Location: Whitsunday/Orpheus passage
We leave Townsville on one of our final passages. There is a pain in my heart as I know we have very little time left with these people who have become family. We left Townsville last night, and after 11 hours of motoring into the current and waves towards the Whitsundays, we decided to turn around and head to Orpheus Island. This happened because of time. It would have taken 36 more hours to reach the Whitsundays, and that would have left us with no time to enjoy the islands before our passage to Cairns. With clear blue skies, we about-faced and raised all sails, turned off machinery, and made extremely good time. Boomer enforced a mandatory watch team, Alpha, meaning everyone was on watch, but I don’t think he had to force anyone on deck since the weather was so nice. Whales became an hourly occurrence, and we could see them frolicking in the water all around the ship. We arrived in Orpheus about an hour after lunch and proceeded to anchor and clean the ship. After dinner, we prepared for a two-hour OCE/OCB class. We watched a film, the original March of Penguins. This film was all in French, with English subtitles. IT was really interesting documenting three emperor penguins. There were voices for each individual penguin and really amazing footage. Once the film was over, we all retired to our bunks for a needed night of sleep.