Dolphins!!

Yesterday, I was in the galley chatting with Hannah when I looked out the window and there were heaps of dolphins swimming alongside us. We ran outside and leaned over the bow of the boat, and there were at least 20 dolphins swimming with us. They were so beautiful!! I didn't have to time to take any pictures, but it was absolutely amazing!

Just call me "Grace"

So, today was my first day back jogging in over two weeks. The weather was beautiful here, and it was a magnificent day to go for a jog. I was just at the turning around point (so the furthest possible point from the boat) and jogging on a nice sidewalk with cars speeding by me on my right and surfers and beach goers on my left....when I decided not to pick up my right foot all the way and fell on my ass (or my left side) for all the world to see. Thanks goodness it takes a lot to really embarass me. I took a picture of the bo-bo on my knee just for shits and grins :)

After the jog, I went to meet up with Hannah and Tash for coffee at Starbucks. I told them about my little incident at the beach, and Hannah said that there should be an age when people just don't fall - falling down should only happen to children.....I totally agreed with her. As adults, we shouldn't fall down anymore.....oh how I wish this were the case, because I realized that I fall A LOT!!!

The last leg.....

Well, we've left Charlevoix and have been heading south for several weeks now. There have been issues with weather and high winds, so we have stopped twice - the first time in Detroit and now we're in Newport, RI. We're planning to leave for Charleston, SC tomorrow morning. The last couple of days in Charlevoix were nice. The last trip was cancelled because of high winds and rain, so the crew had the time off. We left Charlevoix for Charleston, but more bad weather caused us to pull over in Detroit for two nights. Detroit is a miserable city!!! It's very much like a ghost town. We were docked on an island, and while we were there, a Hugh Jackman film, Real Steel, was being filmed. Hannah and I rode bikes to the movie set and hung around for about 30 minutes until we got kicked off by security.



We left Detroit and travelled for a little over a week when we had to stop again due to high winds. We stopped in Newport, RI.....and lo and behold my good friend the kiwi is here too!!! The first night we were here, I was on watch but friday and saturday night, Hannah, Tash, and I went out to a bar called Benjamins. The Kiwi came to meet us as well as an old friend of his Carla. He met Carla when he was on the Red Sapphire in San Remo, Italy - Carla's boat was in San Remo as well....so we all hung out. On Saturday, Hannah and I went to eat sushi, then went back to Benjamins - where I could watch the LSU game. The Kiwi and Carla came to meet us, and LSU won!!! Yesterday, I went to lunch with the Kiwi before he left town on holiday, then came and bummed around on the boat watching movies, etc.

Today, we're "working", but there's not much to do, so now I'm on a break! We're leaving tomorrow and either going to Charleston or heading back to Fort Lauderdale - we won't find out until the last possible moment I'm sure! I've included some new photos from the last month or so.

Me, Hannah, and Tash at Benjamin's in Newport, RI.

The Kiwi and me in Newport, RI.

Excited about LSU's win!! ....in Newport, RI

Me and Carla giving the Kiwi smooches.....in Newport, RI.

me, Kiwi, and Carla in Newport, RI.

Tash and I out with some girls in Petosky, MI - one or our last nights in Michigan.

Louisiana pride - a house in Charlevoix, MI with a purple and gold fleur-de-lis flag.

Taken by the Kiwi as his boat was leaving Chicago. That's me waving good-bye.

me waving good-bye in Chicago....

Cracker Bay in Chicago.

chicago to charlevoix

Well, we've arrived back in Charlevoix from our little excursion to Chicago. We've had one weekend with guests since arriving back and are expected to have more this weekend and next weekend, then we're leaving Michigan!!

Chicago was great! I've decided I may want to move there eventually but not a for a couple years - going to keep yachting for a couple of years then maybe move to Chicago....it's in the far away future so these plans could change ;) While there I hung out with Liz and Marion - two of my favorite people, and planned to go back to visit them over Halloween! The Kiwi was also there on his boat docked close to us, so we hung out quite a lot as well! It was a great weekend!

We left Chicago and headed back to Charlevoix. We had one day off, then back to work to prepare for the next trip. Last weekend the owner's daughter and some people that work in the sales department of their company came and stayed on the boat as guests. One day while they were on the boat, we were docked in Boyne City and did the zip-line at Boyne Mountain resort. The zip-line was pretty fun. There were ten sections, and the guides taught us how to go upside down and do a front flip off one of the plat-forms....which I did and got a serious rope burn on my arm....battle wounds ;)

On Monday we went to the owner's daughter's lake house on Torch Lake and spent the day with the guests. I wake boarded and got up for about 10 seconds. I'm still feeling the pain..... The guests left on Tuesday, and we were off yesterday. Hannah, Tash, and I went to Petosky for the day to do some shopping. I have some pictures below of things that have been going on. I should be getting some more pics from Tasha of wake boarding and from crew nights out. :)



Marion, Liz, and I in Chicago.

Marion and Liz.

Liz and I

Chicago Air and Water show - pictures taken from the boat.

Zip-lining in Boyne City, MI

Turning upside down

Dropping the bean bag.

Amber, Elle, Tash, and I at Elle's house.

me at Elle's house - playing fish bowl, drinking wine, and wearing a balloon hat - typical Tuesday night.

Wake-boarding photos and pictures of the whole group from Elle's party to come......

Chicago!

I realize it's been quite a while since I've written, so it's about time I play some catch up. Since my last entry quite a lot has happened - like I'm one year older now.....unfortunately that's not something I am very happy about :) Another crew member had a birthday the day before mine, so the crew had a BBQ at a beach in Charlevoix. Since that first BBQ we've made beach BBQs a weekly occurance. We were docked in Charlevoix for a few weeks, then left and went to Bay Harbor (which is about 15 miles down the road from Charlevoix), then we were back to Charlevoix, and now we're in Chicago for the weekend. We've met some friends in Charlevoix, some locals, and have established a nice group to hang out with. Below are some pictures from the last month. I've been really slacking at my picture taking, so I'll try to get some from Tasha and Hannah for my next post.

Jaz, me, Blake, and Elle having a BBQ on Depot Beach in Chalevoix.
Hannay, Blake, Jaz, Elle, and me at the beach BBQ.

Tash, Hannah, Phil, Amber, and me

Drew and his gigantic chair at a speakeasy in Chicago called The Violet Hour

Liz and I enjoying happy our at The Wit in Chicago.

Hannah and I taking pictures at the Bean in Chicago.

The Bean!! Chicago

Coming into Chicago

me, some singer chic, and Tash at Whitney's in Charlevoix.

Cracker Bay

Horse back riding on Mackinac Island

The Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island. It costs $10 just to go into the lobby and after 6:00 pm all women must be wearing cocktail/evening dresses and the men have to be wearing dinner jackets.....a bit pretentious....

Tash and Jaz on their horses.

Hannah on her horse.

The Fort on Mackinac Island

Mackinac Island

Hannah and I on Mackinac Island, MI

Mackinac Island, MI

No cars allowed on Mackinac Island only bikes, horses and horse drawn carriages. One of the dirtiest jobs in America is a horse poop scooper upper on this island.

Mackinac Island

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Independence Day parade Beaver Island, MI

Birthday cake for some guests on the boat - obviously July 4th babies. The cake was made by our chef, and it was delicious!

Phill, the chef, and the cake

Beaver Island from the boat - not much to it

Beaver Island

Tide to go sticks = the bomb dot com

Yesterday, 8 guests arrived. I got off work at 9:00-ish last night, wrote on my blog, read my book, and eventually fell asleep while my cabin mate and chief stew stayed up with our guests and fed them alcoholic beverages with a smile, I'm sure. I was back to work this morning at 8:00. When the guests get up and make their way to the breakfast table, I go into their rooms and do "turn ups." This morning one particular room was a disaster - let me remind you that these people are between the ages of 50 & 60. The VIP room with a king size bed, which is a bitch to make already and we don't usually open it up to guests unless necessary, had the duvet on the floor and pillows on the floor and chocolate all over the sheets and two pillowcases. My first thought was that they may have not seen the chocolates left on their pillow from the night before, but that wasn't the case because both chocolates were on the bed side table along with an unopened snickers bar....so at this point I have no idea where the chocolate came from and am hoping like hell that it really is chocolate!!!! I used up the last three remaining tide to go sticks to remove the stain and miraculously these tide to go sticks come with a side of magic because after much scrubbing and cursing the stains were removed!!!! After finishing in this room, I asked Tasha if she had any idea where the chocolate may have come from, and of course she guessed the nighttime chocolates....then after a couple of seconds of thinking, she told me that the man sleeping in that room went to bed incredibly drunk (I'm pretty he emptied an entire fifth of crown by himself) and before heading downstairs grabbed the 5 remaining chocolate chip cookies out of the cookie jar placed them in a napkin and apparently missed his mouth a bit while eating them in bed, and in the process of getting comfortable before falling asleep smudged the chocolate crumbs which didn't quite make it into his belly all over the 1000 thread count ralph lauren bed sheets. The moral.......always carry a tide to go stick - they really can work miracles!!!!

The 8 guests are off the boat for the next several hours, so Tasha gave us longer breaks today which is AWESOME!!!! I'm on late tonight and can't control my excitement of sitting up with the guests as the get trashed. Well, I'm about to read my book and will probably fall asleep while reading.

The Beav to Charlevoix and back to the Beav

I know it's been a while since my last post. I'll try to fill you in. We arrived in Beaver Island on July 1. On July 2 we worked. I'm pretty sure nothing very interesting happened. On July 3, we had to plan for a party on the boat. This island has about 500 people who live on it all year and the rest of the population is tourists for the summer. A family called the McDunnoughs run basically the whole island.....and there are heaps of these McDunnoughs. Of course the owners of our boat are very close with this family and wanted to throw a party and invite the whole family to the boat. There guest list was about 70 people, and we had not near enough booze and food for this many people. We spent the whole day setting up and preparing ourselves for the disaster that was about to take place on our 147' yacht. In the end it turned out to be only about 40 people which meant tons of beer left over for the crew!!! The party was a success. The owners were very impressed with our hard work and told us over and over - which is nice to hear!

After the party, several of us went to The Shamrock - a local bar. We had already met some McDunnoughs at the party and got them cocktails, so now was their turn to get us cocktails - it was very nice. I didn't pay for one drink. There was a band playing country music at this bar, and when they play Hank Williams Jr. Family Tradition, I was the only one who knew it word for word....damn yankees.

On the 4th, the owners wanted to go watch the Beaver Island Independence Day Parade. It was very small but cute parade. The parade route is down one street, make a U-turn and back down that street again - so you get to see both sides..... For some reason the owner, G, really likes watching both sides of the parade. I was on late that night, so I wasn't able to go out, but the rest of the crew went to one of the McDunnough houses and had drinks and met some of the town's public officials.

On the 5th, G and R left MI, and the boat headed to Charlevoix. We were done working early, and the whole crew was able to go out for dinner. Rodd called a girl to come watch the boat, so no one had to be on watch - that's the first time I think I've ever been out with all nine of us present. After dinner, we went to a pub and had a few drinks. I met a dude from MS....How random is that.

July 6th - I was on watch, so I didn't do much. I cleaned a few things and did very little laundry. Later that evening, the captain offered to take my watch for the rest of the evening, so I met up with Tasha and Hannah at a place called Whitney's - right across the street from the marina. We hung out with some of the local folk and went home when the bar closed.

July 7th - I woke up and went for a jog. Hannah and I went to a town called Petosky about 15 miles away. The bouncer from Whitney's the night before offered to drive us.....very nice! I needed to get a new cell and find a chase bank - both things can't be done in Charlevoix! Mission accomplished! We also went to the movies and saw Grown Ups. After the movie we headed back to Charlevoix, ate dinner, and went to see Eclipse.

On July 8th - We worked all day getting the boat spotless for the guests which arrived today. After work, I went for a jog, did some laundry, read my book, and went to bed.

Today, I've been in laundry all day ironing crew uniforms and napkins, and I will be doing the same thing tomorrow! We did travel back to Beaver Island this afternoon, but that's about the only thing interesting that happened......and 8 guests arrived. Hannah and I were going to go back to the Shamrock, but I'm going to read my book instead.

I haven't been taking many pictures. I do think I have some from Beaver Island, but I haven't uploaded them yet. Tasha has been taking tons of pictures, and I will post them as soon as she's gone through and edited them!

Good Night!!!

Arrived!

Well, we've made it to Beaver Island. I'm on late tonight, so I'm waiting for the very last guest to go to sleep - right now she's passed out on the couch. I can got to bed when she goes to bed or 1:00 am....whichever comes first. So, the events of today have been pretty normal. I woke up for my 10:00 am watch. While on watch I cleaned the master bedroom, the wheelhouse, and the cuban room. I had a break from 2:00 - 4:00. During my break I worked out, then got ready for guests to arrive. We reached Beaver Island at 6:00, and guests arrived immediately. We were expecting 12 guests to stay onboard, but only 3 are staying.....that's a good surprise!!! :) The owners have a house on Beaver Island as well, so the rest of their family has decided to stay there instead of on the boat - which is really good news for the three stews!!!

Pictures from Boston and Montreal

YAY!! I was able to get some pictures downloaded. These are in no particular order.
Cirque de Soleil tent in Montreal - where we went to watch the show.

Jazz Festival in Montreal

Me, Hannah, and Tash at Jazz Festival

Phil, Blake, Jaz, Tash, me, and Hannah at dinner in Montreal.

Arriving in Montreal.

Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal.

On our way to Montreal.

Jaz, Hannah, me, Blake, and Phil posing for a picture before taking the Boston Duck Tour.

The Declaration of Independence was read aloud from the balcony on July 18, 1776.

Massachusettes state capital building with a gold leaf dome.

Boston, MA

Boston, MA

Hannah and me in Boston