Izaak and I stopped by a store to grab me some flip flops and both of us a
shirt for our sailing excursion. We both got some Brixton gear due to it
being a clothing line from where he lived that we talked about previously.
My columbia flip flops broke at lake McKenzie and I have been walking
around with half my flip flop dragging everywhere for the past two days - a site for sore eyes - along with my purple bedazzled Cat shirt Josh bought
me - that children stare at in amazement and adults laugh at or find extremely
odd.
Once we got to our boat, we sailed out about three hours to hook island and parked for the night. The crew chose five guys to go forward and hoist the mainsail. Our boat name was condor and has won several races- it has since been modified to be much simpler, but remnants of its glory days are there. I told the guys I had sailing experience and thought they should choose someone less experienced instead, but it seemed like no one else was terribly interested so I became the third deckhand for this 80+ foot monster sailboat.
15 of us were in this together, about half the original group of 34 signed up. Two new ladies joined us and started their group tour on this boat. The group got along very nicely and most everyone I talked to said it was the best day of their life (the full day we had on the boat). Keep in mind it was the worst sleep any of us got, too windy up top to sleep (Izaak and I tried) and way too hot down below. I have slept a lot of places, but a plastic pad down below in whitsunday during summer in Australia, takes the cake. It’s easier to sleep in a Stryker in Iraq. The only comparable thing I have experience in is Africa, but thankfully we had ac everywhere we went in Africa.
The first night went by rather uneventfully, we got our orientation, a chicken / mashed potatoe dinner, quick shower, and enjoyed the thunderstorms. I saw one of the biggest chain lightenings of my life far off in the distance that lit up the entire sky. Sleep that night was extremely tough as explained earlier.
Just about everyone woke up at 530 am - I suspect because the temperature was rising to even more uncomfortable levels paired with noise of people walking about the deck. Muster was at 630, “brekky” at around 7, then we made our way to Whitsunday island at 8. White haven beach took a dingy ride and a decent walk across the island but we were thankfully the first people on the island and the beach (due to sleeping right next to it / waking up early I assume) - great job by the crew to make that happen. Nav and I took full advantage of being the only people on the top 5 beach in the world and got some nice pics which I have posted to Facebook.
At the beach we relaxed in the water (we had to wear stinger suits because it was stinger season/some of the jellyfish stings would kill you) and laid out to tan. White haven was on of the hottest places I’ve ever felt- but true to their word the sand was amazingly soft and didn’t reach high temperatures itself. It truly was one of the best beaches I have ever seen or could even imagine. After the beach we hit a few snorkeling spots, jumped off the boat a bunch, took in amazing scenery and even fed Australian predator birds from the boat. It was quite impressive watching eagles and hawks maneuver - even catch food we threw off the boat mid air with their claws. I greatly enjoy wild interaction like that, as I strongly believe the world is in harmony, whether we are aware of it or not.
For lunch we had corn beef sandwiches and dinner we had steaks. Brad mark and Matt were our crew, awesome guys except their apple crumble joke- they asked if anyone wanted apple crumble for dessert but didn’t have any. Izaak and I genuinely were trying to find some apple crumble so we thought it was a crap joke. I don’t think we had any dessert while on the boat but we did eat well and they made wonderful snacks - a must for sailing. 5 stars for the crew.
During snorkeling I was able to see two turtles, I’m beginning to become a turtle fan! One swam between my legs, getting uncomfortably close to me. I have video of it from the go pro and will post later.
At the end of the night we caught the sunset from the boat and snagged some photos. We enjoyed talking about the day, the trip, and Life while we set anchor for the second overnight. We played some games that matt made up, one with a cereal box that Lilly from New York (actually Connecticut) won, and another game that he asked if there were any engineers in the group. I have told people I am a computer science and possibly electrical engineering depending on the school I get into and was the only one from that field on this boat. Each person had a field, doctor, vet, sales, accounting, banking, investment banking, pharmacy, law, premed, and contributed in turn when they were called upon. For this game we had to undue a human knot. I love challenges and my brain started cranking out all the possible outcomes. The group was stuck, but I didn’t really say a word as I went through all the options first to myself, once they tried something that gave me an idea I had it and solved it. The crew said to be fair he didn’t know how to do it until someone showed him, but I was able to figure it out without any clues. Small competitive moment for those of you that know me well :) I’ve been hoping I get into Harvard or mit (only a 1% chance) so I high fived raj and encouragingly Said harvard engineering ?! What a dream... on the back of my mind is constantly the question of what school I will get into – could be anywhere from UC to Harvard. Which reminds me I need to plan a trip to visit some of these schools for my spring break.
After the games, matt said the winds wouldn’t be as bad as the first night so a group of us decided to sleep up top. It worked out well and I woke up to a decent sunrise after a good night of sleep my first time sleeping on top of a boat successfully.
Once we got to our boat, we sailed out about three hours to hook island and parked for the night. The crew chose five guys to go forward and hoist the mainsail. Our boat name was condor and has won several races- it has since been modified to be much simpler, but remnants of its glory days are there. I told the guys I had sailing experience and thought they should choose someone less experienced instead, but it seemed like no one else was terribly interested so I became the third deckhand for this 80+ foot monster sailboat.
15 of us were in this together, about half the original group of 34 signed up. Two new ladies joined us and started their group tour on this boat. The group got along very nicely and most everyone I talked to said it was the best day of their life (the full day we had on the boat). Keep in mind it was the worst sleep any of us got, too windy up top to sleep (Izaak and I tried) and way too hot down below. I have slept a lot of places, but a plastic pad down below in whitsunday during summer in Australia, takes the cake. It’s easier to sleep in a Stryker in Iraq. The only comparable thing I have experience in is Africa, but thankfully we had ac everywhere we went in Africa.
The first night went by rather uneventfully, we got our orientation, a chicken / mashed potatoe dinner, quick shower, and enjoyed the thunderstorms. I saw one of the biggest chain lightenings of my life far off in the distance that lit up the entire sky. Sleep that night was extremely tough as explained earlier.
Just about everyone woke up at 530 am - I suspect because the temperature was rising to even more uncomfortable levels paired with noise of people walking about the deck. Muster was at 630, “brekky” at around 7, then we made our way to Whitsunday island at 8. White haven beach took a dingy ride and a decent walk across the island but we were thankfully the first people on the island and the beach (due to sleeping right next to it / waking up early I assume) - great job by the crew to make that happen. Nav and I took full advantage of being the only people on the top 5 beach in the world and got some nice pics which I have posted to Facebook.
At the beach we relaxed in the water (we had to wear stinger suits because it was stinger season/some of the jellyfish stings would kill you) and laid out to tan. White haven was on of the hottest places I’ve ever felt- but true to their word the sand was amazingly soft and didn’t reach high temperatures itself. It truly was one of the best beaches I have ever seen or could even imagine. After the beach we hit a few snorkeling spots, jumped off the boat a bunch, took in amazing scenery and even fed Australian predator birds from the boat. It was quite impressive watching eagles and hawks maneuver - even catch food we threw off the boat mid air with their claws. I greatly enjoy wild interaction like that, as I strongly believe the world is in harmony, whether we are aware of it or not.
For lunch we had corn beef sandwiches and dinner we had steaks. Brad mark and Matt were our crew, awesome guys except their apple crumble joke- they asked if anyone wanted apple crumble for dessert but didn’t have any. Izaak and I genuinely were trying to find some apple crumble so we thought it was a crap joke. I don’t think we had any dessert while on the boat but we did eat well and they made wonderful snacks - a must for sailing. 5 stars for the crew.
During snorkeling I was able to see two turtles, I’m beginning to become a turtle fan! One swam between my legs, getting uncomfortably close to me. I have video of it from the go pro and will post later.
At the end of the night we caught the sunset from the boat and snagged some photos. We enjoyed talking about the day, the trip, and Life while we set anchor for the second overnight. We played some games that matt made up, one with a cereal box that Lilly from New York (actually Connecticut) won, and another game that he asked if there were any engineers in the group. I have told people I am a computer science and possibly electrical engineering depending on the school I get into and was the only one from that field on this boat. Each person had a field, doctor, vet, sales, accounting, banking, investment banking, pharmacy, law, premed, and contributed in turn when they were called upon. For this game we had to undue a human knot. I love challenges and my brain started cranking out all the possible outcomes. The group was stuck, but I didn’t really say a word as I went through all the options first to myself, once they tried something that gave me an idea I had it and solved it. The crew said to be fair he didn’t know how to do it until someone showed him, but I was able to figure it out without any clues. Small competitive moment for those of you that know me well :) I’ve been hoping I get into Harvard or mit (only a 1% chance) so I high fived raj and encouragingly Said harvard engineering ?! What a dream... on the back of my mind is constantly the question of what school I will get into – could be anywhere from UC to Harvard. Which reminds me I need to plan a trip to visit some of these schools for my spring break.
After the games, matt said the winds wouldn’t be as bad as the first night so a group of us decided to sleep up top. It worked out well and I woke up to a decent sunrise after a good night of sleep my first time sleeping on top of a boat successfully.
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