Yachting Matters

Yachting Matters

"Everything Happens for a Reason"

A nice view to start off my morning...

Nassau, Bahamas; last day of charter, tipped out and back to the states! Five day charter over and done with, legs and feet might fall off with 17 hour days and only 6 hours of sleep every night, I made it.  Another trip under my belt, one more to go and then we are off to Europe!

This charter we had 12 guests, all couples and a very lively group of people. Dancing on top of our tables, kind of lively. 

You know the famous words that say" you are only five people away from knowing everyone in the world."

 Well I think I'm one step closer to fully believing in that saying. One of the guests was a middle aged man from Australia, who lives in Florida and is now an engineer. He was an early riser every morning and was up hours before any other guest and on a few days he was up before I was, 5:00am some mornings, so needless to say he needed someone to talk to. We got to talking and it came up that I was from Indiana. Normally when someone asks where in Indiana, I just say Indianapolis and don't say anything about living in Carmel because most people don't know anything about Indiana, in the end it's just a waste of breath. But this was a different story. After saying Indianapolis, he then proceeded to say that he use to travel all over the US and made many trips to Noblesville, Zionsville and Carmel. I told him I lived in Carmel and then the real truth about him knowing Indiana came out. He told me he was in the design of golf courses and designed all of Mel Simons golf course which is right down the road from my house and knew exactly where my house was and the golf course we now live on. He told me all about the Simons and had a long conversation about his money and how he spends it, but that's getting off subject. He then mentioned a good friend of his who also managed a lot of the Simon's building sites and property with the last name of Cohen. Erin Cohen, who works with my dad now on many different projects and is the grandfather of two of my closest friends all throughout high school.

This man who was on my yacht, all the way fromAustralia and lives in florida, and then knew so much about my life, where I lived and we had so much in common. All of this happened while I was trying to set the table for breakfast one morning. We both were stunned. 

Five people away from knowing everyone in the world is no joke. Everyone is connected some how and it's freaky once you think about it. Who knows maybe some of his projects went through my dad and my dad might have even worked with him, all while this random guy is vacationing on my boat in the middle of the ocean in April...

I also live by the quote everything happens for a reason, every day I think about what happens if I wouldn't have studied aboard in college in the South of France and never learned about this industry. I wouldn't have the job I have now, be making the money I'm making nor would I be in the Bahamas at this very moment on a yacht. The people I have met, one new one in particular, who I met while I was in Fort Lauderdale and can't wait to see when I get back, are all so much like me. They understand and interest me in so many different ways. I haven't been able to find many people until now to fully understand my passion for seeing the rest of the world and striving to fulfill my desire to learn about other cultures and countries around the world. The special someone is from the UK and he too has the same passions as me and really wants to see anything and everything possible or impossible in the world. Ready and willing. Not scared to live in a van for two weeks while traveling in the mountains in the Swiss Alps, Germany, and northern France. Going where the wind takes us, not having a plan. I live for the day I can do that.

 Making money now, saving for awhile and being able to take a holiday and spend that hard earned money on seeing the rest of the world, with someone who also shares my eagerness of traveling the world would make it all the better. I want to live my life because it's seems be disappearing right before my eyes. I remember year one of college like it was yesterday. Moving into the newly built house after returning from my trip from Brazil like it was only a few years ago when in reality it was over a decade ago. Time is slipping away so quickly.

Just yesterday, Kylie the other stewardess I'm close with on Big Eagle, just lost a good friend to an unknown disease. Her girlfriend from South Africa was 22 and just two months ago got married, her new husband was a top ranked jockey from Australia, he was in Singapore for a race and had a random seizure. Went to the hospital was put in an induced comma and never woke up. Even though I don't know him or her but seeing Kylie so upset over this loss and her explaining that life can be taken for granted so much that you can't wait on certain things in life. She says the worst part is knowing how great this guy was to her friend and how in love they were, everything was so new in their lives, they were just getting settled in. Kylie thinking about how much she loves Dave (her boyfriend who also works on the boat) said she's always scared that something that serious and fast could happen and he wouldn't understand how much she really loves him. Hearing her speak so effortlessly on her love for just one person makes me want to have a love that deep one day and not living life wondering "what if."

Sorry deep stories...after about the 14th hour of work and being on your feet you need something to get your mind off you feet and the truth normally comes out when you need to take your mind off of something so serious. 

Yacht below is called S E V E N S E A S (86m) and is owned by Steven Spielberg. Worth $200 million and $1.4 million a week to charter 

This photo is of some of my crew and I dancing to the "happy" song after we finished our last charter in Sampson Cay, Bahamas. (Stef, John, Ellis, Kylie, Dave)

Two days before the most recent charter we got to go to Atlantis and I had to get in the huge "famous" golden chair and take a picture.(not cracked up to what it's supposed to be) There was a line to get in it. :(

And then most of my nights end like this....
Sunset on the Big Eagle

Cheers my loves

Re-thinking

Finishing charter feels like finishing finals in your Freshman year of college, knowing theres more to come and it was hard when they were happening but all the stress is off your shoulders and you can go have fun! 

As soon as the guests got off the boat yesterday all the crew were able to let loose and go out on the toys and have a day to themselves. We took out the jet skies, explored the island, wake boarded. swam, snorkeled. Found out that the island next to us with the windmills has four private huge houses on them and its own seaplane and pilot and costs $75,000 for one night on the island. The island is solely run off the windmills and from the water you can see the entire island and all the houses. Very very small island but it would be so amazing to get away from your busy life and completely relax. We all say on vacation we can have a relaxing day or whatever but this honestly couldn't get more relaxing with no cell service, no where to go and no one at all to bother you...can't get much better then that. Also yesterday took the jet skies out close to two yachts anchored out on charter and drove by to show them we were having more fun then them. We see that all the time so needed to show off a little bit. so the next few days to really relax because we've got a busy upcoming season in the Mediterranean. 

We just came from a long, busy winter season then straight into a two month yard period with very few days off and very little time to ourselves so after this short but very busy charter we are able to relax. This is exactly how I want to job to be; working my ass off for a short amount of time just knowing right around the corner we have a day to relax in the most beautiful places in the world.

As I'm typing this, I'm sitting on a private island in the middle of the Bahamas, on a red painted comfy beach chair with a pure white sandy beach at my feet, Big Eagle in the distance, the sun shining and listening to the waves crash. Can't get a much better job then what I'm blessed with right now. As much as I wished this lasted forever, I know it won't and I'm so thankful to be able to experience this with great people. 

As many know, my passion for traveling and exploring the unknown is what I strive for in life.  I'm always very envious of the people who have been places where I have not. Being able to talk about our completely different experiences in the exact same places is the most interesting way of getting to know someone. Being able to connect through stories in exotic places and learning able other cultures through others stories broadens my perspective and mind. I've been to Brazil but hearing a story recently about Brazil makes me want to travel back there and do certain activities and see new things. I was talking to someone the other day about being able to travel in places where most civilization doesn't even know about and be able to tell people stories that seem so unreal that they have to question me if these stories are sincerely true. 

Even being in this yachting industry for a short amount of time and because money seems to be no object in these peoples lives it really makes me want to go out and help the people who are really struggling in life. Every single one of our guests thus far on my boat have been billionaires...that's with a B. BILLIONAIRE. I know they help out with certain causes or universities around the country but I would personally like to go in remote areas in the world and help starving people or build a house for a family who are living in the slums of India. Something that I can sleep at night knowing there is a little more happiness in the world because of me. My job has really opened up my eyes to the world to see what I do and do not have in life. Lucky to have what I have.  

Growing up privileged and able to have the world at my feet, I had blinders on to the rest of the world for so long. Traveling a lot with diving and my family, I was able to see the world but it all didn't slap my in the face until recently of the life I lived and what I was use to. I always told myself when I was younger I didn't want a job, didn't need to make my own money and have my own life experiences, I would just meet the right guy and he would take care of me. I would live my life as a caring mother and wife and that's all I needed.(taking after my parents haha) Now after having a solid job and making great money I can see where women strive to have a great job and don't like solely relying on their partner. Makes me stand taller and more proud knowing I have my OWN money thus not relying on my parents any more! Thats the biggest stress reliever. I'm also very fortunate and one of the few college students coming out of college with no college debt at all, which has helped me enormously. I'm saving every penny I make and my next big goal in life is to buy a nice car. Once I'm back in one place in the world and not in the middle of the ocean most of the year I can buy a car with the hard earned money. 

My parents always taught me to make goals in life; small or big but I didn't really listen (as does most children). But now becoming more independent in life and understanding I have to grow up at some point, I know these goals are important. I'm lucky with my job not having any experiences which is unheard of. Bills, bills, bills are what most people my age and older are worrying about and that never enters my mind. Just solely saving all my money for the bigger picture and my family down the road.

Bahamas

I'm not sure where to even start. A lot has happened in the past week.We are now in the Bahamas, docked at a private island called Sampson Cay. Private island is an understatement, people can't even come dock up and just have a look around, nothing on the island for public at all, no fuel or food besides what's personally brought in for whatever guest is staying on the island. No cars, only golf carts. Only way to get to the island is boat or sea plane. Seven unbelievable pure white sand beaches, only for guests of the owners to enjoy. Good news is we are staying an extra five days after the charter ends and we are considered "guests" of the owner which means we are able to check out then entire island and use all the facilities as guests. One owner to this 36 acre island seems like a bit much but you have a hard time finding ways to spend your money once you become a billionaire it seems.

The owner of this island is also number two of the list of people in the United States for owning the most land all over the world, number one goes to the United States Government. (wrap your head around that one) He owns over 2,000,000 acres of land all over the world. This island is only 36 acres out of 2 million of them. They are only chartering the boat out for three days and six people are staying aboard but they are hosting all meals and meeting aboard with a total of 17 guests. I poured 37 coffees this morning...long morning to say the least.

 Sampson Cay has the most beautiful water I've ever seen. I know I might have said that when I was in the Grenadine islands a few months ago but this water is even more clear almost looks white it's so clear. Teal then a light tint of blue and then white! Hurts your eyes a little bit to look at it when the sun is out. 

 We are docked right where all the sharks nest because of the certain warm current that rips through the bay and back out into the ocean. Our chef dumps small amounts of food into the water for all the fish to eat and it literally is like an aquarium outside our boat. No need to pay anymore to see fish swim around I've seen it all now. We went snorkling on Tuesday and we were literally five feet away from these sharks. There are three big ones around, six or seven feet long, and one baby that's about the size of me. We also saw a sting-ray that was about the size of a dump truck tire around. massive tail on it but just swimming as if there weren't seven people over top of it taking video of it. 

This is me diving to the bottom of the ocean and asking before I went down "Has anyone ever seen a white dolphin?" If you don't know what a white dolphin is, it's the whitest thing in this photo. But you can see the rock in the picture and it's about 15 feet deep here and it looks like it's only 5.

This is one of the sharks swimming around our boat. 

Sunrise on the first morning of charter in Sampson Cay, Bahamas 

Looks like the boat is just sitting in the backyard of someones house.

Two different types of small villas on this island. 

This trip I'm on the early shift meaning I'm the first to get up in the morning normally 5 am to set up breakfast and make sure no guest is the first up and then I'm the first to go to bed around 9:30pm. Kylie the other stewardess yesterday was carrying an entire tray full of very expansive wine glasses (around $200 per glass) to the dinner table, slipped and fell and broke four or five of them and that's my worse nightmare so I'm glad it was her before me. I don't wish it upon anyone but she's been in this industry for awhile I feel as if she has more freedom is breaking $1,000 worth of wine glasses then I do. That has been the only mishap so far, otherwise a good trip and everyone is loving the boat. One more charter after this finishes and we are headed back to Florida for a quick turn around and heading to Europe for the summer. 

Yard Period

I've been back in the States for almost two months now and it has flown by so quickly. Starting out in West Palm Beach in a marina called "Rybovich." Rybo is one of the nicest marinas in the entire world and now I'm completely spoiled and now understand why it's so amazing.

Free shuttle
Free gym open 24/7
pool
fire pit
restaurant with huge TV's all over the place
free yoga on certain nights of the week
movie nights
high security

The marina is one of a kind and I couldn't have started out with a cooler place to be while in the yard. Our boat was taken completely out of the water and the bottom of the boat was painted and some of the shafts were replaced or repaired. While we were there, my parents came to see where I work and get more of a a feel of what I really do on a day to day basis even though it's still hard to even get the full picture unless you truly live in my shoes. It's so hard to explain without a true picture. They were here for about a week, was able to travel around florida, see West Palm, Fort Lauderdale and Miami with them, which is always a treat because I thought the entire time I would be working while they were visiting.

After a month in Rybo we moved the boat down to Bradford Marina in Fort Lauderdale which I was so excited for because I would be close to a lot more of my friends and knew Fort Lauderdale like the back of my hand because I had just spent a solid two months with no car searching for a job in Ft. Laudy.  But I was so wrong. Bradford is a shit marina far away from everyone and everything. Not close to any other boat yards and is for all smaller boat and mostly boat that are for sale. Once again no car and a cab ride into the main ft. Lauderdale is over $25 one-way. That ended u[ being a HUGE buzz kill as soon as I paid once to get to the beach and back.

It's now been about two weeks in Bradford and we are doing so much construction on the boat it's hard for me to even see the light at the end of the tunnel. The boat is completely torn apart. Everything is getting repainted, fixed, torn down, put back up, tents over the entire boat, dusty and dirty. It's a mess and we leave here March 15th to get back to the Bahamas for another three weeks of charters.  

In turn we have been making so many trips out to do provisions for the charters as well as the crew. We've been living off of small amounts of stuff for the crew because we were away for the season and everything in the Grenadine Islands was almost five times the price of something here in the States. I was in charge of making the list of what the crew needed. Keep in mind that anything I wrote down on the list was paid by the boat and given to the crew. Just a few items I listed:

Aussie shampoo/conditioner
face wash/masks
makeup remover
deodorant
loofas
mouth wash
tooth paste
whitening stripes
tooth brushes
venus razors
gum
cliff bars
72% chocolate
tomato juice...The list goes on

But pretty much anything we want we can get. We are provided with shoes, bathing suits, uniform, fleece jackets, rain jackets, towels etc. to get us through our trips. It's amazing the amount of effort given for provisioning. We did a Costco run today and had 6 carts full of groceries and still have another full day of running around and getting specific things to get ready for our trips.

Just if anyone was wondering, I'm still loving every second of my job but now getting anxious again to get back out in the open sea and see more of the world.

We have three weeks in the Bahamas then back to the US for one week then crossing the ocean for the Mediterranean season. I will be in Europe all summer, most likely into fall and I would love to stay over there for winter but more than likely will be back on this side of the world by October or November.

Wish I could post pictures of some of the last month but of course my computer isn't working at the moment so hopefully I can work on it and then post a little later.

Peace&Love

If you think my job really isn't a job, then read this...

Most people when they ask me what I do for a living they picture me walking around in a bikini serving drinks to rich older men who are laying out on the sun deck of their mega yacht.WRONG! read this article and most everything said is exactly on point!

http://theswedishafrican.wordpress.com/2014/03/04/the-yachting-illusion/

Solo Stew

Seems like it's been weeks since we first left the Grenadine Islands but it's only been a few days. From Canouan we traveled for a day and a half to St. Thomas Virgin Island stood at anchor for less than a day. Went into shore to go through customs because it's the US' territory we have to present our person to the customs to be able to see it is really us coming into the States. We have three Americans on board at the time but we went in groups because not everyone can leave the boat all at once. I was in the second group and I was the only American. We drove the baby tender into land then had to leave one person behind while I was the first through customs because I was American, I then had to go back to the tender and drive it around out in the harbor and let Lesely (first mate, Canadian)go through as well. 

It took them a lot longer to get through and we had to run through and try to beat the huge ferry carrying over 100 passengers. The people of St. Thomas aren't really Americans, they are on just the same time as all the other islands and if you don't believe in "island time" it's a real thing!! We were stuck so many places because everyone in these small tropical islands are really on island time. I don't know if most of them even owned a clock to know what time it was. 

We then had to do some food shopping (provision) and collect water because we were completely out. We got 50 cases of water so over 600 bottles of water and they were all incased in cardboard boxes. Cardboard carries small nats and other types of bugs that we obviously cannot have on board so we had to take all 600 bottles out of the cases individually and transport them from the dock to the tender then the tender to the big boat. Reminder that the big boat is at anchor in the middle of the harbor where it was still choppy. We had to make a chain of people and launch all 600 bottles of water from the tender to the big boat! Took almost two hours to transfer all the bottles. Then the boys thought this would be funny as the lone stew all by herself to clean this up.

Once we got back from customs, Abby, Dave and Kylie all left for the airport to go see their dads, both which are very sick. After dropping them off we were down to two girls and one was on deck so I am running solo in the interior. We had to st in St. Thomas to get back up engines for our big tender and then we were off. 

Only an eight hour trip to Puerto Rico so we were there early in the morning to fuel up. Our boat takes 10,000 gallons of fuel a costs $200,000 to fuel up from empty to full. ONE TANK! crazy money once again but things like this should not surprise me. 

We pull into the harbor next to the four cruise ships and two mega yachts which make Big Eagle took tiny. 

The picture above is "Le Grand Bleu" the first giga yacht made. One of the biggest in the world. This has a sail boat (the one off to the port side of the boat which can be lifted by a crane up and put onto the yacht) then it has a Riva 74' (another small yacht) craned in on the starboard side, 3-in-1. This is 391ft long. Big eagle is 172ft long.

This is Luna 377ft long. Owned by a Russian billionaire. Two heli pads, pool, spa, hot tub and crew of 40. Madonna was the most recent guest on board. (no I didn't get to see her)

After fueling up we had to drop our captain off at the airport and then we were off. Been out of sight of land for over two days and we have another two or three before we see land, but this time it will be Florida!