the day would get warmer, which sadly it didn’t. But the cold and a little rain hasn’t dampened our spirits and we have still managed to fit in a lot of great activities today and our young mariners continue to impress with their endless energy and motivation. That’s enough from me I will now handover to Riley and Jack who have done a great job of writing tonight’s Log. Until tomorrow, take care. Captain Gav This morning the youth crew of the STS Young Endeavour woke to the frightening sound of red watch singing a parody of Riptide by Vance Joy over the ships intercom. This was then followed by the message that blue watch, the watch that was on guts the night before, could have a well-deserved sleep in. While members from blue watch went back to sleep the rest of the crew made their way down to the galley to enjoy another one of Haydos fantastic meals. After everyone had had breakfast the morning brief was given at 0900 which involved informing the youthies of the day ahead and a very educational story by Matty on the origins of the nautical term “two six heave”. After the morning brief the crew went below decks for Chucky’s favourite part of the day: Happy Hour! (Also known as cleaning the ship hour). In the afternoon the three watches conducted rotational tacking stations. This involved the watches rotating through the positions that the other watches fill when we tack which helped the crew get a better idea on what happens when we tack. Captain Gav came up on deck to give us a crash course about sailing theory and the ships history. This was very interesting and gave the youth crew a helpful insight into why different sails are used depending on different wind conditions. Round 3 of the famous Rope races were then commenced at noon with a twist of the round being worth double points. This highly non-competitive competition ended with Blue and Red watch drawing making it a close race for the rest of the trip The biggest highlight of most people’s day was sailing through the straight between Tasman Island and Cape Pillar in the afternoon. We all gathered at the bow of the ship as we gazed upon the spectacular columnar basalt edged cliffs rose up on either side of the narrow passageway. We had to furl all the sails, which involved sending two youth crew members up the main mast in rough swells and high winds to gasket the sail. Engines where turned on for the first time that day so we could safely pass the straight. The effort was truly worth it as we passed the resident seal colony and schools of dolphins. One of the greatest things about the STS Young Endeavour is even though the ship may sway from side to side and youth crew struggle to walk straight without getting knocked into a wall; the ships Chef continues to work hard and impress us with meals made from a kitchen which is smaller than the size of most people’s laundry room. It continues to amaze me how he keeps this quality in these rocky conditions. Not enough praise can be given to the hard work this man puts in keeping everyone happy. Go Haydo!Hi mum and dad I’m still alive, somehow we are already halfway through. See you in six days. Jack. You probably won’t see this but love you to the moon and back mum and dad. Riley. Until next time… Youthies Jack & Riley