Trusting the universe to guide me...: January 2017

Friday, January 27, 2017

Licensed to Tender

The Bluewater tender awaits!

During my time on Mia Elise II there were a few occasions where I was able to join the deck crew on outings to shore and on the tender and it was great to get outside and enjoy the sunshine! I realized that the tender, or smaller power boat we use for ferrying guests to shore and doing watersports, is something that every large yacht has and is similar to my parents ski boat back home. Luckily my dad has given me years of experience pulling him on the water ski and trying to get me comfortable with boating maneuvers. The guys let me drive our tender on our day off and mentioned it may not be a bad idea to go ahead and get my license, even though interior crew don't really drive them much it can never hurt to have it. Plus all the guys thought I would make a great deck/stew (which I agree they do get to have more fun it seems) and if I ever wanted to try to go that route it would be essential to have the license.

View from the Bluewater tender - this particular one was a RIB or Rigid Inflatable Boat

Upon returning to Ft. Lauderdale I decided to sign up for the Power Boat II course through Bluewater so I could officially be able to drive a tender as needed. I have always felt investing in your education is worthwhile, and it is nice to be able to add another skill to your resume. Not to mention the benefit of taking my honed skills home to our lake house to be able to enjoy many boating excursions for years to come. The course is 2 days and mostly takes place out on the water, with a few classroom bits sprinkled in between. There were only 3 of us in the class, which is the max for that particular course. Myself, a gal from Massachusetts who has done freelance stewardess work for years, and a young man from North Carolina who is brand new to yachting and trying to break into the industry. Our instructor was Canadian and a former firefighter who got into yachting initially for a new experience and ended up staying on boats for years.

Our instructor and my two classmates

Instructor Dan placing markers for our figure 8's

Dan behind the wheel

For anyone who has been to my lake house...doesn't this look just like the Miami Vice house?!

We learned various skills on how to handle the tender including ferry gliding (the process of crossing the waterway from one side to another without losing much distance downstream), figure 8s forward and backward, high speed maneuvers, approaching a mooring, man overboard, anchoring and of course most importantly docking. We also learned general knowledge such as when you are leaving the dock you always back away due to the boats pivot points, as well as when you are starting a maneuver you always want to go "into the weather" meaning into the current as you have better control that way. Back in the classroom we learned about how to read nautical charts and symbols and make a passage plan based on plotting which buoys and landmarks we would pass to get to our destination.

Learning how to read the buoys

Iguanas everywhere!

Iguanas taking over the trees

It was a great experience and nice to just tool around the waterways of Ft. Lauderdale and check out the sights. There were hundreds of iguanas every where along the shore and up in the trees and it was fun to spot them along the way. I now have my tender license and even if I decide yachting is not for me at this point (which I am currently at a crossroads trying to figure that out), I am happy to be able to take these skills home with me. Plus my friend pointed out that it just adds to my international woman of mystery skill set which I thought was pretty funny :)

Licensed to make a quick getaway as needed ;)

Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Sayonara in St. Maarten

Sunrise in St. Maarten during a sun deck yoga sesh

Lovely sunset in St. Maarten

What a whirlwind! It was just about a month since I left Ft. Lauderdale on Mia Elise II and here I am back in Florida with a charter and owner's trip under my belt. I am no longer completely "green" which is a good feeling. The charter was intense but amazing, I learned so much and am grateful for the experience and getting to be a part of a great crew minus a couple questionable individuals already discussed. Of course the theme nights and events were my favorite and the beach day and tender boat outings were major highlights. I tried to get up on deck before my shift every morning so I could take a look around as the locales were all amazing. Living in the laundry, maybe not as much fun...but the tip does make that all seem to fade.

Rainbow over St. Barts - I never stepped foot on this island

Amazing to see all the work that goes into making these guest's have the most incredible experience of a lifetime. I also got great insight on what NOT to do and how critical it is to have a team of people who get along all working together with mutual respect. When your daily routine only involves your guests and a group of 14 other individuals and no one else for sometimes weeks at a time while working 12-15 hour days you better hope those people are solid! We did some drills during the trip where I was the "victim" that had to be search and rescued, and it was pretty amazing to see the whole drill go down and how prepared everyone is to take action. So important to be a cohesive crew!

Morning run over the Simpson Bay Causeway Bridge

When we arrived at our final docking point, St. Maarten, we were docked next to M/Y Venus, Steve Job's former yacht which is amazing, check her out here and watch the video of the entry through Simpson Bay bridge as we also traveled through there and everyone at the yacht club watches you go by: http://www.yachtingmagazine.com/steve-jobs-yacht-venus-spotted. Another ship that was noteworthy was the Maltese Falcon sailing ship: https://www.symaltesefalcon.com/. The owner of Victoria's Secret's yacht Limitless was also there, quite a beauty: http://www.superyachts.com/motor-yacht-3120/limitless-photos.htm. The rumor is the owner actually paid for the bridge to be widened so they could come to St. Maarten.

Our marina

The Yacht Club where you can watch the yachts come into port


M/Y Venus on our starboard side

Revolutionary Maltese Falcon

M/Y Limitless - at 96m she is largest yacht to enter this location

We worked for 16 days before getting some time off, so you can imagine the group is eager to make the most of it. Once the boss left we were docked in St. Maarten/St. Martin (also referred to as Devil's Island I was informed) and it was time to get off the boat and enjoy the surroundings. I will admit I headed straight to the spa and got a mani/pedi with fellow stew Roxy, I was in dire need. Next priority was beach and pool sessions at the Fat Turtle of St. Maarten (apparently there is a Fat Turtle at every IGY Marina). Highlight for me was the day I got up early and decided to join a few of the guys who were on the search for surf, and we ended up taking the Mia Elise tender out wakeboarding. Super fun but also crazy different from my usual lake sessions. At the end of the trip the captain took us all out for a a crew dinner at Jimbo's Rock and Blues (http://www.jimboscafe.com/) and it was a blast. Definitely some much needed time off!

Monday, January 9, 2017

Cutthroat Island

Being new to this industry I am still learning a lot about the ins and outs, dos and don'ts, standard practices, expectations and many other nuances. This first trip has been educational and eye opening, and I am still learning new pieces of the puzzle each day. Just to give a few examples, when guests are on board and you are at dock you aren't really encouraged to leave the boat when you are off, but if you do you must leave and re-board in uniform. Also, the night before you are set to go "underway" it is a big no-no to go out drinking for pretty obvious reasons.

What I have seen clearly, however, is that this is not an industry that suffers fools. I am not sure yet if this boat in particular is especially cutthroat, but since being hired in mid December the captain has fired three crew members. He let me know from the beginning he is pretty blunt and I can see that is the case! I got one moment of praise from him but that is enough for me to at least know I am (hopefully) safe. Here is the breakdown:

Crew member #1 - 4th stew, Peruvian descent but grew up in Florida. She was fairly new to the industry (less then a year) but had worked on another boat previously. I mentioned on the crossing she was seasick the entire time, and we all felt bad for her. The moment we arrived at port Captain told her to pack her bags as she was off the boat. While it was a bit harsh, the reality is we have been moving around a lot on this trip and we have to keep working despite the boat rocking around. It seems she may want to rethink her yachting career.

Crew member #2 - Engineer, Danish gent. He was an older, quieter fellow that seemed nice enough to me but also seemed to hang out in the crew mess more then anyone else I noticed. The minute the charter ended, Captain announced to the crew that he was being let go and to say your goodbyes as he was flying out that day. I am unclear if there was something in particular he did, but whatever it was the Captain felt he was not a valuable asset to the team.

Crew member #3 - Temp chief stew (the permanent chief is set to start in January), gal from New Zealand who was hired to last until the new chief came into place. I mentioned in my previous post how I felt there was a lack of organization within the team and while I was frustrated I did not have anything to compare it to so I just assumed maybe that is how things happen at times. One thing that drove me crazy on charter was the absence of a set schedule for the stewardesses. We were working 15+ hours and no breaks were set in place and often I just kept going blindly wondering when I would be done for the night. Being new I did not want to complain but it seemed crazy. Well, some time has passed and now it has been expressed to me from a few different experienced yachties that this is NOT the norm. I had it set in my head to just keep working hard and do what she said as she was the chief, but the Captain told me yesterday that he planned to let her go as she was not chief material. I liked her as a person but I had to agree there was a lack of structure and leadership. Not to mention she decided to go out the night before we were headed out to sea, didn't come back until 3am and was too hungover to work the next day so she told all of us to stop working and put us in a huge time crunch to get everything completed for the owners arrival. Bad form.

I feel a great deal of relief for this decision because (a) that means I am not crazy and the complete lack of organization was NOT normal/acceptable, (b) because I do not have to take orders from someone who I do not respect due to the reasons I have stated above and (c) because I share a tiny cabin with her and every time I enter the cabin it looks like a hurricane or tornado has swept through and her stuff is EVERYWHERE. For my borderline OCD self it took all my energy and patience to just rise above the face my room was a pig sty and focus on other things, but luckily the amount of time you actually spend in your cabin is pretty minimal so that helps.

Anyways, I am happy to still be employed and today marks a month of being on board the Mia Elise II, so far so good. Ciao for now!

Tuesday, January 3, 2017

On Charter

The Mia Elise II

From December 26th-January 2nd we welcomed an American family on board for my first charter experience. It was full on, 15 hour days for a week straight. What an experience to finally have guests on board and turn the boat into a floating luxury resort. We hosted 4 couples and 3 children for the week, the kids were two girls 16 and 14 and a 7 year old boy. Being my first charter I was unsure what to expect and also not sure how they measured up compared to other guests. Apparently they were really mellow and nice compared to some of the horror stories I have heard from fellow crew members. Since it was a family vibe they went to bed fairly early and were not super dirty or rowdy, and they were very nice people who spoke to us with a kindness that is not always the case with other guests. I have heard stories of bachelors parties with prostitutes that demand burgers and fries at 4am and need bed changes daily. It was a great warm up for me to get my feet wet and get an idea of what it takes to execute a successful charter.

There were high points and low points during the week, which I think is to be expected in any job. Some highlights would include decorating and putting on a fantastic New Years Eve dinner party and other theme nights, getting to join the guests for a knee boarding session in our "tender" or ski boat and also accompanying them on the beach for a special set up we created complete with tenting, lounge chairs and a BBQ. Being in some amazing locales with fantastic scenery (when I was able to actually take a moment and go outside to look around) is always a bonus. I also loved being in the galley watching the meal service get executed by our two awesome chefs, they do an amazing jog and always have music going and good vibes!

Towards the end of the week the captain told me he was glad he hired me and I was doing a great job which was really nice to hear that feedback. Right before the guests departed we all gathered to watch a slide show we had put together from the trip, and it was so gratifying watching the memories flash on the big screen and seeing the guests reaction to remembering there once in a lifetime vacation, a few were nearly moved to tears. It was wonderful to see all the hard work of the week reflected back and appreciated.

Low points would be spending certain days entirely in the laundry room without seeing the outside world for 15 hours, crawling around in the claustrophobic bilge looking for decor boxes, and getting so bruised and banged up from rushing around and cleaning rooms I look like I could be a victim of domestic violence. This is not for the faint of heart, folks. There were a few moments of breakdown, specifically after spending 15 hours in the laundry room and at the end of the day still feeling overwhelmed by what was left outstanding. I thrive on knowing I accomplished a task and it is hard to feel accomplished when the work is never done. The laundry keeps showing up all day and as hard and fast as I would work it just kept coming. Plus when you are at the point of exhaustion after such long hours the littlest thing can set you off. However, once I was able to move around more with different tasks and help with table set ups and service my mood improved greatly. It is good to know all the ins and outs of each department and I need to remember I am new and need to pay my dues, laundry is like a right of passage on these larger boats.

I think the most difficult part for me was working with a team of 5 gals that had never really worked together and were all fairly new to the boat, so there was a lack of organization and direction that made the whole experience that much more difficult. Plus that many females can always create an interesting dynamic. I thrive on having order and a system in place and much of the week was spent flying by the seat of our pants which was hard for me. Paired with the fact that I have no concept of how things should be going as I am new to this world it was strange to have to rely solely on the others to direct me and just hope I was dong the right thing. I learned a lot about what not to do by observing the flow of the days, and also was shown a lot of tips and tricks on how to make the tasks easier when time is of the essence. It is funny to see how much of the skills from my past jobs can be applied to this industry, now I just have to tweak them to the nuances of being on a yacht.

At the end of the trip the reward was worth it...a $5k tip for each crew member! Not bad for a week of work :) Definitely makes all the long hours worthwhile when that cash is handed to you at the end. Tomorrow the owner comes on board and I am sure it will be a completely different experience and I look forward to gaining new insight into executing a great experience on board for the guests.