Welcome back!

Hello!

I know it's been forever and I will try to keep y'all in the loop as I now have started a new(er) journey. I have to keep these short a sweet but I'll try to post more often.

So since I wrote last, I was in Europe, with a boyfriend, without a job, and looking for my next chapter in life. I now am back in America, South Carolina to be exact, I am single, working on a new boat, 60 meter M/Y Carpe Diem. http://www.charterbrochure.com/carpediem#.VG4SQL7vld0

Loving my boat and crew. So much different from my last boat. Unfortunately I can't say much about the new boat, the owners or the charters, but just so you know it's completely 100% different from Big Eagle, in amazing ways. Still blows my mind on how much money these people have. Growing up around money I feel like I've lived like a peasant my whole life hahaaha. Don't worry mom and dad, I don't blame you ;) Money really does grow on trees for these people. The owners are American and right now we are on charter with a group of Russians. This charter is booked for three weeks, starting in South Carolina and ending in Miami...going everywhere in between during this trip. Another big change about this boat compared to the last is the price to charter per week. Last boat was $185,000 per week and this one is $500,000. Meaning it will be $1.5 million to charter for three weeks. Wrap your head around that one!! That's not including food, fuel, and TIPPPPP.

After coming home from Europe, I spent about a month in Fort Lauderdale, meeting more amazing people as well as catching up with old friends. So good to see everyone but makes me miss being in a solid place for longer amounts of time and having a "normal" schedule. Moved onto the boat in Miami right at the end of October and had about three solid weeks (with the owner on and off) to learn the boat and get ready for this long charter. We have an American (male) captain, first mate from Bequia, Bosun South African, 2 engineers one from the U.S. another South African, chef Aussie, chief stew Aussie, deck hand South African, 2nd Stew from Finland, American stew, and another stew Aussie. Really good mix of people but this is such a heavy charter boat we haven't had much time to go out and really get to know each other. I'm sure once we get more time off I will be able to learn more about them individually.

I will try to write more often about my next adventures to come!

Cheers,
E

Euro Trip Photos

 At the Louvre in Paris

Dave & I can't even remember where we were at this point in our trip we both seem to think it's on the way to Interlaken, Switzerland. Somewhere in the Swiss Alps

At the "Disney Castle" We took a tour of inside and got to see where the king slept. Pretty cool inside and was only built a little more than 100 years ago. (Southern Germany)

Munich, Germany at Oktoberfest with our new friends from Canada, one of the best nights on our trip. They had beer as big as my HEAD and couldn't ever have pictured it being any different such an amazing experience. Everyone should see it one day! I got drunk pretty much off one beer. 1 liter of beer for just one beer and I had....I don't remember.

Paragliding off Mount Blanc

Before we took the plunge off Mount Blanc the tallest mountain in Europe.

This was where we landed the paraglide once we were finished. Such a beautiful place, Chamonix, France.

Euro trip

Eurotrip: 2014

Cornwall, England is where my month long journey started. I met up with Dave in London.  We were going to stay the night in London to see the Lion King show live and to explore London but as soon as I got into London we worked out the prices and it was going to end up to be a big chunk of money we didn’t really want to spend. London is such a high travelled place we thought that we would be back in no time and be able to make a trip out of it another time. (As time goes on you’ll see how much I’ve influenced Dave into NOT spending any money at all.) Before I met him, he was keen on spending every penny he had on stupid shit. Not being careful of his bills (which he has very few of) and not caring about spending money on food, drinks, or where he stayed. We didn’t go to London because we were going to spend a lot of money staying a night and gas money getting into the city which was only 40 minutes away. So after arriving at the airport we started our way down to Cornwall. London to Cornwall is about four hours. You also will learn Dave came sometimes be worse than a growing child, except he can speak. Every hour he has to eat something and has the smallest bladder for a grown man I’ve ever seen. I can’t talk really because I have the worlds smallest bladder as well but he will have a sip of something to drink and about 10 minutes later he will have to go to the bathroom. Needless to say we haven’t got too far on our trip to Cornwall before he has to stop to eat and go to the bathroom. We stop only one other time in four hours which must be a record thus far on our trip. 

Seeing Cornwall for the first time; having this picture in my head with small villages and sheep everywhere is exactly what it was! Rolling hills plush with bright green trees inland and huge cliffs overlooking the ocean. Cows and sheep everywhere you looked, eating the fine green grass, all with amazing views of the ocean pretty much everywhere you looked. All of the roads a villages were so tiny and when I mean the roads are tiny, I mean that my eyes were closed half of the time because I was so scared we were going to side swipe the car coming towards us or the eight foot hedge on the other side of us. Reminder: the English drive on the wrong side of the road, so scary coming around corners and thinking you are going to go one way then the car and driver do the opposite. I screamed a few times and normally I’m not a screamer. Rock, Cornwall is where Dave lives and its a small quant village about six minutes away from the nearest town. First day we went out to have a “full english breakfast” eggs, bacon, sausage, tomato, beans, and toast. Nothing like a big Bob Evans breakfast or anything, you think that sounds like a lot of food but I’m used to “American” sized food plates and it was a very small amount of food, but that’s just how Europe is in general. I was in Cornwall five days total, we went out to dinner a few times, met his mom, brother and sister, they invited us over for dinner at her house. His sister goes to college in Bristol and his brother works there in Cornwall. His dad lives in France but was in Cornwall working so was staying at Dave’s house so I met him the first night. His family is all really cool, easy to talk to and very English! Met many of his friends, one night we went to Saint Kew which was just another village but there was a festival there where all his friends went to listen to the bands and have a good time. For sure had an eventful drinking evening, the next morning another couple, Dave and I went to the strawberry farm and picked strawberries and acted like little kids on the slides and in the meadows, frolicking like idiots all while pushing through our hangovers. After the strawberry farm we went for a hike along the Cornish coastline along with a jump off one of the stunning cliffs into the Titanic-like ocean. We wore full wet suits but still was breath taking because it was so cold. A few nights here and there in all the tiny villages around Cornwall it was time to set off into our real vacation! We took the drive back up towards London and to the Eurotunnel. It’s a train that carries cargo and cars under the english channel and to Northern France. 22 minutes later we are in France; heading straight to Paris.

First stop PARIS!! —

Driving into Paris was a treat. The cars in Europe are about five times smaller than any car in America and there are about ten times more of them on the roads. We saw all of the touristy things on the first day we were there; Arc de Triomphe, Champs-Elysees, Notre Dame De Paris, Eiffel Tower, The Louvre, and so much more. Amazing how many people just in the day we were there seeing all the same sites. I was more impressed with the Eiffel Tower then expected but not really with anything else. For the amount of people always around and the prices I wouldn’t book a trip there again. If I happened to go back on a whim I wouldn’t mind but it wasn’t particularly my cup of tea. 

Next stop was Dijon, France…Dijon is a small French village, wasn’t expecting much to be there but I was presently surprised. We sat down for a beer and decided to walk down and explore and came upon a small market going on. Found some local food and just took in the different cultures. 

Dijon was still pretty flat and next stop was Val d’Isere which is a small ski village in the French Alps. Beautiful little village but because there’s no snow yet everything was shut. It was almost like a ghost town so we spent the night there outside the village and woke up to the brisk mountain air and headed to Chambery, which was just another ski village but a little bigger. Pretty much the same thing there, only one lift open and couldn’t find much to do so we headed to Chamonix which was unreal. Mont-Blanc is the tallest mountain range in Europe and I went hiking on top of it and then paragliding off the top. We had to wear our full ski outfits, rent hiking boats and crampons (big metal spikes) to be able to go on top of the mountain. We had a mountain guide who we were harnessed to and then wore helmets and walking sticks. We walked down the biggest ridge of the mountain. Sept. 16 had at least 2 feet of snow on it. 80 degrees in the valley and still that much snow on the mountain. We had to walk foot in front of the other to stay on this ridge it was so thin. The guide told us if someone slips to one side, no matter what you have to jump to the other side or else we were all connected and we would all slip…and DIE! (He didn’t say the die part but he was very serious.) Once we walked down the ridge we then got all strapped in and took off in our paraglides over the French Alps. Stunning views of the entire mountain range and into the Chamonix Valley. We were up in the air for 35 mins or so and just landed softly in a big grassy patch next to a cow. Paraglide just softly landed behind us and he put it in his backpack. Amazing journey and will probably be the highlight of my trip. We stayed three nights in Chamonix and then started working our way into Switzerland. 

Being in Switzerland three days now my view of it has completely changed. I imagined perfectly cut hedges, posh people walking around in european driving moccasins, designer sunglasses and white pants. Smelling of flowers and bentleys rolling around the streets, but that’s not the case yet. I must have missed that part of Switzerland. They are lots of open grassy fields with ringing bells because all the cows have them around there necks and what comes with cows is the poop smell. Warm sun beating down on my face as we traveling across the meadows and then WHAMMM; shit smell stuck in the car for five miles. We first stopped in Interlaken which I don’t remember what I had heard about the city but I knew I have heard about it quite a few times, but all I can say is if you aren’t asian…don’t go there. We were pretty much the only white people there. Asians and their cameras = Interlaken, Switzerland. More beautiful mountain ranges but not much else to see and I felt as if I was in an asian country instead. We took our mouton bikes up to the next village by train and thought it would be an easy ride down…We thought wrong. I had to walk my bike half the way (over an hour) and then at one point thought my brakes were going to catch on fire because I was using them so much. Downhill mountain biking was no joke in Grinwald/Interlaken. Once that little adventure turned bad, we knew Interlaken wasn’t for us. We headed for Zurich.

Current location is Zurich and it’s Saturday night…

Another charter closed

It’s been awhile since I’ve had enough time to sit down and actually make my brain work enough to put together a few sentences. I am currently sitting in the Zurich airport (Switzerland). After a interesting, exciting, and long nine months I have decided it’s time to move boats and allow myself a little R&R before I’m off again for another year or so. This time I won’t go nine months of work and no vacation time. The “rules” on the boat I was on were a little skewed. 

Going from Fort Lauderdale - Azores, Portugal - Gibraltar, UK - San Remo, Italy - Morocco, Africa - Monaco - Genova, Italy - Corsica, France - Naples, Italy plus a lot more small cities all down the Italian coast and then over to Sardinia, Italy for the past five months, I’ve learn all of about six solid words of Italian, working a little more on my French and I feel as if I know more Spanish than I thought. 

We just came off two back to back one day turn around charters. First trip was all Italian ladies who were supposed to come for five days and ended up staying nine. One day in between trips and then another trip with 11 guests for ten days. Giving my notice and knowing the date I was leaving was brutal. Even though all my crew was very supportive in my choice of leaving I was sad to go because they were such an amazing crew. For reasons I can’t really put out on the internet I only left for one reason and that reason seemed little by little to drive me to insanity. I’m happy with my choices so far and headed to Palma, Spain to see my boyfriend and travel around Europe with him. After i have some relaxation I will return to Palma for the new job search and see where the wind takes me. 

(As the sun was setting, I was taken ashore and leaving behind Big Eagle - Porto Cervo, Sardinia, Italy)

As I sit here thinking about my journey so far, just today I don’t understand why I like travel so much. I have been super stressed out just trying to get from point A to point B. I started off by getting off Big Eagle and into the tender with all my crew for a small booze cruise and my sending off. We docked the tender right in the heart of the town and turned up the music and all had to shotgun and beer in memory of me. (As an American, I taught a lot of my crew what that is) We then opened a bottle of wine and sipped away as we waited for my cab to arrive. I came to the boat with a large rolling bag and a small duffle. I left with the same two plus an oversized purse/bag, a backpack and a trash bag full of stuff. I don’t know how I acquired so much stuff (well you can guess) but I had to get rid of some stuff unfortunately just to be able for the tender to stay afloat. After trying to get a taxi and get to my hotel for the night, I was able to get into my room and was expecting a nice big comfy bed and AC. I got neither of those two things. It was two cot sized beds that flipped up like a beach chair when I sat on the end of it and an AC that blew out warm air. The shower was smaller than the size of the one I had on the boat and I had to turn off the shower to shave properly and had to step OVER the toilet to get into the shower. To top it all off, I was trying to look pretty before seeing Dave and curl my hair…I don’t have an Italian converter, so that was a no go and I left my toiletries bag on the boat. No tooth brush, tooth paste, deodorant etc. Just a great start to my vacation so far.  No wifi in the room and they didn’t give me my ID back. Thus far my travels have been not so good. I wake up and go to the airport and the line is out the door but not to worry I am there in plenty of time. I get up to the front of the line and they say I haven’t paid for a 2nd piece of baggage. I have to get out of line to go pay an extra 85 euros just to check another bag then get back in line. By this point, I’m very hangry (hungry and angry). Somehow I make my flight in time and now in Zurich, but my flight is the only flight delayed an hour. I just want to get to my destination and have no responsibilities for at least a solid 24 hours. 

Made it to Palma…Dave picked me up at the airport and went back to his flat and just explored around old town the first day. Second day we got a cute little hostel in Daia which is north of the city in the mountains. Small town, not a lot around but has such a cute Spanish influence. Before we came to Daia we looked around and had lunch in Sollere which is another town north of the city in the mountains but a lot more touristy and crowded. The town was right on a port and had a lot of small boats and a few beaches. After a winding 30 minute drive to Daia we found our hostel at the tip top of the peak of a mountain. Covered in ivy and a spanish style roof, we had a room with a tiny little balcony and kept the room cool with the breeze coming through and we could look out into the valley of the entire town of Daia. The chickens were talking in the wee hours of the morning along with the birds singing and the enormous drops of rain hitting the roof. It was like I was dreaming. Laying in bed listening to all the amazing sounds early in the morning was exactly what the doctor ordered. We now are heading back to the city of Palma and going to go for a spa day because the weather hasn’t been good since I’ve been here. I’m ok with that because I’ve been in the sunshine and amazing weather for pretty much the past nine months and the cool mountain air is perfect. 

This photo is in old town Palma. Amazing old buildings and architecture.

Hostel in Daia, Spain

Famous Roman Catholic church in Palma. 

More than half way there

Current location: Sanremo, Italy

Sanremo is a small town on the northern coastline of Italy, closest big city is Nice, France. Right at the French/Italian boarder on the Italian Riviera. I am only about a ten minute train ride away from Nice, France; five away from Monte Carlo and Monaco and my old stomping grounds - Antibes is about a 45 minute train ride. Though we have been docked in Sanremo for about three weeks now I haven't made it back to Antibes yet. I'm dying to go and reminisce on my life changing study abroad spots and experiences.

While August is slowly approaching, we still have not had a charter this season. Hard to believe coming from a very busy Caribbean season with nine charters, two boss trips and countless amounts of tips....to nothing at all, I'm going a bit stir crazy. I love seeing money flow into my bank account and now that it's not flowing as much as I would like it, I'm ready to move on and ready for a change. I know what I want and I'm going to try my hardest to get it.

We have had a very interesting last few months though, two new chefs, new chef stew, new stew, two new deckies and the list goes on. People are on and off all the time, doesn't seem to bother me much anymore. When the first crew member said they were leaving I was shocked and didn't want them to go but now that I've been on Big Eagle for eight months nothing is a surprise. People in and out isn't always a bad thing, getting to meet new people, making connections here and there in the industry isn't always a bad thing. Having three chefs in an eight month period is somewhat impressive because everyone cooks so differently. My palate has opened tremendously since arriving on Big Eagle. Willing to sample and try most anything that is put in front of me. Which actually isn't working in my favor. I'm going to see Dave for the first time in almost four months and I want to look fit, but "trying out my new recipe" is my enemy one liner right now. But the great thing about getting new crew is that I now have another stew, Cara, who loves to work out as much as I do so we will do all types of workouts together, morning and night on some days. She's so tiny and english, I love her! We work well together and have a lot of the same interests but are able to do things on our own.

So fun being able to be in all these small towns all over the world, it really opens my eyes to what I had my whole life, what I want in the future, and also what I don't want later on down the road.

Spain was less thrilling and entertaining than Gibraltar and Italy but Italy has been an experience just enough to know that I would only want to visit here. Breath taking coast line, enthusiastic people every corner you turn, and the typical city scene; narrow corridors, colorful laundry hanging on the lines outside a little flat, and people up all night talking in the echoing streets. But as I age, I seem to find the little things I can or cannot live without. Being so far away from home and only being able to speak to my family a few hours of the day is very frustrating. Not being able to jump on a "quick" and "cheap" flight home is tough. Even though a flight from Salt Lake City was never really quick or cheap it was better than my situation now if I really needed to just go home and recharge, which is what I'm thinking I need right about now. I think being almost completely shut off from my life at home so quick has really opened my eyes and made me realize all I have at home. I am in love with my job and know this is the perfect place to be in life at this moment, but I have matured vastly in these last ten months of being far away and need a small holiday to be able to stand back and see all that I have.

Today, Saturday July 19 and Sunday July 20 will be the last few days of freedom for me. We are headed to Pisa, Italy (leaning tower of Pisa) on Tuesday to pick up for a charter on Wednesday.  Right after that charter finishes we will have a two day turn over and right into the next 10 day charter which will leave me mid to late August and Big Eagle will maybe have only one more boss trip before they cross back over to the States.

Days off are very rare but I am so thankful each and day we get one. Hopefully I'll be able to blog again soon.

Cheers to a great rest of the Med season!

Stuck

Current location: Gibraltar U.K.

Sitting in Ocean Village Marina now for seven weeks and counting. No charters booked until August. Sadly, I think we are all starting to go a bit crazy. 

Last season we were fully booked, also in some cases had charters back to back weeks. Going from a full season to almost half way through the Med season with nothing planned until August is really hurting my bank account. I still get paid monthly but getting a tip for two grand or more for a weeks worth of work is always a nice thought. Gibraltar is in U.K. pounds and the dollar to the pound is almost 2 to 1. Every time I eat off the boat it's over $15 American dollars (those are the specials) and drinks are at least $8 per beer. I need to get out of Gib and move to the Euro. The Euro now to the American dollar is better; it's only about 1.3 to 1. We have had a few inquiries for upcoming charters, we had one in Turkey and the latest one that we all got very excited for was Croatia but because we are on the very West side of the Mediterranean it's not working out in our favor. We are still a four to five day trip to most of the popular yachting countries. Both obviously fell through but I think we have come to the conclusion that we NEED to move farther East to be able to land a good charter; a charter at all actually. 

Even though we are on a very relaxed 8-5 schedule and having the weekends off, I'm getting very stur crazy and want to see a lot more of Europe, and I'm stuck in the random country of Gibraltar which is a tiny little country stuck on the bottom of Spain. Last weekend I took a trip to Tarfia, Spain which is a small coastal town about an hour away closer to Portugal. Surfer, beachy town with surfing, kite boarding and very laid back atmosphere. Something I really needed, just to get off the boat and away for the weekend really helped. We sat at a beach bar on swings, sipping on a Pina Colada and watching the sun go down between the ocean and the rolling hills of Spain. After the sunset there was a game on from the World Cup and we cheered with the locals and drank beers. Football (soccer) over here is already their biggest sport but this is like the SuperBowl times ten to them. Everyone has a team and is cheering for them until they die. Every night people are at the bars getting pissed (drunk) screaming and yelling at the TV screens. Right behind our boat there is a line of about nine bars all right on the water front with big flat screen TVs like Buffalo Wild Wings in the States. Even when we aren't at the bars we can tell when someone scores a goal because everyone is going crazy. Very cool to say I've got to experience the celebration of the World Cup in Europe. 

Other then that I've been just working and trying to keep the pounds off because Sam, our chef, has been "trying food out on us," to make sure it's up to guest standards. I know that sounds like a complaint but in all honestly, I love it!!

More of an update on where we end up next when I find out. Today is Sunday and we are planning on moving the first of the week fingers crossed for all of our sanity.

Peace&Love

What my job entails...

For many months now people at home would ask me what exactly does a super yacht stewardess do? I'm sure many thought  I just smiled nicely whilst serving tea and coffee to the guests on board (similar to that of an airline stewardess).

So what exactly does a super yacht stewardess do? 

A super yacht stewardess wears many hats, think housekeeper, waitress, safety officer, guest relations, butler, laundress, florist and well groomed hostess.

A typical day may include:

Drinks Service: 

Drinking is at the cultural epicenter of every social group on the planet and  a yacht stewardess must be extremely competent with serving all types of beverages. Skills a stewardess must possess are: 

• Wine knowledge, wine pairing wine storage and wine service.
• Champagne service. 
• Port and Cognac service. 
• Beer knowledge and beer service.
• Cocktail knowledge, preparation and decoration.
• Spirits knowledge.
• Hot beverages, tea and coffee service.
• Storage knowledge of fine tea and coffee.
• Soft drink and other non alcoholic storage and service.

Further to beverage service a good stewardess will also be educated about tobacco  and service of cigars, cigarettes and pipes.

Food Service: 

Broadly speaking there are five types of service that a stewardess is required to competently master. These are as follows:

• Silver service.
• American service or plate service.
• English service.
• Buffet service.
• Russian service.

In addition to the styles of service a yacht stewardess must be well versed in table management, table settings , courses and order of service. These duties and the success of a beautiful dinner or a bodacious party primarily lay with the Head Chef and Chief Stewardess.

Housekeeping: 

A super yacht is full of fine fabrics, and expensive art work, so a yacht stewardess must be extremely proficient to handle such pieces; or may be required to work under the supervision of the Chief Stewardess until that level has been achieved.

• Housekeeping duties will include cleaning cabins.
• Cleaning public areas on board.
• Cleaning the officers cabins.
• Cleaning the crew mess and other crew areas.

The details of housekeeping will depend on the size of the vessel and will be co-ordinated by the Chief Stewardess.

Laundry Care:  

The most common types of fabrics a stewardess must know how to launder correctly are: 

• Cotton.
• silk.
• microfiber.
• Wool.
• Rayon.
• Polyester.
• Leather.
• Linen.

Laundry details and co-ordination will be explained by the chief stewardess, and must be executed by the stewardess. This is an area where many mistakes can happen so extra diligence is required here.

 

Flower Arranging & Plant Care: 

Flower arranging and plant care is a fun part of the job. The reason why every good stewardess should know how to arrange  flowers is that is yes, you are on a yacht and you may not have access to or the budget to call a florist every time your flowers or plants need attention.

Personal Appearance: 

Yes I'm sorry to say that looks do matter in this industry. It is one of the things that I found hard to handle when I was being instructed to hire model like stewardesses.

However there is  a light at the end of this (some times) superficial tunnel; and that is grooming and presentation. Grooming , personal hygiene and personal presentation is not hard to  manage. Knowing your colors, what hair style suits your face and how to wear your uniform can make a great impact on your overall presentation.

Professional Etiquette & Interpersonal Communications: 

Professional etiquette and personal communications in my opinion is one of the most under rated assets of a stewardess. These skills must be learnt over a period of time; where a stewardess will learn how to speak and  when to speak (a skill that many struggle to master); how to walk on a boat, and how to carry herself in front of very important people. Communication skills are not only limited to verbal communications, but   also includes non verbal communications, like a pretty smile, or non direct eye contact (depending on the culture of the guests). All of  these small things make all the difference to your guests having a truly relaxed and enjoyable experience on board.

STCW 95 & Safety Responsibilities: 

Finally  a super yacht stewardess must fulfill her safety role in a case of an emergency. Her role will depend on her position, the size of the vessel and her qualifications. Her role will be allocated to her by the Captain or Chief Officer (again depending on the size of the vessel) and must be taken very seriously.

So that is what a super yacht stewardess does. We can do it all.

Cheers

Exact

This word for word is exactly all about the first couple of stages of being a yachtie...most of yall wont get it but it's hilarious if you do.

http://theswedishafrican.wordpress.com/2014/04/20/the-four-stages-of-being-a-yachtie/

Morocco, Africa

 I officially have been to Africa!

Even though I consider myself as a worldly person and think that I've seen it all, these new countries and experiences still seem to amaze me. The culture, the people, the poverty, all were unknowing and jaw dropping.

We first took a ferry from Spain (Europe) to Spain (Africa.) Spain (Africa) is how Gibraltar is to UK. Not connected to the same country but there was about ten square miles of land on the African continent that is still part of Spain. So from Spain to Spain on the ferry then a bus from Spain, over the boarder to Morocco was only about a five minute drive but getting over the boarder was insane. Pictures were prohibited, passports, itinerary, amount of hours in the country, and where you were going was all information they needed before getting over the boarder. There were at least a thousand people waiting to get into Spain from Morocco and a line of cars a few miles long. To get into Morocco wasn't as big of a deal as getting out. I was so tempted to take a picture because it's so hard to explain, even in great detail at what the boarder looked like. I remember being little, going to Mexico and seeing all the "policia" with huge machine guns and not even being scared. Morocco...I was scared. Polica in full uniform with big bulbous hats wrapped around their chins, multiple guns, and no expression on their faces. The Mediterranean is on one side of the boarder and rolling hills with multiple guards atop staring down on all the people crossing. Cages like jail cells lined with people inside trying to get across. It was like the line to ride on the Millennium Force at Cedar Point only it was seven foot high, barbed wired, rod iron fence with no re-entry. Felt as if I had done something wrong before I even got into the country. Good way to start out the trip.

Once over the boarder we rode in the bus to a small town (don't even know the name) on the western side of the country into old town. Before we got to the old town we stopped to see camels just off the side of the road. To start, it was raining, we all got off the bus, the camel was uncovered from a tarp and got up abruptly. Everyone was snapping photos. The camel had a red and gold striped satchel/saddle on. To ride it was one euro so I was third or fourth in line waiting for my turn. A couple from our bus was on their honeymoon from Costa Rico and wanted to ride together. The guy was maybe 230lbs and she the woman was close to 170lbs. Not a small couple, they get onto the camel, woman in front and as the camel starts to get up, the weight of the couple shifts and the saddle starts to fall off to one side. The woman leans so far forward that the camel head butts her right in the nose. It is having trouble getting up and starts to freak out. The camel starts bucking up and down like a horse and the couple fall off on top of the guide then onto the concrete. The camel bucks off into the side yard of where we were and just starts eating the grass. The couple are still laying on the ground half on top of the guy that somewhat broke their fall. The woman cut up her forearm pretty bad, ripped her white t-shirt and had mud all over it. The man looked stunned of what just happened. We all were standing there wondering if we should be laughing or not after seeing everyone was alright. I was clearly opting out of being the next person to ride it. Once that whole situation was over the guide came back with another camel and just said we could get pictures with it but couldn't ride it because of the rain, didn't want anything else bad to happen. It was so smelly and I reeked of camel the rest of the day! I was able to pet it and get some good pictures just hanging out with a camel on Wednesday which in America is considered HUMP DAY, mid day of the week.

Next stop was old town markets. We walked through the markets for about an hour. The Moroccan people are all Arab Muslims. No black people as I imagined Africa being. The women all wear full hijabs, covering all parts of the body including the hair and all around the face. Only thing showing are the feet and hands. I was walking through the market with my long blonde hair hanging out and if I've ever been the center of attention before, this was 100 times worse. I almost felt as if I was going against their religion because I was walking around all the Mosques with my hair out. Throughout the market we were able to taste a few things. These men and women would sit on the sidewalk and sell their products. Some with a few olives to sell and others with live chickens and their eggs. We walked up and down the hills of Morocco, in between small corridors no wider than my arm length, dodging all the puddles and pot holes. 

I'm in love with these type of lamps. I can imagine my future house having an outdoor area with these hanging all over and a comfy area to lye down and stare at the stars. These lamps were all over morocco. For sale but I had to resist, cant really bring that back to the boat. 

This was a door to one Mosque. All are different colors but most have doors similar to this one. Muslims pray five times a day so there's literally a Mosque on every corner.

This is one of the crazy things we saw while walking through the market. Because it was raining they were trying to keep the rain out and stringing lines over one another ti be able to put tarps out. They didn't have a "normal" ladder so they needed two people to make this one work.

We had a traditional Moroccan lunch, pita bread, soup, koos koos, chicken and their known tradition after the meal is mint tea, most wonderful hot tea i've ever tasted!

After the meal, we took an hour bus ride to the city of Tangier. This city reminded me of Brazil. Everyone and everything was on top of each other. Houses on top of houses, slums, people everywhere like the streets of New York City. High rise buildings like a regular city and then a slum right across the street. Every person we passed was trying to sell me something or begging for money and these people wouldn't just ask once but I swear there was one man that maybe walked a mile with us trying to sell me a leather camel toy probably only really worth 50 cents. He started out saying it was 40 euros then went down to 25 then once I literally told him to get the hell away from me he said, "ok ok for free" in very broken english. These people were desperate just to tell one thing a day to be able to eat. 

I couldn't get a good enough photo of the slums but this is just a small little picture of what it sorta looked like. The big buildings were behind us and then this was houses on top of houses. Everyone hanging there clothes out on lines to dry and people out on there porches just watching the people and traffic go by. Hard to explain and put everything into perspective when you haven't seen it when your own eyes. It was so amazing. So glad I can now say I've been to Africa. Hoping I can explore other countries of Africa another day. Onto the next country.

Rumor is that we are leaving Gib in a few days maybe a week then to France.

Peace&Love

when yachties get bored...

the boat right next to us in port did this rendition of backstreet boys music video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UQU2OrtLW8&app=desktop

Maps

Read about Gib:

                                                                    Gibraltar

Lower part of the picture is Gib, I ran across the runway and the other side is Spain

http://aviacaonobrasilenomundo.blogspot.com.br/2012/03/olhem-isso-gibraltar-airport.html - This website is in a different language but has some pretty cool pictures.

In my previous blog I talked about the floating hotel (cruise ship)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2379095/Gibraltars-Sunborn-Yacht-Hotel-Five-star-floating-hotel-189-rooms-ballroom.html

Ran to Spain

I recon many people can't check this off their "I've done that!" list...

Early morning run to SPAIN and back.

Second day in Gibraltar, my runs turn more into an exploration than an actual workout, well at least that's what it seems. I seem to want to wake up earlier and earlier every morning just to have more time to run around and see what exciting things I can find. First day still getting my land legs back, I was able to see all the local bars, restaurants and the big casino right next to the boat. There also is an old cruise ship that has turned into a floating hotel. You are probably thinking cruise ships are already floating hotels but this one is actually bolted down onto land. It's still a large ship in the water but it has two huge beams on the aft connected to the dock. It's open for business and people actually stay on it. Run just like a hotel, rooms for rent, small cafes, five star dinning, and gift shops, it's just the boat doesn't move anymore. 

After exploring the basics the first day, I was able to have an idea of where I wanted to run to next. I was told that just over yonder, across the runway was Spain. Our boat is literally docked right next to the airport runway. Gib only has one runway for it's entire airport. Mostly all small planes but yesterday I actually saw some pretty good sized jets coming in. One side of this runway is Gibraltar, United Kingdom and the other is Santa Margarita, Spain. Our boat is on the UK side so I decided to run to Spain this morning.

Today we get our new deckie! We all talk about him like it's a new shiny toy!

Tomorrow we are planning to go to Morocco, Africa!

Portugal

So even though we are safe on land for now, we have a 6am departure tomorrow morning (May 13, 2014.) We dodged the evil storm while in port but now we have another four day trek to Spain.

Today we got a day off after a long trip of working every day. Because we came into port to miss the storm, we still got some of the storm, nothing horrible but a solid two days of rain. A dull, english like rain and skies, just a drizzle rain but needless to say we used our day off to our advantage. Six of the crew rented a car and went to explore the island. Our boat is at the southern most part of the island, so we went more into town then up the western side to an old volcano. We are in the biggest "city" on the island which is about equal to the size of Carmel (if you are from Indiana) and the smaller towns were maybe 900 people if you were lucky. Probably smaller than Elwood. ;) We went to about three or four of these sleepy towns. Not much happening on a random tuesday around lunch time. Church bells ringing, cows mooing and little midget ladies walking around in rain boots carrying small flowers in a wheelbarrow. We had lunch at a cafe/bar/grocery/restaurant/gas station. It was everything in one, but the only place in town to eat and someone told us it had amazing food....that was a lie. I haven't had one good meal since we got on land. Last night for dinner we went for drinks before and all of us were drunk so we just chose whatever restaurants pictures looked the best and sat down. I ordered a risotto and roast beef melody, it came out looking like a St. Patrick's Day meal. Risotto the color of a leprechaun...we only ate it because we all were starving and intoxicated. Thinking we were going to be sharing the toilet for the next few hours, we had an early night (as if there was anything else to really do.) So after exploring all of this small town we drove up and down these volcanos, winding roads with lush bushes, trees, rolling hills and the greenest grass you can imagine.

The town compared to the country side was completely opposite. Very European looking city and the way I picture Scotland in the countryside. John is Scottish and he said it was very similar.

This photo is just one of the many narrow and european streets.

The town to the left is where we had lunch, 5 euros for a burger and fries while all the boys had steak. The lake was created by a volcano, it was raining and cold but was still beautiful. Wish I could have seen it on a sunny day. 

The same town as the one I explain above. Everything the exact same. Houses all had a front door and two small windows on the front of the house, orange tiled roof and made with a white stucco. One church, one store, one post office, one bank and I'm sure everyone knew everyone. We all were getting stared at every move we made because they knew we weren't from around here. 

This was the second volcano on the eastern side of the island. The volcano is 15,000 years old. Once again pretty but we were up in the clouds and it was drizzling rain, a nice sunny day I could have sat up there forever. 

Tonights our last meal on land for another four or five days and we can't be bothered to have another shitty meal so we are all going to Burger King. Don't worry I ran again to make sure this 1,000 calorie burger and fries won't weight me down too much. I can't remember the last time I had Burger King and I'm thinking thats a good think so will treat myself with a dessert as well! 

Peace&Love

Photos

My Iphoto hasn't been working in my past few blogs and now that I'm in Europe it decided to function so here's a few photos you've missed...

 

So as soon as I returned to Fort Lauderdale, I was greeted by Dave in a cute little minivan and this big bouquet of flowers. At this point in the day we had been planning on meeting up for about 6 hours and everything we had been planning kept getting pushed back or messed up for some reason. He knew I was getting upset and worried I wasn't going to be able to see him. So as soon as he jumps out of the car he has these in front of his face! As if JUST seeing him wouldn't have made everything better...

This was our little motel we rented for the weekend. Looks straight out of the 70's but was such a cute little place. Had a kitchenette in it and all. He woke up and made breakfast in bed and we watched the morning news.

This is just outside Portugal. I bet we saw over 25 dolphins during our entire crossing but they were having fun racing our boat. This was leaning over the bow (very front) of the boat. 

We made it back on land!!! Most of the crew in Sao Miguel, Portugal out at 3am when we arrived in port for a celebratory beer!

Provisioning in Portugal markets with cabbage the size of my head...maybe bigger

Mid-Atlantic blog

It's official, I am in the very center of the Atlantic Ocean and I'm on the internet posting a blog...

The world we live in never ceases to amaze me. The wifi on the boat right now is actually working better than it did in port of Fort Lauderdale. We have been cruising now for nine days and we have another six to go. This has been a trip from hell but we have had two solid days of calm seas and no vomit. The next two days are said to be calm as well, then getting closer to land the swell is intended to pick up and we will not be working it will be so bad. 20 knots of wind on the nose. I'm dreading that day the waves start but I know just around the corner we will be in Spain and it will all be over. Proud to say I've done an Atlantic crossing but I more than likely will never volunteer to take part in another one.

I've just came inside from lounging on the party deck and finished reading another few chapters in my book "A House In The Sky," while I watched dolphins jump a few feet out of the water outside our wake. Seems like a scene in a movie when I put it that way but this trip hasn't been much of anything like a movie. I'm actually tired of laying in bed; having nothing to do but hold on for dear life and wonder if my stomach is upset because of the waves or because I'm hungry. Until yesterday I was eating about a half a meal a day. Wasn't able to keep much down at all. The chef doesn't get sea sick at all so he is always up in the galley cooking up lamb chops, steak the size of my head, salmon, etc. If you can only imagine being sea sick and then getting a nice whiff of salmon while laying in bed on your backwards roller coaster, the smell only seemed to make it 100 times worse.

Before leaving for the trip across the pond, the chef had to provision for all the meat we would use to get over here and maybe the first couple of charters which cost $15,000. So we are having to cut down some of our supply while in the middle of the ocean. Tonight we are having sushi and over Cinco De Mayo we had "Nacho Night." As much as we all are getting sick of each other and not being able to get away when tensions are high, we still try and make the nights fun to be able to get through this god awfully long trip.

We have an idea on a charter we may get pretty soon after arriving to Europe. Mariah Carey's music producer...Who knows if it's actually someone "famous" but would be cool to say someone cool has been on my yacht and to actually meet them. I'm sure Europe is going to be a whole different ball game and I'm just going to be in shock when it comes to some of the stuff that goes on. I was told from one of my crew members that he got to witness (from another boat nearby) a 200 person party with a laser show at anchor off the coast of Corsica. Just imagining that and being able to be a complete creep, get out the binoculars and see what's going on on another big boat near by will be awesome. I'm sure I'll be able to write stories for days once I arrive and the season starts up.

We still have no chief stew for right now but we have acquired a new deckie, his name is Freddie, 21, from England but grew up in Kenya and sailed on England's National team for a few years. Seems like a fun person to get to know and adding another young person will help the crew dynamic for sure! He joins when we arrive in Gib.

                                                                     (This mornings sunrise)


That's all for now -

Peace&Love

Made the Mag

This is a yachting magazine with stories on the industry and for people in the industry but I am in a photo with some of my crew on page 28

Check out the magazine though it's pretty interesting and explains more things about this industry in greater detail than I can.

Dock Walk - click the link

Bitter Sweet

Ready to check off the next bucket list item; Crossing the Atlantic ocean by boat.

Bet not many people in the world can say they have accomplished this task. I'm only four days into my 15 day excursion across the Atlantic ocean on a motor yacht. Big Eagle departed Fort Lauderdale, FL on April 28, 2014 and hasn't yet looked back.We are headed to the Gibraltar (Gib) straight. This is the only little piece of the ocean where they divide and allow water traffic to enter and exit Europe from the Western world. The first 24 hours of my trip wasn't the best. Left late out of Fort Lauderdale and wasn't able to beat the rough seas and the small storm behind us.We had rough seas for about 20 hours straight which led me straight to the crew mess sink and my eggplant parmesaun was splattered everywhere. Its hard to explain the feeling of sea sickness (like a hangover that will never go away) and not being able to do much besides lay in bed and stare at the ceiling. If you read you feel more sick, if you watch a movie the motion in the movie can make you sick, if you eat much, it will make you sick. So needless to say I think i've been in bed about 90% of the trip so far. Its hard for your body to get the fact that you are in a completely  still room where nothing around you is moving but on the outside you are getting jostled around. Your body is moving with the boat but the room is staying in the same place so your inner ear is getting really confused. It's best to be at the highest point of the boat and towards the back side to remain the most calm and my cabin is the complete opposite. I am below the water line and at the very bow of the boat. Sleeping is like riding a backwards roller coaster! Don't get me wrong I love roller coaster but not riding a consistant one for 15 days straight. 

The trip ends up being 15 days long, not stopping at all until we get to Gib, 3,600 nautical miles and three semi trucks full of fuel, aprox. 8,000 per semi, in our tanks to get across. We aren't sure what our plan is once we get there but we will more than likely be able to have a day off in Gib. Gib is the closest point of Europe to Africa and the straight is narrow enough only by a few miles wide that when you come in between the two pieces of land you have Africa on one side and Europe on the other side. If we get enough time off we are going to go to Morocco, Africa and ride camels! Gib is also known for it's stunning views and wild monkey running the streets so either way I will be content with whatever our first stop in Europe will be. 

Since the last time I blogged, we had another charter with seven kids, just cruising through the Bahamas from island to island for seven days. From there we went back to Fort Lauderdale for three days to fuel up and stock food for the crossing. The best part about being in Fort Lauderdale one last time was that I was next door to my boyfriends boat. So instead of a $25 cab ride one-way just to see him, I was able to even see him during some of our lunch breaks. It was a hard goodbye but knowing we will be back together no later than September makes me hopeful we can do this! I pretty much signed up for this anyways. Someone told me "never to fall in love in this industry, because it sucks balls being everywhere in the world expect with the person you love." I've done plenty of distance relationships and seem like I could become a pro and even get sponsored because it's my specialty but this one seems like it's going to be harder than the rest. His boat is going up to the Great Lakes and Chicago for the first month of the Med season and then crossing over. But this allows me to stay focused and save the most amount of money I can until we meet again and hopefully take a holiday together. Pooling our money together and traveling around the world together is what both our goals are for right now and we are sticking to it. Already started looking into places to go and see.

The few days I spent with Dave in Florida were one of a kind, as usual. We were able to rent a red hot Camero SS to ride top down to Miami in and just explore. Got a cute little motel with a kitchen in it, waking up to breakfast in bed. Sure does know what he's doing! 

He also knew I was having a rough day before he even saw me and brought me flowers when he came to pick me up. Couldn't have asked for a better last weekend but knowing I was leaving soon and for sure not going to be seeing him for at least two months probably even more was really tearing me apart. Such a bitter sweet moment knowing I'll be in Europe for a long amount of time which I dream about this day to come but also having someone I care for so much, being so far away. 

Wish I could upload pictures but as anyone could imagine, our wifi is weak and is taking ages to upload anything.

Pray for calm seas for me, I need all the prayers I can get just to get through this next week or so.

Peace&Love