On Watch

Here is an update!

Saturday - Tasha, Blake, and I met Tarryn at Bistro 52. Tasha is the chief stew on my boat, Blake is a deckhand, and Tarryn was a stew on my boat about 8 months ago. After Bistro 52, the girls went and drank Sangria at a Sangria bar on the beach. The picture below is at the Sangria bar.

After the Sangria bar, we went to Waxy's and finished the night off. I ran into some of my old roomies from the crewhouse....do you remember Ryan from previous pictures posted? - it was great to seet him again!!

Sunday - I was on watch so I had to stay on the boat all day. It was my first watch. Watch means it was basically my responsibility to make sure no one unauthorized comes onboard and to take care of any alarms that may go off. Basically, I just sat in the crew mess all day and watched movies....pretty boring stuff!

Monday - I worked and ran errands with Tasha - as I've mentioned before, I'm the chauffer! Nothing eventful really happened.

Tuesday - I worked then Tasha, Hannah (the other stew on my boat), Tarryn and I went on a boat tour of Ft. Lauderdale. The pictures below are from the boat tour.

Ft. Lauderdale from the Atlantic at sunset.

I forgot whose house this was, but I do remember the guide saying that taxes on this house cost a half million dollars a year.

The houses here are sick!!! The money is this city is sick!!

The oldest house in Ft. Lauderdale.

Dan Marino owns the top floor penthouse of this building.

After the boat tour, we went and had a couple of drinks at an Irish pub next to the boat tour dock. It was downtown, and this was my first time into downtown Ft. Lauderdale

Wednesday - I worked all day. Last night Hannah, Tarryn, Tasha, and I decided to get dinner at PF Changs, then we went to Blue Martini. I tried my first very dirty martini, but I'm pretty sure it was with shit vodka, so I didn't like it.....couldn't drink it. After Blue Martini, we went to Lu-lu's. The boys (Phil - the chef, Blake - the deckhand, and Mike - Blake's friend) came and met us there. It was a pretty fun night....Lu-lu's was a bit of a disappointment, but it was good to hang out with my new crew.

Tasha, Hannah, Tarryn, and me at Lu-lu's

Hannah, Blake, Phil, Tasha, Tarryn, and Mike making up the second row at Lu-lu's

Today, was a very busy day!! I polished silverware for about two hours, wiped out the tubs and sinks, polished the sink stoppers......and other stuff - point is.....I'm super tired this evening (I'm sure my ramblings from last night didn't do me any favors as well!), and I'm on watch tonight which means I have to stay up until 10:00 in the crew mess.

So, I've been wanting to show photos of the boat's interior and exterior, but they are funny about taking pictures. I was looking at Tarryn's photos from when she worked on the boat and lo and behold she took pictures!! The following pictures are from her facebook page - I figured that since these were already published over the web, then I could borrow them for my blog! :)

The main salon and the dining area.

The Cuban room on the bridge deck.

Breakfast for the guests being served on the main aft deck.

Where I live now!! :-)

Another picture of my new house.

Dinner being served on the main aft deck. Notice the place settings - we use different place settings for every meal!! That's what I've been shopping for the last couple of days......placemats, napkins, and napkin rings!! Lots of fun! ;)

Another dinner table setting on the aft deck. The guests eat most of their meals on the aft deck - they're very laid back and hardly ever use the formal dining room.....which is kind of a relief for a first time stew!

First Week Down!! :-)

Week one is over, and what an interesting life this is! On Tuesday I moved onboard and was given my uniforms. We have different uniforms for different events, but for the most part I just wear khaki capris and a white cracker bay t-shirt.

This is an up close shot of the logo on our shirts.

After I got settled into my room, the other two stews showed me around the boat. There are 5 cabins on the bottom level each sleeping two and then there is a masters cabin on the main deck where the owners stay. Each cabin has its own theme with exquisite marble bathrooms! It's unbelievable!

We work from 8:00 - 4:00 while the boat is in the shipyard and have weekends off. When the guests are onboard, we work nonstop though - so it's not like this all the time. I'm pretty excited about heading north and getting to know the owners and their guests. From the stories I hear they're are extremely nice and treat the crew like family. They're self made billionaires so they haven't always lived this luxurious lifestlye which is good because they know what it's like to be normal - I guess you would call it.

Last night the chief stew and I went out to Waxy's for a few drinks. We're getting along great!! She's really easy to get along with. The other stew is great as well!! She dates the chef (who cooks amazing things.....things that make my mouth water - I'm going to get huge :-))

Today the chief stew, Tasha, and I went shopping for the boat today. We bought three sets of placemats, napkins, and napkin rings from Pier 1, bought more napkins at pottery barn as well as throw pillows for the crew mess. It was a lot of fun - these are things that I would never spend money on for my own house! Below is an example of one of the napkins from Pottery Barn that we are going to get next week (they didn't have 14 in stock, so we're waiting)

Tonight I'm taking it easy. I'm sitting in the crew mess watching a movie and waiting for the LSU vs Ole Miss baseball game to start - rain delay. So, our movie supply is ridiculous here. The chief stew orders new movies from amazon every friday for the owner's DVD collection, and being a permanent resident on the boat, we get to enjoy these movies whenever we want!! It's awesome!!

So, it looks like we'll be leaving the shipyard we're in next Wednesday or Thursday and head to a better marina in Ft. Lauderdale for about 5 days, then we're set to leave Ft. Lauderdale May 2 or 3. We're heading to Washington DC for the month of May to entertain guests there. It should be nice to have time off there in DC - maybe do a quick weekend getaway to New York with the other stews!! I'm super excited!! After that I think we're heading to Quebec City for a while, then to the great lakes.....hopefully we'll make an appearance in Chicago!!! I'll know more as it gets closer - itineraries change daily in this industry....

Oh and get this - I'm the only stew that feels comfortable driving. I've become the chief stew's chauffer, which I kind of like!! I'm a horrible driver!!! The irony of being someone's chauffer really makes me laugh :-P

I'm on a Boat!!!

So.....a lot has happened since my last post. I'll just start from the beginning.....I believe my last post was written on Saturday of last week. That weekend was extremely boring. Didn't do anything on Saturday, and Sunday I was planning to go on a long jog - but of course it rained all day. Sunday evening a few housemates and I decided to go to the Quarterdeck for dinner and drinks. It was great fun - it was Rob (a south african), Nissa (a Canadian), and me. I had a nice dinner of seared rare tuna with several glasses of wine. While at the quarterdeck, this Bently pulled up - decided to take a picture.....

On Monday, I had daywork again on motor yacht Banyan. They had me clean the flybridge and bridge.
On Tuesday, I went to a marina early in the morning to do some dockwalking, but of course I was unsuccessful! I hate dockwalking. That afternoon, I updated my CV and set another appointment at a crew agency for the following morning. I was supposed to have an interview that afternoon, but never heard anything more from the chief stew that was supposed to me interview me....
On Wednesday, I went to my interview at elite international crew agency, then I had a couple more hours of daywork on motor yacht Banyan for a charter show they were in that afternoon. I went to Bahia Mar and washed the windows, vacuumed the floors, dusted all the surfaces, and cleaned the floors in the bridge. While there the chief stew, Natasha, from Motor Yacht Cracker Bay called and wanted to set up an interview with me for the next morning, but I had already made plans to leave town the next morning......of course I didn't tell the chief stew that. She suggested meeting that afternoon instead, and I said of course. I met her and the captain, Rodd, at Starbucks. We talked for about 30 minutes, and they gave me a ride home back to the crew house. About 15 minutes later, Natasha called and asked me if I wanted the job!!!!!!! Of course I agreed......I'm no longer unemployed!!!!!!!

Later that night some guys from the crew house and I went to Wasxy's for dinner....as kind of a celebration!!Me, Liz, Ryan, a pilot - not a crew house resident, and Rob all at Waxy's.

Me and Liz
Me and LizMe and Ryan - for some reason it won't save upright.

The pilot, Rob, Liz, and Ryan.

Me and Liz - she's super tall :)

The Village Well - where I went with Rob and the pilot after Waxy's.

On Thursday morning I flew to Nashville to hang out with Jon. That night we went out with his boss and one of his boss's friends. The friend was a bit of a prick - a story topper/one upper if you will....but the night ended up fun with lots of live music and dancing!!Jon, a twin, with a set of twins at the Stage in Nashville.

On Friday we went to Atlanta for a crawfish boil on Saturday. While in Atlanta, we were staying at Jon's sister's house. She was out of town singing at a wedding, but her husband, Roy, was there. On Friday evening Roy wanted to play golf.....so below is a picture from the gold course.After golf, we met up with some of Roy's friends at Ted's Montana Grill, then headed home to get some good rest for the crawfish boil festivities to begin the next afternoon.

On Saturday, Jon and I hit the gym - then went to eat good Louisiana crawfish and drink beer. We stayed there all day. Roy grilled chicken and burgers while his Louisiana friends were cooking gumbo, red beans and rice, and crawfish. It was a great time......with flip cup games as well....it took me back to the good ole days!!

On Sunday, we left Atlanta and headed back to Nashville. Jon and I had dinner and watched a movie.

On Monday I headed back to Ft. Lauderdale. I went to Waxy's for dinner with some housemates. After Waxy's I went home and packed for the big move.

Today, I moved onto M/Y Cracker Bay!!!!!!!!!! :-)
MY NEW HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!A picture taken from the bow.
My new digs before completely unpacking.....

So, now I'm sitting in the main salon of a 147' motor yacht watching An Education. Today was relatively simple. I met the other stews, looked at some old photo albums, had a tour of the boat, organized the decorations cabinet, and completely unpacked and made myself at home. I'm super excited about living on a boat ;-)

Daywork and Disappointment

Well, yesterday was a pretty busy day. I picked up daywork on motor yacht Banyan. The boat's website is http://yachtbanyan.com - just in case any of you readers want to check it out. The pictures below were taken from the boat as well from my iphone so the quality isn't the best.

The Salon


The master bedroom

The website shows more pictures. I'm going back on Monday for more daywork on the boat, so I'm getting some work to include on my CV.

I heard back from my interview, and I didn't get it. The chief stew said I was one of her top two picks, but she gave to job to the first mate's girlfriend instead......trying to keep the boat "happy" she says. But she did say that her husband, Captain Tim, is going to see if he knows any other captains looking for entry level stews for their boat. So, now I'm back at square one..... Captain Tim is also going to give me a good reference to Elite Crew Agency - which is a bit of a snobby agency in that they don't usually work with newbies to the industry, so I'm hoping that maybe that should be helpful as well.

That's about all that's happening on this end. I'm just sitting on the couch in the crewhouse. I need to run a couple of errands, so I'm going to take care of that I suppose.......

Interview today!!!!!!! :)

I was just looking back at my last post and noticed that I hoped everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving! When did it become November!? I'm such a retard! So the housecleaning didn't actually happen. The lady was only going to pay me $9/hr, and I told her I didn't work for less that $13. She was a pushy old broad, but I wasn't going to work for less than $10 an hour. NO WAY!!! So, instead I went and met up with a lady who is an independent crew agent. She had a job that she thought I would be interested in. I haven't heard back from that job, so I'm assuming it's not going to work out.

Yesterday, I went to another crew agent. They contacted me, so I figured I would go see what they were all about. I spoke with a lady who was very nice and seemed helpful, but I'm beginning to see that all crew agents seem helpful......they just want to deal with people with experience. I ran into this little guy after my meeting with the crew agency. He was just hanging out on the side of the street.

Another picture of the view from 17th St. bridge. This was taken on my morning jog yesterday, which I got a bit sunburned on ;)

Yesterday afternoon I was going to do some dockwalking with a housemate, but right when we were going to walk out the door, I got a phone call for some daywork on a boat!! YAY!! :-) The captain and the owner came and picked me up from the crew house and brought me to the boat. Ok, let me explain the appearance of the owner......he had two sleeve tattoos, on his right hand every finger had a huge gold ring on it, and he had some weird beard that hung down about 6 inches off his face. The captain was roughly in his late 50's. You could tell he'd been in the industry for a while.... They came and picked me up in an old white mustang convertible. When I got in and we started heading down to the docks, I was a little leary of what I was getting myself into. The whole time I kept thinking, "I wonder if the owner beats his wife with his right hand...." Horrible thought I know, but I couldn't help it! The captain asked me where I was from. I told him Natchez, and he said, "Oh, I just finished a book about Natch-ez', I'll have to let you read it." Of course the book was The Devil's Punchbown by Greg Isles - which I've just finished reading myself.

Anyway, everything turned out to be fine. I cleaned the two guest cabins below, cleaned out fish guts from a freezer, cleaned the windows from the outside which was a bitch - there was a little ledge I had to stand on while holding on with my left hand so I didn't fall in the water and cleaning with my right hand, cleaned the captain's wheelhouse, cleaned the aft deck, and cleaned the water marks out of the hot tub. I drank two beers with the captain while he smoked a joint. He was super nice - in that he asked me if I wanted a puff of his joint, asked me if I wanted to be his date for the dinner party they were having that night, told me I was beautiful, told me I could call him if I ever wanted to go to dinner with him while in town, and he offered me his jet skis/waverunners when he gets them back into Ft. Lauderdale - super generous! HA.....icky.....gross! I ended up getting paid $15 and hour rich was very reasonable!

After that little adventure, I decided I needed a couple more cocktails, so I met a housemate at Waxy's (the yachtie bar) and had a couple.

TODAY, I HAD AN INTERVIEW!!!!!!!!!! The chief stew and captain of a 142' feadship interviewed me. The boat is still at the Trinity yard in New Orleans. It was a great interview....in my opinion. I had them both laughing.....which is good I think - I enjoy laughing. When I left, the chief stew said I had a great personality!! The captain said, "I've really enjoyed talking with you for the last 20 minutes!!" :) It sounds like an awesome opportunity, so everyone out there please keep your fingers crossed!! The boat is planning to do New England this summer, then probably the Caribbean in the winter, then Alaska or the Med next summer!! I may not hear from them until next week, so I've still got to keep searching.....

Tomorrow, I'm planning to go dockwalking in the morning, and if I don't get any work for the day, I'm heading to elite crew - another crew agency - in the afternoon.

The truth of the matter is, I'm totally stoked by how the interview went, and I really hope I get that job. I'm afraid I won't be able to concentrate on much else until I hear back from them!!

House Cleaning

Well, I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! I went to Dublin, Georgia for the long weekend to spend Easter with a friend of mine and his family. It was nice, and I ate entirely too much!!

So, today I'm cleaning a house for daywork. It should be interesting! Then I plan to hit the gym - that Easter Sunday dinner is beginning to stick around I'm afraid! After the gym, I have a meeting planned with a crew agent. She has a prospective job for me that sounds not too bad, so I'm hoping to hear from the captain soon!

I hope everyone is doing well! Hoping to have more things lined up before the week is over. I have another meeting tomorrow morning, then planning to hit the docks for daywork for Thursday and Friday. I'm still trying to get my name out there. It's pretty tough breaking into the industry without having many contacts in the industry, but I still have plenty of time to find a job for the summer! Wish me luck!!