Eureka

Location: Whitsunday Islands

“BAHHHH SABENNYAAA” That was the start of our morning – Rowan’s Lion King playlist being blasted throughout Eureka II. We watched the sunrise, signifying the new day ahead of us and enjoyed breakfast over Hakuna Matata. After breakfast, we embarked on our journey to what looked like a desolate island. We found a coconut spear and decided to take a crack at opening them. By the time, everyone opened their coconuts; several of us were covered in the juice while others were enjoying the meat from inside. We took a half-hour hike up to the top of the mountain, with a beautiful view of the Whitsunday Islands. We decided to hike back down by ourselves individually. While waiting to embark on our solo hikes, we played several rounds of ninja in which Christy, Alexa, and Joe took the wins. It felt so rejuvenating walking down by ourselves, looking out at the crystal blue water and the sailboats anchored there. Others were a bit concerned that they would trip, fall and never be found again, as our group is a bit prone to hurting ourselves — shoutout to Alexa for her nine-hour streak of not falling. Once aboard again, Daisy, Joe, Keeley, and I hoisted the sails, and we were off to our final snorkeling spot. Sitting on the high side while the boat was heeling was one of my favorite parts, although Meredith would have to disagree with me. Later we found ourselves in sting suits masking up to swim with all the colorful fish. I spent the last sail back to the marina sitting on the high side with Lily, Joe, Daisy, and Keeley singing very loudly, talking about life and trying to teach Daisy how to whistle. We took turns on the helm while Jenna and Rowan had a competition on who could stay balanced the longest while we were heeling; it was a close call on who won. The rest of our group could be found in the salon or the cockpit holding on for dear life as the boat rocked back and forth in the waves we took on. As soon as we docked everyone ran for the showers. You are excited to take a normal shower and use a normal size toilet when you have been on a boat for several days. We enjoyed dinner at a place called Beaches and treated ourselves to New Zealand ice cream. The rest of the night was spent doing what we call “mandatory bonding” (which is a lot of fun), playing tag in the park, and me arguing with Joe about how cheese curds and mozzarella sticks are two very different things. Our night came to a close on the bow of the boat, sleeping under the stars.