Day 9 – Command Day Part 2…Tangalooma, Wrecks and Snorkelling!

DAY 9 – End of Command Day
Ahoy shipmates! Boy, do we have a packed day to recount today. At the tail end of our Command Day, there were a fair few exhausted faces, with a few youthies feeling under the weather. Our (supreme) chefs, Roy and Laura were up at 0400 ready to prepare a lovely French toast for breakfast, which the youthies devoured in between the night and morning change of watches. As half of us headed to bed to catch a couple more hours of sleep, those of us who were on the bridge steered Young Endeavour into Tangalooma right on time, after a night full of tactful navigation and some sailing overseen by our Navigator and Sail Master.
We were all glad to anchor – both because our regular rounds were switching to slightly easier anchor watch rounds, and because we were all excited for the inevitable swim later in the day. Those who were awake set about finishing off some of the remaining tasks – setting up for the morning brief skit, and building the 15-person rope hammock at midships ready for the crew. As everyone awoke to “All I do is Win” at 0830, the clouds parted slowly and the weather warmed up, signalling a good day to come.
Morning brief at 0900 was certainly a Command Day highlight. We were able to show off some of the work we’d done overnight. Sail Master Hughy showed off a very long and questionably funny joke as he kicked off, along with Navigator Cookie’s weather brief and fun fact. We then had a few visits from “Saltana” (Captain Khushi) and “Vomit Princess” (Chef Roy) as part of a skit, hosted a staffies vs youthies trivia, and sang the Australian National Anthem to three different tunes (Hedwig’s Theme, I Wanna Dance with Somebody, and Let it Go). We all had a lot of fun, and it was great to see everyone in the youthies’ crew have a part to play.
As Command Day came to a close, we had a few more tasks still to tick off! After getting through the Happiest Hour of the Day, we all jumped onto the hammock and viola! It worked (which is good, because 15 of us falling on deck would likely have resulted in a few extra bruises). Finally, we all headed to the 12-berth for a Disco DJ’d by TJ and Reggie, featuring Hughy and Will as a duet.
After the Fun Police shut down our disco, Captain Khushi handed the ship back to Captain Kenny, and many of us put our heads down for a nap before grabbing lunch and heading off to shore for the swim we had all been looking forward to! At Tangalooma, the youthies went snorkelling around the shipwrecks, swam through the cold water, and climbed some giant sand dunes (Will may or may not have almost faceplanted as he ran back down one…)
As the sun set magnificently over the horizon, we climbed aloft for a group photo taken by Reggie, before having a chilled out and ~vibey~ barbecue dinner, accompanied by good music and great conversation.