First day on the job!

It was GREAT! I had a blast, learning my new boat, capt. and crew. We got rained on a bit but it still turned out to be a great day! Above are a couple of pics of what we did today. One is the Baths at Virgin Gorda and the other are the Caves on norman island. Whew! I am tired, a good tired, a productive day kind of tired. Time for bed because I have to get up at 5:30am. Night night!

Check out my new job!

Limnos Charters!

clickity click!

Back in the Islands!

Well, I have been back for just over a week and I have a job, an apartment, and life's good! I am crewing for Limnos Charters and we run day trips to the BVI's! How cool is that? I have been running all over the island today and I am so exhausted. Time for a nap on my cozy couch, under my cold a/c. The weather is a bit crazy because there is some kind of "perfect storm" brewing. There are huge waves on the north side, all the beaches are closed and the water looks like it does after a hurricane blows through. Keep an eye on the weather.

Bye bye Miami!

I am totally excited about being here in Miami. So the pics above are Before cuban coffee, and After cuban coffee. Wow! I am flying to ST Thomas in about an hour and I can't wait! I am nervous! I have really missed all my friends there and it feels strange to be going back to a place where I used to live. I have never moved back somewhere, except my parents house! So, it just feels like getting a second chance. Well I don't want to use up all my battery because all i have is a european power cord. Gotta find an adapter. See yall later!

That Great Australian Taste!

On my last weekend in Australia, I have finally decided to try the infamous "Four n' Twenty Pie". I initially heard of this phenomenon while working on the mega yacht Francine, in Savannah. One of the dekhands was from New Zealand and he went on and on about how much he missed "pies" and I was like, dude I can bake you a pie, apple, pecan, what? He went on to describe some kind of meat and gravy thing and I was grossed out. Apparently "Pies" are to Aussies what "Taco Bell" is to us Americans. Drunken late night food. I have decided to try one, for lunch.

Bonjour!

Ca va? (That means "How are you?" in french.) Ca va tres bien! (That means "I am very good!") I am learning french! It's so fun. I am learning on my ipod with the podcast "Coffee Break French", it's pretty easy and it's free! That's the kicker. Anyway, just thought I would let you all know what I have been doing the past week. I have been staying with Jess while Mick and the boys went away on a "boys week" which has now lasted over a week... wonder when they are coming back. I still have stuff on the boat and my flight back to the Caribbean leaves next Monday! I'm sure they will come back soon. So lately I have spent my days lying on the trampoline learning french, trying to get a tan before I head back to the land of sun and fun. I hope yall are keeping warm wherever you are and I hope your 2008 is going great! Well, nothing too exciting going on here in Oz, just enjoying my last week with Jess and Nicola, I am really gonna miss them when I leave. Bye! Above is a picture of the French West Indies, which are not far from the Virgin Islands, french might come in handy!

Running with the ferals!

Yesterday Jess and Nicola took me to the Sanctuary to see kangaroos wallabys and koalas not to mention wombats and fruit bats! We had so much fun! We ate a picnic while fending off white ibis' with thier freaky long bills and we saw platapus' swimming around like little crazies. After that we came around a corner only to encounter a couple of wallabies just lounging about along the trail. So I decided I had seen the trainer man approach them and I could do the same so I snuck up on a sleepy wallaby and gave him a sctratch under the chin and he loved it! He chilled and gave my palm a little lick like a cat and Nicola had a go with him too and we left him to his sleep. It was great day and I am proud to say that I actually touched a wallaby in Australia! I wanted to take him home.

The countdown has begun!

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Where the bloody hell are ya???

I am here! In Frankston that is... I love Frankston! I am staying with Jess for a few days while Mick and the boys have a "Guy's Week" which personally, I don't want anything to do with! Ha ha! Things have been crazy around here and without internet it's all piled up and I have fallen way behind on my blog. So let me TRY to summarize.

Australia Day at the Norford farm was the best day EVER! Jess and I went, basically Australia Day is like our 4th of July but way bigger, and drunker, and the party goes all day and all night. We met tons of great/crazy people and made some new friends.

I went to Ballarat with Jess for a mini one day road trip!

Spent some time buzzing about Port Phillip bay.

Shannan took me to see kangaroos and "wallabats" in the wild! Im telling yall it was amazing, It was a nice little hike and the roos were just right there! In the middle of the trail, off to the sides, they are huge animals! I was like, OK where is the fence? Yeah, in "The WIld" means no fences.

I've been trying to lay low and save my cash as much as possible so now that I think of it I have not been very exciting.

Well Saturday night Jess and I decided to go out in Mornington and we had a great time, until the 5th hour of me wearing stiletto boots I had to call it quits and go sleep in the car! My feet still hurt. I have never felt like more of a party pooper, but Jess did a fine job continuing the party for at least an hour before she woke me up and we went home.

All the picutres from Australia Day and Kangaroos and Mornington and everything in between will be on the photo blog.

Oh! I knew I was forgetting something. I am moving back to St Thomas! Australia is not for me. I love my new friends and I have had a great time but I need to get back on the water. The Gramac is a beautiful boat but we only go out one day a week for a few hours and I really need sea time. I will be flying into Miami on March 10th, staying over night and I will arrive in St Thomas the next day. I am really excited! I have missed the islands so much. I always said that was where I wanted to be but if I didn't take this chance I would never know, and I am glad I came. It has been an amazing experience here and I will never forget those of you who have made it so.

Now as far as St Thomas goes, I am so happy to be going back, and can't wait to see all of you again! See yall soon!

Sorry I'm out of touch!

I am still cut off from the universe without internet on the boat. I dont know when I will get it back. I can't talk now because I am paying 5 bucks an hour for the net at a cafe. Everything is fine, we still have yet to leave the harbor for more than a buz around the cove and back and I am really needing some sea time. I will update you all on the fun I have had and the things I have done. Not much. But hooray I did see a bunch of kangaroos in the wild the other day. Other than that I have been on the boat. I am bored. Hope yall are warm cuz I am freezing my ass off here, if i squint my eyes I can see Antartica.

Clean Engine Room, Check.

It fairly easy to clean a relatively new/clean engine room. But there sure were lots of black fingerprints and smudges on all those shiny white surfaces! Now its REALLY clean. I feel accomplished.

Good morning Martha Cove!

Well, It's an overcast day here and the forecast says rain so I wont wash the boat today. Besides I am still waiting on a new oil tank for the Sea Legs, as it just drips oil all over the deck 24/7 and drips down the sides. It's so frustruating! It's been broken for like 3 weeks and for some reason we cant get the part delivered. I clean it and clean it and it gets greasy all over again.

On a lighter note, I got to talk to some of my best friends on the phone recently and it made me feel so much better! While I was in the mood of remembering home, I whipped up some mexican food and had a lil feast. (See picture above)

I can't wait to get my Sea Legs back, the water is beautiful here at Martha Cove, just as clear as the Virgin Islands, I need my trusty vessel to get me to the good snorkeling spots. Going by boat around here is so much easier than going by car. Another thing I could really use, a hammock. I always want a hammock. One of these days I will have one of my very own.

Well, I'm off to clean the engine room...

Ode to Maria!

Just a lil homage to my fellow blogger Maria! As I am playing with my new computer's "photo booth" application, so fun. Be sure to follow her adventures as well, http://ihaveaboat.blogspot.com
or you can click the link "Ferroever" on the right hand side of my blog. This is one lady who is truly living the dream! Go girl!!!

Fake Potato and Bacon soup on a 18 degree day.

Yum. Kinda. I'm sitting here in the salon watching the Travel Channel, waiting for it to warm up a bit before I get to cleaning fenders. Yesterday the guys installed fenders on the floating dock so now we dont have to hang our big fenders off the rails. Now I am in the process of washing fender covers and cleaning the green scum from Williamstown harbor off the white fenders. It takes a bit of elbow grease but its no big deal. Just time consuming. Wow, the longer the reconstituted potato and bacon soup sits the better it is! Pretty tasty! And can I just tell yall how much I LOVE MY MAC! This computer is awesome. It takes some getting used to, the systems are tricky when you are used to microsoft. But its super fun!

Our new home in Martha Cove is really nice. Its a pretty area and very very quiet. You can check it out at the Martha Cove site, www.marthacove.com.au as you can see, its a nice place. Well, the sun is shining and the wind is finally calm, looks like time to scrub some fenders! Woo Hoo!

Wow do I have some catching up to do!

Hi everyone! I had been without a computer since I wrote last, so I have tons of pictures and info to write about, Its going to take me a while to get everything situated so bear with me. We moved the boat from Williamstown over to Martha Cove, which is nice because there is a great beach here. I will write as soon as I get a moment to really sit down and put everything into words. Just letting you all know I am alive and well and I miss you all so much!

I got my Sea Legs!

Today we are taking the boat to Martha Cove, but Mick and Arthur got stuck in traffic so they called and suggested that Selina and I take the Sea Legs for a spin! I was surprised, coming from a boat where the capt. hovered over us like we were incapable of doing anything on our own, to this situation where Mick has complete faith in me that I am perfectly competent around boats. Just the fact that he was confident in me made me confident in myself. I drove the Sea Legs out of the marina and around the point to check out the beach. Now, I may be spoiled but this beach was not what I would call a "beach". More like the kind of beach you have at the lake, water is all green and murky. So we headed back this way. It's still a bit chilly here, it would be really warm if the wind wasn't blowing. The wind is freezing! I brought the boat back in to the dock perfectly and Selina was a great deck hand, tying off our dock lines when we eased into the slip. Now we wait. Hopefully the guys will get here soon so we can head out!

Oh the joy of karaoke!

Tonight was a great night! I met Sarah and James at the pub, we played billiards with small yellow and red balls and drank some cocktails and then I sang a little karaoke then they walked me home! What a polite group! It was so nice to spend some time with normal fun people. Tonight was the first night I actually went out and met people. It has been raining since I got here so I have been a bit of a hermit. Sarah even invited me on her and Louise's road trip down the coast this week. I will meet up with them if I have a night off. They will be camping by the beach and having a great time, I hope I can make it down one night at least. It would do me good. If James can get time off hopefully he will come too so I don't have to drive alone!!! I am in such a freakin good mood I just don't understand it! I better go to sleep now before I get homesick or lovesick or just sick in general. I hope you all had a great Christmas and have a Happy New Year! I will be here, or up the Yarra, or in Tazmania...

p.s. I spent most of the day watching cricket... so confused.


Love you!

A Very Merry Christmas...

I have to say, this has been a very merry christmas down under! Today Mick, Selina and I went over to Mick's son Paul's house, where Paul's wife Dide and his Mom Jill cooked us an amazing feast of Turkey and ham and salad and potatoes while Arthur and Paul played with the pork roast on the grill. Dide and Paul's daughters April and Jemma were a hoot! I spent most of my time drinking wine and helping them put their christmas presents together. It was so nice to have someone think of me, I had a present under the tree with my name on it and even a place card at the table. I have truly been blessed this year with an amazing group of new friends and I am so thankful. Tomorrow we are going to put the sea legs tender in the water for a test drive. That should be fun! I can't wait to drive her around. I'd better get to bed, dawn comes early on a boat right Capt. Ron???

Happens every morning just about sun up...


Merry Christmas Mates!

Merry Christmas!

It is officially Christmas in Australia! I wouldn't have known it if Arthur had not called earlier today to remind me to buy stuff for the Christmas party on the boat. I kept saying things like "I don't understand" and "I'm confused" and "What day is it? What are we doing?" whereas his reply was "It can be anything you want it to be Jolea, no worries mate!" which didn't help me figure out what day it was. Finally I realized it was Christmas Eve. It doesn't feel like Christmas, although it is freakin freezing... It stopped raining today for the first time in a week. Thats good news. So I spent all day decorating and setting up for the party tomorrow. It really made me happy, and I finally felt festive! I am usually the one who puts up the Christmas tree on Thanksgiving and makes everyone watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation every single day till Christmas, but this year I have been all out of whack because I have been living in the Virgin Islands and the weather was so warm and then I came here and I lost a day somewhere which has really thrown me off. I think what really threw me was my birthday. I didn't have a party, and I don't know anyone except Mick and Selina, and even when Selina and I went out it was strange because we don't really know each other. I just fell out of it. I am really looking forward to the party tomorrow because I really worked hard setting it up. I have tons to do in the morning so I should get to bed. I was slicing carrots a second ago and dropped the knife, thats the picture at the top of this blog. That would have hurt...

Merry Christmas/Festivus/Chanukah/etc.

Oh and I didn't get to watch the Grinch either. Boo.

I turned 25 in Melbourne!

Time for an update! I had a good birthday, Mick and Selina took me out to dinner at the Atomic Bar, where I had that great steak I wrote about previously. After that Mick dropped me and Selena off at the Crown Casino downtown, where I won 50 bucks playing craps! Selina then suggested we go down to Chapel St. to a bar called Lotus. It was an alright bar, not my favorite though, so we went down the street to the Q Bar which played dance music and was full of trendy people with trendy haircuts and we had a good time dancing and somehow ended up in V.I.P. Go figure. I think I may go to the salon today and get a trendy haircut... just kidding.

I bought myself a birthday present! A new guitar! I bought it from Tommy down at the Guitar shop across the street from my boat. Tommy invited me to hear his band play at the Rose Hotel which is around the corner from me on Ferguson St. They play blues and they have a girl named Pym as their leading lady, she rocks. I had such a good time with the band and their friends, they invited me to the jam session they hold on sundays. Not this sunday though, because of the holidays. I am going over to the shop in a little while for a guitar lesson, if it stops raining. I haven't seen the sun in days. Whats with this weather?