1 day down, 14 to go...

Whew... I am exhausted.

My day in a nutshell...

6am: woke up
7am: caught cab to ferry dock
8am: boarded ferry to Tortola
9am: meet up with Captain Halford
10am: arrive at boat and get acquainted with my surroundings
11am: leave dock and head to Peter Island Resort (big swells)
12pm: arrive at Peter Island
12:15pm: generator bites the big one
12:15pm: Captain Halford goes into a west indian tirade and climbs into the engine room.
1pm: Charter guests arrive, I meet them on the dock and explain that we are having technical difficulties... yadda yadda yadda.
1:30pm: we leave the dock with guests on board and head to Road Town, Tortola to provision while Hal waits on a mechanic
2:30pm: arrive at Village Cay marina and head to the store with guests in tow (BTW they are AWESOME!!! So cool and so nice.)
5:30pm: finally done shopping, even though we didn't get everything on my list, Ron was getting antsy with our 3 shopping carts full of stuff... still, it's stuff we needed.
6pm: load food on boat and then move boat to a different slip to hook up to shore power,mind you I am deckhand in all of this docking and casting off and stuff, I'm not just in the galley.
6:30pm: still putting things away
7pm: start prepping for dinner, realizing all the things that we really needed and didn't buy...
8pm: Dinner is served!

Tonight I made:

Crab Cakes (FROM SCRATCH!!! THEY WERE KICK ASS! I EVEN ATE A BITE OF ONE!)
Green Beans
Roasted corn on the Cob
Corn Bread

Served with a lovely Pinot Grigio!

They loved it! Even the 9 year old said "mum, this is quite nice don't you think?"
:)

They stocked a whole cooler with Heineken for Hal and bought the biggest bottle of Cruzan rum I have ever seen for me... This is the beginning of a beautiful charter.

I am totally exhausted and only had to cook one meal. The good news is, they are not early risers! They wake up at 9am! Thank God!

Now for the best part... I am in my own cabin, lying on a memory foam bed... in the A/C, sipping a glass of wine...

My bed at home sucks so bad. I wanna be on charter forever!

Tomorrow the little girl is going swimming with the dolphins and hopefully Halford will have the genset fixed by the time they get back and we are off to Virgin Gorda I think...

I have internet here at this marina but supposedly we will be anchoring out alot so this might be my last post for a while.

GOOD NIGHT!

I'm shipping off!

I have my big backpack packed up, and sadly, there's not much left in my closet... It's kinda nice living out of a suitcase but sometimes I wish I had an apartment somewhere with my stuff in it, all cozy with a bed that doesn't have springs poking me in my pressure points and pillows that weren't like flat pancakes. I am really looking forward to sleeping in a comfy bed on charter!

I'm not sure if I will have internet access while I am on charter but if I do I will write a little blip if I get a chance. We are picking them up at the exclusive Peter Island Resort, then motoring back over to Tortola to provision.

Awesome news!!! We will be going to ANEGADA!!! That's where the pink flamingos live and it's one of the BVI's I haven't been to yet. I don't know anyone who has been there actually. You can only get there by private boat or sea plane. It's a low lying coral island like Key West, It's not mountainous like the rest of the islands around here. I wish I had a camera. :(

The pic above is Anegada...

Have a Merry Christmas everyone!

17 hours till my new adventure begins!

In just 17 short hours I will be on a ferry to Tortola, British Virgin Islands. I am excited and nervous but it will work out just fine. I am headed over to the West End of Tortola, a.k.a. Sopers Hole. That's where Blackbeard the pirate used to keep his fleet of pirate ships! From there my captain will take me to the Charter company office and I will get my uniforms and a little brief on the charter. After that we will head over to Peter Island to pick up the guests. I am a bit nervous but i know I will be ok.

Congrats to Dane who just got a job as the second mate on the schooner Argia in Mystic, CT!!!

OMG MY SHIP HAS COME IN!!!

Hahaha! Not really, but I found a Schooner that I am destined to own! THE HMS PICKLE!!! It's amazing. Now I just need my rum fortune to come rolling in from Cruzan rum and everything will be fine!!! :)

Read about her HERE.

Homework today.

I have been busy planning my meals for the first 7 days of the charter. It's really hard. In the process I forgot to eat lunch. Now I am hungry and have dreams of amazing food dancing in my head after putting together my menus. Too bad I don't have any amazing food.

I think I will whip up some tuna salad on toast with broccoli and cheese soup as a side. Maria got me thinking about broccoli. :)

I need to figure out how I am going to get to town tomorrow to pick up my paycheck from Limnos finally. Gotta pay rent. :(

I have planned Breakfast, Lunch, Appetizers, Dinner and Desserts for 7 whole days and I am exhausted. It's so much food. Now I hear that the family doesn't want me to shop for them like a normal charter, they want to go WITH ME to the store and pick and choose!!! What a pain in the ass!!! This throws everything off. Ugh. I am so stressed.

But this makes me smile... If you haven't taken time to watch Slumdog Millionaire, do it. Now! This is a part of the end credits where all the cast and crew dance to a really cool song!!!



I got a lead on another charter with a different captain from the 28th through the 3rd. Maybe I can book it too. I get back from this one on the 27th... quick turnaround. Then there is another one with him a few days later, a week in mid Jan. If I can line these charters up I can save enough money to have a nice savings when I go back to Florida in March. Fingers crossed.

Schooner Smiles, Winter Wishes.

Here are a few lovely things I have found while perusing my blog-o-sphere. These things made me smile, made me happy, and somewhat transported me into a little bit of the holiday spirit. (Somewhat.) Above is the Schooner Argus in the Baltimore lighted boat parade, when I tried to find info on her it was difficult, and what I found didn't look good. Seems that she fell into disrepair and when they tried to auction her off no one bid. Sad. Supposedly dry docked somewhere in California.

This blog here called Completely Coastal is one of my favorites! I found these great pictures there.

I just imagine this one being towed behind a big beautiful Schooner somewhere in New England.
This is an ornament you can get at Macy's.

Check out Christmas Coast for more awesome nautical Christmas decor!

In other news, here is a bit of St. Thomas trivia: the popular "Fraiser" actor, Kelsey Grammar was born here! His father lived here until he was murdered (go figure) in his own front yard when Kelsey was 13 years old. Upon further reading about Mr. Grammar I found even more HORRIFYING facts, when he was 20, his 19 year old sister was raped and murdered in Colorado and in 1980 his twin half-brother's were both killed in a scuba diving shark attack!!! It's amazing someone with so much tragedy in his life can come out with a smile on his face and laughter in his heart.

I am so thankful for my friends and family.

Merry Christmas from the Islands...

Stressing for the season!

The charter starts in 4 days and I have no idea what I'm doing. I know it's not hard to read a recipe, and I am a damn good cook but it's a bit scary when you are doing it for pay and for people you don't know. It's a good thing its only a Mom and a Dad and their 9 year old daughter. Kids are easy and picky so she shouldn't be a problem. I just need to make sure I can at least go over the menu and shopping list with Jen before we leave. She has been busy with work and hasn't had time to go over it with me. Hopefully this evening.

I have some exciting news, just a little glimmer of hope you know. I have been talking with the Captain of a boat I used to work on a few years ago and now, under new ownership and with a cool new itinerary he wants to talk to me about re-joining the crew. I am so excited! It's exactly the kind of boat I have been wanting to work on and the sail plan is amazing. Miami for the winter and New York City for the summer. Fingers crossed everyone. The Captain wants to talk to me on the phone when I get back from charter. It's not much money but it's what I love.

In other boat stuff, my friend Capt. Pao used to drive the schooner Appledore and now works on tug boats in Maine. He emailed me and said they are always hiring cooks and they pay really well but I have to be able to handle being around crusty boat guys... I said, those are my favorite kind of guys! So, if the Miami thing falls through I will check into that!

I really hope this works out!

GOONIES NEVER SAY DIE!!!!

And, this is how I feel about my blog lately...

I am such a mess sometimes!

Lilly and I carved a pumpkin last night and I burned the pumpkin seeds. It's ok though because we had a really nice time hanging out and spending some quality time together which was much needed! We drank rum and cokes and talked about our plans for the next year and we laughed about what a wild ride this year has been for the two of us! What an amazing year. Key West up and down the east coast ending up in the virgin islands! Crazy.

I will not be happy living away from boats and the water. That's all there is to it. I miss working on Schooners. I am applying with a few boats for the summer season somewhere up north. I would love to work on Liberty again. I got an email from the Schooner Manitou yesterday, they are hiring a deckhand and first mate. We will see how it goes...

As you all know, I change my mind faster than the tides so take this blog with a grain of salt, or sand, or a squeeze of lime and a shot of tequila...

I do miss Texas but I worry what I would do for work there. I wish I could work on a boat there!!!

I got the job!

The charter is from December 13th through the 27th. Two whole weeks! That's such a long time. It's good though. Should get me caught up. The captain also told me I was hired on for the Easter charter too. When is Easter? I really wasn't planning on being around here that long. We will see. I have applied for lots of other crew positions as well. Hopefully I can get something from New Years through mid February. My uncle is getting married on Valentine's day down here in St. John and I really want to be here. Who knows. Ok, well I have nothing else to write about. Have a good day. I hear it's snowing in Texas...

Big Shout Out Time!

Tomorrow is Big Nasty's birthday! So in honor of him and everything he stands for, and my love for pickles, I want everyone to know about MANDINGO PICKLES!!!

I met Big Nasty through my ex-boyfriend early this year in Key West and found him quite entertaining. He and his buddies have started their own pickle company and I encourage everyone to head over and buy a few jars to give as Christmas presents this year! Support your local homegrown businesses and all around good guys!

Here is an entertaining article to give you a little background on the company as well. Enjoy!

Also, a little video for your viewing pleasure!


HAPPY BIRTHDAY BIG NASTY!!!

A song for Wednesday!

I love it! Seeing as how I really, really, really want one of those vintage Shasta or Scotty trailers, and I want to be a member of Sisters on the Fly one day, when I ran across this song I just couldn't resist! I have been doing some research and the SOTF will be in Canton this weekend at the first weekend trades day thing they do out there in Texas. Check out their site, it's really cool. I miss my country music can you tell??? Well, this is Miranda Lambert and I'm not big on Nashville country, I'm more of a Texas Country kinda girl, always have been. But, this song is cute. Enjoy!



Sometimes I wish I lived in
airstream homemade curtains
Lived just like a gypsy
Break a heart and roll out of town
Cause gypsies never get tied down

Sometimes I wish I lived on a mountain
Drank from a stream
Instead of a fountain
I'd stay there, on top of the world
But I was born a red dirt girl

Unbridled, or tethered in the ride
[ Find more Lyrics on www.mp3lyrics.org/gYuc ]
Safety of the fence
Or the danger of the ride
I'll always be unsatisfied

Sometimes I wish I lived by a pier
In a lighthouse with a chandelier
I'd watch everybody's ships come in
And then I'd sail away with them

Unanchored in a storm
Or safely on the shore
If this is all I need
Why do I want more

Sometimes I wish I lived in
airstream homemade curtains
Lived just like a gypsy



Now, back to searching for cheap trailers for sale! Yes... I know... it's 4am. I can't sleep. I drank a giant iced coffee at about 11pm. Bad idea. I never drink caffeine anymore and whew...I am feeling it! Simultaneously watching Dazed and Confused which just makes me miss home even more because it's about Texas.

In other news, I'm feeling better even though things here on island aren't going any better. Playing my guitar is like a miracle cure.

HIP HIP HOORAY FOR CHRISTMAS VACATION!!!!

I'M SO HAAAAAAAPPPPPYYYYYYY! I just turned my TV on and BAM! The very beginning to National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation... I mean the very beginning! Didn't even miss a single note of the song!!!!! YAAAAAAAAAAAAY!

Full Moon over the Water....

This is a Coqui frog... this little guy is about the size of a silver dollar but he is LOUD! And they are going crazy tonight. I can't even hear myself think!



My camera is the worst!

WOW.

I'm gonna stop being a whiny wahine on here. I just got a big spoon full of "you never know who's reading your blog". IN A GOOD WAY! Full moon's always bring the unexpected. :) Thanks for reaching out!

Full Moon "Party"

It's not really a party when you're alone, but whatever.

No news, no interview.

Still waiting around to go interview with the owner of the charter company. First it was yesterday, postponed to today... maybe tomorrow. UGH. So bored I joined Twitter! SAVE ME FROM MYSELF!!!

Be Somebody.

Things always work out for me. They always have. I don't know how or why but it always happens. Just when I think I have finally gotten myself into something I can't get out of on my own, something comes along and makes everything work out. But it's just not happening this time. This is the longest stretch of bad luck I have ever had. I wish I could say it was all my fault and I got myself into this but through no fault of my own I seem to keep failing. That doesn't even make sense. It has to be my fault. I have never been so sad and depressed and lonely and hopeless. I just want to go home. I don't want to live on an island in the middle of nowhere far away from my friends and family anymore. I have had enough of this. I don't want to hear any "It's that time of year" shit from anyone either. It doesn't even feel like the holidays here. It's the middle of summer as far as I am concerned. I have been sweating for years. I wish I could wear jeans without my knees sweating every once in a while. I want to drive for miles and miles and miles, I wanna go faster than 35 miles an hour. I would like to listen to country music on the radio. I would like to walk down the street in the middle of the day without being hissed at and followed and heckled. There are so many reasons that other people give for living here and I have tons myself but I feel like if you get to the point where you have more negatives than positives, it's time to move on. Like Gladys at Glady's Cafe here on island says, "When one is physically tired one must sleep, when one is emotionally tired one must wake up and move on."

I will try. Try. Try. I will try to find a job for the rest of the season. I would like to save some money and go back to the states in the spring. I am brainstorming right now in between naps and playing guitar. Being stuck on the North Side had sent my world into a frenzy. It made working at Limnos hard. It makes getting a new job hard. I have an interview on Monday with the owner of a charter company. My friend Jen told him I would be taking her place for a two week charter in December and he wants to meet me first, which is understandable. I feel like I am setting myself up for another disappointment though. I am losing trust in what people say.

Lilly gets home tonight. We will see how that changes things. She doesn't want to come home to a negative nancy. She doesn't understand that while she has been at home with her friends, OUR friends, and her family having the time of her life, I have been here, alone, struggling for work and struggling with the drama that has been going on here. Forgive me for being depressed. People don't understand what it's like.

I don't know what I would do if I went to the states. Working on boats is all I know how to do. That and bartend. I would love to be involved in the music industry in Texas somehow. Like event planning or managing. Maybe working for a Texas music label. I just need a way to get my foot in the door in that industry. I have my whole body in the door of the boating industry and it's obviously not where I am supposed to be right now. Like I said, time for a change.

Holy crap.

What a day. Yesterday started out like any other... Me, hammock, MacBook, lovely view. Then I get a phone call from a local crew agent. She tells me to pack my bags I am on a charter for a week. Long story short, she sent me down there to the boat all ready to go and the boat had not agreed to hire me yet because they were either gonna hire me or a chef to help the current cook because the guest if very fancy and demanding. Needless to say they chose the chef and I am on my ass. I had to quit Limnos to take the job and now I am screwed. Well later in the day I got a call from my friend Jen who I worked with at the boat show this year and she tells me she has some work for me but not till the 11th of December. Damn. At least it's work. Now I have to find a way to make some cash till then!

Holy Ghost of Christmas Past!

I had one of these.... I know it. I ran across this on a random site. It stopped my heart! I loved this! Mom? Confirm? If I didn't have one of these then I have really lost my mind because I have memories of this for some reason!

Check this out!!! Caribbean Jerk!!!! lol

Check out Bent Objects blog!!!