Whitehaven beach~On way to Airlie Beach

We had the morning watch today. Our group decimated by seasickness running at well below 50%. So when the call came out to climb the mainsail to un-gasket the mainmast, volunteers were hard to come by. However, Jess and I were all too happy to oblige. We were a bit rusty and tired, we accidentally clipped into the wrong ascender lines making the job a bit harder and longer than it otherwise should have been. Afterwards, I took the helm for the Whitsunday island approach. There were a few sections where threading between islands got a bit tight.

Before too long it was sighted, the world famous Whitehaven beach. We set anchor well offshore and climbed into the RIB(Rigid Inflatable Boats) the high powered Navy version Rubber duckies. The relief of solid ground could not come quick enough. We had an awesome barbie on the beach, played some cricket, frisbee and an entertaining game of elves, wizards and giants. I helped build a wall around Nick and Jesse’s sandcastle. This was sand that sandcastle craftsmen only dream about. Rumour has it that the sand from Whitehaven is shipped to Hawaii’s beaches which do not have sand of their own as they are volcanic islands.

We return to the ship for the next lecture of sail theory before heading off towards our next port Airlie beach.

Here is the corroborating Captains log for today