Merry Christmas!!!

So much to talk about my Christmas day in Dominica but I don't even know where to start.

Woke up around 8:30 to presents by our secret santas sat around the Christmas tree. We had to check into customs and then we were off on our first adventure into the rain forest. 8 of the 10 crew took a boat just barley made to fit our weight to shore. Then took another bus to the opposite side of the island for our hike.

Sammie (my roommate) and I with hibiscus flowers our bus driver picked for us.

This was the start of our hike. We hiked down to a waterfall pool where there were rocks and 40ft deep underneath. 

Abby up front. Dave from America on the left. Tolan from Australia. Stef in white stripes from St. Maarten. Sammie from London. Tour guide. John from Scotland and Jose from Costa Rico. Most of my crew on our hike down to the waterfall.

Abby is standing in the waterfall right after jumping. Everyone jumped, I did a few flips. This is their fresh water supply for the entire island.  Pretty amazing place and defiantly didn't feel like Christmas today. This island is too hard to even explain. I remember when I went to Brazil I came back a new person, seeing what these people live with and then me complaining about not having the best of the best. Most of these people live in houses on stilts, clothes hanging outside to dry and all over the bushes as well as their "lazy boys" (not much of a lazy boy more like a wooden chair) on the front porch with the wind blowing in their hair. I'm amazed that these people live so freely with nothing and are just fine with it. There was a woman who just died in 2011 who lived to be 128 years old. We went past we house and they were telling us she would sit on her porch from 5am until 5pm every day and wave at the cars going by. 

It's so hard for me to explain how the people live here but I'm so much more thankful for my live, the people that are in it to support me and love me. I think they have a lot of love here as well but it's just night a day difference from what I grew up to. One lane roads, two bedroom house for a family of seven, MAYBE one car per family if not you walk everywhere, one grocery store for the entire island and it has less then what a CVS would have. It's amazing these people can survive. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if I had more money in the bank (which isn't much) for over half of the 70,000 residents of this island. 

They said 70,000 people live on this island, 68,750 are black, the rest are caucasian who love to sail and fish or go to the medical school up on the hill. This day couldn't have been a better way to experience the island life. We then went from the hike to "kayaking" which is not the same thing we know as kayaking. We went in a row boat all of us down a river while someone rowed us down the river. We got to row past the scene and where they filmed from Pirates of the Caribbean, would be cooler for me if I have seen the movies. 

After rowing for a bit up river, we went to a bar where only these boats can go to in the middle of the island which was amazing. Rasta mon music blaring, locals rolling blunts and dancing. A cab driver the other day in Antigua was driving a car load of people and was very high. He had his windshield wipers on as fast as they would go while it was 80 and sunny outside, not a cloud in the sky. We asked him if he knew his windshield wipers were on and why. His response: "It's raining where I am mon." He was so high he thought he was in the clouds. Amazing how the rasta culture is around these islands. Herbal everything. 

After a long day in Dominica, we came back onto the boat, showered and put on our sunday best and had a proper Christmas feast on the party deck. An entire large roasted turkey, honey glazed ham, mashed potatoes/gravy, stuffing, salad, sweet potatoes, broccoli with cheese, vine leaves with beef inside, a casserole of some kind, and to top it off a "log cake." I have a major sweet tooth and wasn't too keen on this cake but it was an amazing dinner to say the least. Tolan is an amazing chef and I have no complaints about my life and my job. I love to wake up every morning knowing I'm going to learn something new and see a new place. Tomorrow we are off to Martinique for a few hours and then to St. Lucia.

This was a guy making his roof on this new hut/house....#thankful

Merry Christmas y'all.

Peace & love

Made it to Dominica...barley

Monday night late, I got a new roommate named Sammie. 22 year old from London area to share my room with. 6am the next morning we took off to Dominica. 8 hour journey, took sea sick pills before and wore the sea sick bands and most of us all still got sick. The swells were at least 10ft, it felt as if I was riding a roller coaster with no seat belt when I was out of bed, then we went to lay in bed and I felt as if I was going backwards on a roller coaster, or bad turbulence. I was out of my cabin for about 45 minutes of the entire trip. Sammie was throwing up during the morning trip and most everyone else was in their cabins trying survive. I was able to sleep most of the trip without feeling horrible for a total of 8 hours. We are now at anchor outside the harbor. We got here at dark so I don't have any idea how beautiful it is yet but I will send some Christmas photos.

Dominica is half way from St. Lucia which is where we are going in two days. 

Christmas crew day in Dominica. We are going kayaking up a river to a water fall and hiking up to a bar that was a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean. 

Big Eagle Crew Day

Saturday was the day for all the crew to jump ship and get to explore the island. Six of the ten crew got off the boat. We hired two rental cars and drove around the island from noon until seven. We went to the east side of the island to Devil’s Bridge where there wasn’t much besides a beautiful view, took a few photos and back in the car. By car is took about 25 minutes to get there and we got to see all the little towns in between the boatyard and the far east side of the island. Saturday and Sunday here is their church day so there were people walking on the road to and from church all dressed up. Looked like little African tribes walking on the side of the road. Every weekend they dress as if they were going to the Kentucky Derby, bright colors and huge hats. Walking along side of these mass groups of people were the herds of goats in which we had to sit and wait for them to cross the road a few times; goat jam instead of traffic jam.

After making it to Devil’s Bridge we then made it down the coast to the south and went to Half Moon Bay Beach which is supposed to be top 100 of beaches in the world, so we heard. Topless women and dogs on the beach playing fetch. Waves about eight or nine feet tall and all the crew in the water body surfing. I was chilling out on the sand getting my tan on while watching people surf, kite board and my crew trying to catch a wave without getting thrown all about. After a few hours playing on the beach we went to a small snack shack where they sold bags of chips and beer. Threw a couple back and got in the cars to try to get to the opposite side of the island before sunset. 

Drove for another hour to the west side of the island just in time to see sunset have a few cocktails and hurry back to the boat. Christiana (our captain) does yoga every day after work and her yoga instructor was singing at the bar behind our boat so she wanted us to come and support her friend. After and long day in the sun and in the car we showered up and went straight to the bar, got a few more drinks and relaxed while listening to her sing and play guitar. After a few hours of relaxing and about to fall asleep in the bar we then went to a place right outside the port side gates to Abracadabra’s which was having a costume party, music and drinks. Live band at another bar near by with donkey’s just outside parked while locals rode by and stopped for a drink. The island spirit here is unbelievable. Simple life here is key. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if most of these people haven’t been off the island their whole life. Can’t imagine how overwhelming the states would be for them. 

After a long day on Saturday with my crew, I woke up early Sunday morning to go four wheeling with Sean who works on the boat next to ours called Lady L. I met him while I was studying abroad in France and we hung out a few times there and stayed in touch here and there over these three years. Such a small world that his boat would come and dock right next to mine. Amazing how things like that work. He's from Zimbabwe and has been working on the boats for three and half years. After a few hours on the ATV we came back to the boat to grab the rest of the crew to go to Pigeon Beach which had this amazing little modern brunch cafe over looking the ocean. 

This is the beach club where we had "brunch" with Lady L's crew and stayed and drink until 7:30pm.

ATVing with Sean

Simone who is from Denmark is someone I met in Florida while we both were looking for jobs and she works on the same boat as Sean. My crew thinks I know a lot of people in this industry for being so new but I just got lucky by knowing two people on the same boat and them being docked right next to us. 

This view is amazing looks over all three of the harbors. Over Sean's right shoulder is his boat and my boat is to the right of that!

The Weekend is here!

Friday is my day for watch and everyone else's weekend. I'm staying in tonight while everyone else goes to the BBQ tent set up behind our boat. Tomorrow we are having a crew beach day and going out on the tender to a smaller island, Tolan is bringing lunch and we are going to have fun in the sun all day. 

Just was sitting at dinner with my first mate and we were talking about how you have to have self discipline to not eat everything that comes out in front of you. He also said he's been in the industry for over 20 years and Tolan is the best chef he's ever had on board. Consistency and quality meals for the crew as well as the guests. He said many boats before this one he said the chef would cook great food for the crew for a couple of weeks and as soon as the boats guests arrive the food for crew is just left overs and shit. 

This is only some of our dinner tonight, and this is casual because it's the weekend and some people are getting off the boat to go elsewhere for dinner. 

During the day we had a mishap in the kitchen and the sink was backed up and over flowing. We have a valve to blow out whatever is in the sink but that wasn't working so we had a decky get into the water and help us out. 

He had to swim a little under the boat to blow water up and then we blew air out to be able to get the sink unclogged. We just watched this most of the day. 

Fun day around the boat and another beautiful day, can't believe it's December 20th

Short & Sweet

Checking in and not much has changed. I feel like each day I'm talking about how amazing my life is isn't too exciting but today work wasn't anything special. Ironed for a couple hours, put up Christmas decor and polished some cutlery. Wow sounds exciting I know but knowing at the end of each day I get to be in the most beautiful setting and most everyone in the world is hating the cold including all my friends in Utah. I have received about 12 pictures of the snow, car wrecks, people scrapping ice off their windows with a hanger and much more. It makes me realize that I should not be complaining one bit about ironing for two hours when I get to see this after I'm finished.

This was my view from my hike/run today. It was sprinkling rain when I left the boat but figured it might feel good to run in the rain. As soon as I headed up the mountain it stopped raining, the sun came out as well as a double rainbow! 

Running and hiking up the side of this mountain, right beside the boat. The other day I was laying on the party deck and kept hearing goats and was wondering if I was just hearing things or there really were goats around.

Found this guy staring at me. I followed his poop all the way up the side of the mountain on the trail.

He was just protecting his little family! After my run I got back to the boat to find the crew playing a little catch with a football and frisbee. Threw and played around for another hour or so while the chef was making dinner, came inside and dinner was on the table. Salmon, brussel sprouts covered in broccoli/bacon and a bowl of nocchi. Amazing food all the time. I love trying new things and I have at least tried everything he has made; only one thing I didn't really like...tofu. After dinner we dimmed the lights, then played Christmas music because we all didn't feel like Christmas was less then a week away and wanted to get in the Christmas spirit. I love my crew so much. I'm so lucky to have been able to experience this with them! I heard from two of my friends back in FL that one of them got fired and another got a job before me but isn't what she thought it would be and is going to quit soon so I know to count my lucky stars for allowing me to get on such a great boat.

Starting Monday morning we are making our way down to the island called Dominica, which is only about a half days trip south from Antigua, where we then will spend Christmas and then pick up our first guests on the 28th. 

So excited to get underway and see more amazing islands around the BVI's and Caribbean. 

I said short & sweet and look how much I had to talk about.

Cheers.

Another work day, some out in the sun but mostly inside organizing and learning more specifics of service. Worked today from 7-4 and the sun sets around 5:30 so I now have an hour and a half to be able to do other activities after work. Another run today saw goats and roosters roaming the streets as well as capturing some amazing pictures of the bay. This is a very old island and traditions are still around from along time ago. Amazing people here literally every man I see looks like Bob Marley. One of these days I’ll get a photo of a guy with a rasta hat on. Ran to the beach and back and found another beautiful spot. Can’t complain about life at all.

Last night four of the crew went out to the open-air bar behind the boat to get a beer. They take dollars or “EC’s” which I don’t even know what that stands for but it’s their money and we paid 45ECs for a few beers, which ended up being $1.50 for four beers. A very laid back bar lining the harbor where guests can see all the lit up yachts, so laid back I think Thor (my 2 year old cousin) could walk up to the bar and get served. So many stories that happen each day it’s hard for my brain to remember everything!

I’m so glad I made this choice to move my life around the world and be able to explore what God made and get to share it with you guys! I’m supported with my choices all around the world and couldn’t be happier with my choice!

Cheers

A few photos from today:

This is lunch: Ribs, pork, cucumber salad, some greek wrap and not shown but squash mac'n'cheese. I'm going to get fat.

view of my run every day.

License plate for both countries (islands)

Roads here are narrow and crazy drivers on the wrong side of the road but beautiful. Reminds me a bit of Europe. 

Starting to find my way around

Figuring the boat out and knowing where everything is an the normal daily routine.


Had the interior to myself today. Abby and Tolan went off to get provisions (grocery list) done and was gone most of the day. I had my list of chores to do and that was about it. Got off the boat right after work to go for a run around the island saw some amazing things just on my 20 minute run. Amazing small island feel. Small businesses booming which I don't know how they are why selling shells from the beach and sea turtles made from sand but they are sitting outside watching the traffic go by and in their island gear. They drive on the opposite side of the road from America and normally when I run on the road I run with the traffic coming at me so I can see when a car is coming but here they really don't stay on one side of the road. Whatever side is free is what side they drive on. About got ran over a few times, many honks and a few whistles by locals. All the local men have rasta braids and look like Bob Marley. I ran to the beach and back and saw many new things.

Learning about the guests who are the owners of "Publix" grocery store. I've heard only good things about them and they really like to go to remote places because they love to dive. Better for me! I want to go places no one else will go!

All for now. Bed time 6:40 wake up call

Cheers!

Pigeon Bay at sunset

The water here is amazing. A picture doesn't do justice. It's cloudy and sprinkling rain and the water still looks this blue. 

Island life. old buildings built in the 1800's

A day on watch

December 15, 2013

On watch today. 7:30am wake up call and everyone will be off board today. I have to sit by the phone all day so I have to be indoors all day. We’ve had no Internet now for 15 or 16 hours (sending this after the we got internet back) Bored as hell without it. Don’t realize how much you use Internet for literally everything, once you don’t actually have it. Everyone has been in the “watch” game for a while and they have a lot of movies on their computers that don’t need the Internet just for this reason.

Obviously got Internet now and downloading every movie I can just in case it goes out again. Sometimes when we get bad storms our internet will go out for a couple of days. Hard to live without. 

Antigua Harbor our boat is one of the biggest ones in the picture. I'm not sure if you can see it for sure in this picture but it's there somewhere!

Cheers

Day 1:

Wake up call at 7:30 start work at 8:00am sharp. Today Abby and I were the only ones who had to work, the rest of the crew had the day off. A few of the deckhands went out kite surfing. I got the full tour of the boat, we have four bars, three kitchens, two king beds, one queen, four twin beds and accommodations for ten crew. We are switching a lot of crew right now, few people are leaving and we are getting a few new people here and there.  During the day today I spent over an hour cleaning out wine, champagne and water glasses with white gloves so we didn’t get our fingerprints all over the glasses while handling them. I then took another hour separating glass rocks into small vases by color. By 10 we had a break for breakfast then we sorted out uniforms and I swear I could clothe all of Africa with the amount of stuff we get (2 of everything). After that we then had lunch. Tolan the chef had the day off so he was off of the boat but we had left overs for lunch. I had a steak, fresh salad and green beans just for lunch! Never been a fan of leftovers but that’s because a chef doesn’t normally make my leftovers. After lunch we stripped all the beds and she taught me a few key things in each of the bedrooms and then I was sorted to iron all my new clothes. Ironed for two hours and off work at 5. Dinner is on the table promptly at 5pm buffet style. Tonight was chicken fried rice, beef salad and chicken breast smothered in garlic lemon oregano and tomatoes. The crew just went to watch sunset and I’m about to go get a run in and check out the island. I also just found out we have a stationary bike, treadmill and weights on board which we all are allowed to use whenever we want! Staying healthy by all the amazing food I’m eating as well as being able to get a workout in. (Dad aren’t you proud of me)

Tomorrow I have the day off but I’m on watch, which means I have to be on the boat the whole day making sure it doesn’t sink haha. Tolan loves football so he said he will be plastered in front of the TV so he can help me with any of the duties I might need to accomplish.

Learned a little more about my owners, Originally from Oklahoma but now live in Texas. Very private about their lives so far, but I can’t wait to see what they look like. Learning a lot each day and had information over load today but it will all come with time and I’m loving every bit of it so far.

Cheers

This is my view every morning