The grass couldn't be greener...

It is Sunday eve and I'm finishing off yet another tin of apple pie.

Sorry for not getting back to emails and messages, it has been a crazy week!

On Monday I started off dayworking on Moonraker, by Wed I was permanent crew. To go through the sequence of completely random and seemingly coincidental events that landed me at this point is just ridiculous. All I can say is karma is definately on my side this week...must be those girl scout cookies that I bought. (Thanks mum and everyone for all your prayers and support).

My new onboard family consists of 3 big brothers Mike, Dave & John, Kristen chief stew and the boss man, Captain Matt (aka Mr Nut/Mutty), and Tiem a beautiful bubbly asian girl who is soon to join. I will be moving onboard on Fri, the bedrooms are currently being refurbished, so currently enjoying starfishing in Jax bed as our sleeping quarters are rather tight onboard:)

Soon we(crew only) are taking a 10day trip up to Manhattan, Matt plans to stop at a new historical village every day. The owner-who I am told is a kind, humerous and warm man-lives in Manhattan, and will be onboard regularly while we spend 3months there. This time round
I plan do do some proper NY shopping:)

After one day of having joined Moonraker, and thus finally having found a place of comfort, I get a call from Jackie, to say that her and Patrick have been offered a job in St Lucia and will be flying out the very next morning. It couldn't have happened at a better time, we are all so very lucky.

I have a new house mate, Sam. I am so glad to have her company for my last week here. We took a trip to the beach on Sat(where I fell asleep and roasted myself, as you will see in the pics) and we have a great time cooking meals together, she also loves fresh light foods.

Fri was a fun day at work. Kristen and I spent the most of the morning shopping for my uniform- everything is super cute. Loads of golf t's, strappy tops, skorts and my favorite, a 1950's style swim suit with overskirt for beach picnics, hehe. After our shopping extravaganza we met up with the crew at the Samba Room for lunch to celebrate Kristens birthday...beautifully presented food and wicked margarittas!!!!!!

Saturday night was madness...myself and 8 others took a limo down to Miami to celebrate Craigs birthday. The first club we visited was fairly upmarket with pools and palmtrees and various levels with different djs, later we went to Mangos,(more my scene) a salsa club with professional dancers on the bar, and the best cocktails ever. Ended the night with a mixed lamb and chicken pita at 4.30am, doubt our limo driver was too impressed with my tstsiki spillage!

So thats my week in a nutshell...really the grass couldn't be greener anywhere else in the world....I am happy and strong and looking forward to so many new experiences and adventures!

Tried adding pics, but taking too long...

Big love

Spring Break = Plett Rage on steroids!

School is out and the clubs are raging!

It has been a muggy day, walking home from the pub the clouds were light up by the lightening, followed by the slow rolling thunder, the heavy raindrops started to fall just as I reached the front door... a nice relaxing end to a fairly manic weekend.

Headed tp Miami on Fri. Noel took me on a tour of South Beach on his scooter, it's like the Camps Bay of Miami. Drove by crazy exculsive islands, took a walk on the beautiful beachfront & watched the surfers, witnessed crowds of people desperately trying to get photos of the Kardashians, ate Mofango at an awesome little restaurant(if you don't know what that is, don't worry, nor do I, but it tastes SOO good:)). Our night really began shortly after 12pm, we took a cab downtown to meet up with some girlfriends at an exclusive club called FloridaRoom. Here you don't pay money to enter a club, you pawn off beautiful girls. The bouncers literally sift through the line and let all the trendies in, if each guy doesn't bring at least one pretty girl with they wont let you in. Danced alot and had a great time.

Spent the better part of Satuarday recovering and later did some well deserved retail therapy, got a cutsie dress and a pair of 9West sandals.
Headed downtown FLL, where we started out at Cayote Ugly, then Americas Backyard(which I love, it is open air, and you feel like you are chilling next to someones pool with buxom blondes serving you drinks), next we stopped in at TheBrick where a girl in a g-string and bra danced on the bar and proceded to pour shots down our throats. At 3am we wound down the night with a hubbly at Off the Hooka and peperoni pizza for the taxi ride home...best night out so far, fun people and a good energy.

Today is a very important day as I FINALLY bought batteries for my camera,so no more excuses! We all had a lazy day today recovering from the weekend. Really looking forward to starting work with Cpt Matt tomo on MoonRaker. He reminds me SO much of dad,and I think I will get along well with the crew. Will let you know how it goes!

Sitting on the couch eating a tin of apple pie filling with extra cinnamon and reflecting on my week. The apartment is quiete, Jax and Pat are working, and I'm on standby while they put the boat back in the water, so I get to play on my new toy(my tiny new laptop) and rest my very tired bruised body.

I have been dayworking on MoonGoddess this week, the 120ft tender to PrincessMarianna. I have been doing mans work, and eating like a man to compensate for the heavy load on my body.I am fortunate in that I can save all the money I make-I get collected at our apartment in the morning, and the boat takes us our for lunch at a new restaurant everyday-yesterday we headed to an amazing little deli, know only to the locals, where we had freshly made baguettes with various hams and sprouts and salads, the pertions are always so huge, so I tend to eat my leftovers for din. I truck around the boatyard in overalls, with a massive mexican sunhat(boat owners are mexican). Every day is like a crazy gym session, the guys made me a belt at work yesterday cause my pants keep falling down. As soon as I'm comfy in a size3 I'm taking myself shopping :)I am the official engine room monkey, climbing into the smallest spaces to polish and clean, bumps and bruises are a common injury down there, I find a new blue stamp daily. My supervisor Noel has taught me loads of tricks-of -the trade..."work smarter not harder" he tells me daily. Going through to Miami this weekend where he lives, to check out the lifesyle of the rich and famous and to experience Miami night life.

Wed was St Patricks day, and after a long day at work, I resided to sitting on our green couch and decided that was festive enough for me. Though after recieving a phonecall, from the Captain that had interviewed me on Monday, asking if I would work for them part time so they could get to know me better, I decided a drink down at the local was in order. It is so nice to feel safe enough to go out by yourself, and everything is walking distance for the most part.

I have bought myself a sketchpad, and have started drawing again, don't think I have done so since 2005! It is really helping me to unwind, I found last week to be a little tense, but every day I feel a little stronger and braver than the day before. I can call

I realise more and more how lucky we are with our living situation. After a day of work it is nice to come home to your own space, and a home cooked meal. Jax and I take turns making din, and Patrick does the dishes, and for now we are all happy with that arrangement. We eat well, so far we've made lasagne, stirfry, BBQ, beef stew, prawns with baked jelapenos, chicken schnitzel(Pats speciality dish) food in general is fairly cheap, with the exception of fresh fruit and veg

Just got a call from the bossman to say the boat is in the water, so gota run.xx

Happiness is...

Happiness is...remembering you have leftover chineese in the fridge, rediscovering an old passion, meeting strangers on the train...

It has been a challenging yet fullfilling week. I worked my first shift on a boat on Fri. 6hours of ironing napkins to the sweet sound of your thoughts is a chilling experience to say the least(though the pay was worth the painful boredom). I'm told that polishing engine parts is worse, though I don't believe that engine parts are all the same square size and shape.

I was chatting to a lady on board and she suggested I enquire about work on a boat across the yard, I took the email and contact details and thought little of it until today. I sent through my CV this afternoon and within 10min they called and asked me to come in for an interview.

Saturday night myself Jax and Pat took a trip down to the local Mexican restaurant to celebrate us all working our first day on a boat. Amazing food, the best nachos and margarittas you have ever tasted(Megs it's worth the trip just for them Margarittas!), was a pretty boozy afternoon/eve and we all woke up this morning pining for a slice of Bovril toast!

Headed downtown this eve to Off The Hooka(Cubana style club) with hubbly, couches and cocktails. Spring break has just kicked of and I swear there were bus-loads of schoolkids streaming into that place by 10am! Scary!

Northbound to West Palm Beach

36hours on planes&airports, 3hours in JFK terminal without passport, 20 min on a scooter, 1hr13min on the train, 5min in a big ole blue station wagon, and I find myself sitting around a BBQ, cold Corona in hand with Jimbo sitting next to me. Happiness is....finally reaching your destination.

So I always try and follow the mindset that everything happens for a reason...the reason seldom being obvious or "reasonable" at the time. I nearly screamed when I missed my train to West Palm last night, Pat and I arrived on the scooter just in time to wave the train off.

While waiting on the station I met friendly Australian, apparently "Australians are awesome", and coindidently he is working on Deniki(the boat I was waiting to hear from). He told me abit about it and said that the position I'd applied for had been filled the previous day. Was nice to have company on the fairly long trip.

My train ride home at 7am was slightly less amusing, had a guy sitting opposite me eagerly telling me about the computer gaming site he works for and repeatedly showing me on his cellphone how to play the games, even though I made it completely clear that I was not into computer games nor chatting about computer games at 7 in the friggin morning!

While queueing at the grocerry store this eve, the young girl infront of me was having trouble carrying all her shopping bags and sleeping puppy. I offered to help her out, carrying stuff to her appartment just up the road. This was purely a selfish act, as I was desperately wanting to cuddle the crystal blue eyed, freckled faced Kiara, the sweetest, sleepiest little pitbull in the universe! Will catch up with Kiaras mum this weekend for a drink. The people here are all so friendly...I love that about this town...I also love that there are no fences around the houses, you can safely walk anywhere even at night, everyone recycles, there are palmtrees that are so green they look fake, our local grocer does 2for1 specials all the time, people drive slowly & when you cross the road cars actually stop for you, the constant hum of V8 engines...so much so much, I could keep going...

Recieved an email from Luxyachts today to say that the chief stewardess of Deniki had requested that they resend her my CV...so we'll see what comes of that...but have my first stint of "Day Work" tomorrow, excited to get onto a boat and get some experience!

XX

Exciting times

Rolled out of bed this morning with a hazy head from a night of eating steak, playing cards and boozing...wow I sound like a man. My head quickly cleared after I got a call from the recruitment agency to say they have submitted my CV for a job they think that I am suitable for.

According to the recruitment agency Deniki has a young vibrant crew, and James has coincidently partied with some of them before while in StMaarten...it really is SUCH a small industry. It is a pretty amazing vessel in both size and design. 171Ft, 12crew, 12 guests, and very interesting interior decor, (check out this link to read an article and see pics.http://www.amels-holland.com/editor/assets/artikelen/Amels171_DENIKI_ShowBoats_English.pdf).The position they are looking to fill is a stewardess/massage therapist and they are looking for immediate start.

Well I have made myself available, so if it is meant to be it will be,but finding it hard to sit back and just wait on a phonecall.

Patrick just called from work to say that the owner of his boat has offered that Jackie join them on the trip to Miami this weekend. It is a short trip(3days), so she can get a feel for the motion of the ocean as well as learn a few tips of the trade from the very casual, friendly lady owner.

Other than that today has been a lazy day for Jax and I. I am lying on the couch updating my blog while Jax gives me a pedi :) Spoilt girl. Enjoying the chilled times cause when we all get to work it is going to be busy busy busy, and am looking forward to that too!

Love to all xxxx

A day of firsts

First time dockwalking

First real american barbeque

First time partaking in a game of Asshole

First time riding a scooter (or attempting to at least, almost took out an unsuspecting bush)

2nd attempt at finishing the 2L bottle of vodka

Had a BBQ with our very friendly neighbours(also yachties...seems everyone here is in the industry).

Pat found day work today and is headed to Miami for 3 days. Have applied for a couple jobs and doing another round of dock walking tomo. Have my heart set on a crew chef job in Palm Beach...fingers crossed. x

Home for now...

So why am I at home updating my blog on a Saturday night??? Was on my way down to the local when I started having visions of that movie "Taken", soooo didn't even make it 10steps out the door.

Weather is starting to warm up, took a walk down to the beach yesterday. Beaches are not unlike Cpt re water temp, but our sand back home is softer and whiter. 

Very happy in our little appartment, we have been cooking loads(jax even baked a chocolate cake yesterday) and experimenting with making cocktails. 

Food and booze is fairly inexpensive at the stores, but going out drinking is rather pricey. The price of 3 drinks could buy you groceries for an entire week!

Trying to eat healthily and walking as much as possible, thinking of buying a bicycle. Saw an awesome pink cruiser online last night:) Pats scooter is such a blessing tho for getting to places that are further!!!  Starting running with Pat & Jax on Monday.

We made the BEST discovery yesterday...the Dollar Tree...everything costs $1 or less...we stocked up our little appartment with $1 pizzas, toilet spray, microwave popcorn, herbs, 8eggs, burgers, washing baskets, toiletries...they sell EVERYTHING! Am yet to try Ben & Jerrys (will remember your recomendations Nix), but the cookies 'n cream from the $1 shop is pretty tasty!

So the question that everyone keeps asking; no I have not seen James yet. He has just finished charter in the BVI's, and should be here next weekend for a visit:)

Well that's about all the news we have. Have taken pics of our appartment, will hopefully post them tomorrow.

Much love xx

Fort Lauderdale

1&2 March

Arrived safely in FLL after a rather bumpy ride. After 5 nights of sleeping on aeroplanes and sofas a bed was more than welcome(tho sharing a bathroom with 4 strangers is an adjustment)! Spent the first 2days signing up at agencies, buying grocceries and orientating ourselves. 

3 March

Just cracked open the champagne & chocolate jello to celebrate-while jax and pat were taking their new scooter for it's maiden voyage they discovered a really awesome appartment for half the rent!!! Our new place is clean and modern and I have my own room with walk in closet:) A good place to call home for now! We have our own BBQ, patio and we are super close to the agencies and shops now! Happy days :)