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