I really need to update more regularly... however there hasn't been anything too interesting happening. The boss and the husband of our sister ship left to go home for a few days, so we were left with the wives and kids, which meant no long exciting journeys. We did however go on a few days trip with them, which I am really surprised we did, because the wives get exta paranoid when the husbands aren't there.
On our trip we went to Cannes, Beaulieu and Fontvieille. I love fontvielle!!Absolutely amazing place. First time I had a cappuccino from Mcdonalds, which I found was really good!! I also found out Mcdonalds makes beer!!? Still gotta try that!! The best thing though was going to the open air cinema. The open air cinema is right on the top of the mountain in Monaco, overlooking the sea. All it is is a huge screen with loads of chairs and tables in front of it... so basically a cinema in the open, with the sea behind you. Both families went, and since the bosses weren't there... The captains and I went with. Tickets were only R150!! lol. Lucky I didn't pay!:)
That was the most exciting part... everything else was same old... butstill really nice!:)
The owners left yesterday... and offered me to stay on the boat until I leave.. so now I have several days on the boat, alone, with full fridges and sky TV! Time to kick back, relax... and enjoy before I go back to South Africa!!:):)
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Visa Issues!
Since Italy, we had been having a nice chilled time back at Port Grimaud. My Visa however was going to expire in a few days, and I had a plane booked for two days time.I'd heard that a Seaman's book would waaiver my Visa and I would be fine, however, the more research I did on it... the less convincing it seemed. I told my captain about the situation and we tried our best to find a solution, however everyone gave different answers, and noone knew what the right answer was!!
The day before my flight we had planned to go out for the day, but Matt had got an agency in St Tropez's number from an old friend of his that morning. It was the last chance I had at finding ou the truth about the Seaman's book. So they dropped me off at St Tropez on the way out and picked me up on the way in. I spent the day at the agency trying to figure out how I could stay in France, however, after a good hour of research, the agency finally said there was nothing they could do, I had to leave!
When they picked me up on the way back in, I told my captain I couldn't take the risk of being deported, so when we arrived back in port, I broke the news to the families, who were sad to hear I was going. It just didn't feel right leaving so early! I was about to start packing my bags, when the agency I had visited that morning gave me a call and told me there was a way I could stay!! I needed to see her the next morning though!
The next morning me and the captain rocked up at the agency, and I was told I had to go to Toulon to get my Visa stamped. Once it was stamped I could carry on waorking on the boat with my seaman's book, and a Transit Visa would be issued to me when I wanted to leave, so that I was allowed on shore. To cut things short, I did a 6 hour journey to and from Toulon, with an hour at customs, just to be told that I don't actually need the stamp!! Was good fun though... and at least I knew what was happening now!
So now I am still in France... living off the seaman's book. I'll be booking my flight tomorrow and hopefully organising the Transit Visa soon after! If anyone reading this post is in the same position... I found another blog which explains this all!! It's called yachting4newbies. About time someone actually published the correct information!!
The day before my flight we had planned to go out for the day, but Matt had got an agency in St Tropez's number from an old friend of his that morning. It was the last chance I had at finding ou the truth about the Seaman's book. So they dropped me off at St Tropez on the way out and picked me up on the way in. I spent the day at the agency trying to figure out how I could stay in France, however, after a good hour of research, the agency finally said there was nothing they could do, I had to leave!
When they picked me up on the way back in, I told my captain I couldn't take the risk of being deported, so when we arrived back in port, I broke the news to the families, who were sad to hear I was going. It just didn't feel right leaving so early! I was about to start packing my bags, when the agency I had visited that morning gave me a call and told me there was a way I could stay!! I needed to see her the next morning though!
The next morning me and the captain rocked up at the agency, and I was told I had to go to Toulon to get my Visa stamped. Once it was stamped I could carry on waorking on the boat with my seaman's book, and a Transit Visa would be issued to me when I wanted to leave, so that I was allowed on shore. To cut things short, I did a 6 hour journey to and from Toulon, with an hour at customs, just to be told that I don't actually need the stamp!! Was good fun though... and at least I knew what was happening now!
So now I am still in France... living off the seaman's book. I'll be booking my flight tomorrow and hopefully organising the Transit Visa soon after! If anyone reading this post is in the same position... I found another blog which explains this all!! It's called yachting4newbies. About time someone actually published the correct information!!
Friday, August 13, 2010
Italy Trip!!!
Ok... I'm quite bad with the daily blogging thing. The beginning of this month we set out on our, what was supposed to be, two week Italy Cruise with our sister ship. We started in Monaco, then went to San Remo, Portofino, Vernere, Rapallo and then arrived back in Beaulieu before heading back.
San Remo: San Remo was our first stop. The port there was quite big and the town was also massive, and o celebrate our first day in Italy... we had some beers at a strip club at 1am of course!! First strip club I'd been to... and was not too bad... would've been better if the beers didn't cost R100... not that I paid for it anyway. lol. Anyway... that was the highlight of San Remo.
Portofino: Portofino is basically the St Tropez of Italy. It is a very small port built into the mountains, with a castle and few other buildings surrounding it. The place is absolutely stunning!! However it was quite rocky, and since the wives don't like being on board when the boat rocks, we put the table and chairs on the dock and cracked a few bottles of wine before heading off to bed that night. Drinking expensive wine from crystal glasses with the boss and family... DEFINITELY one of the best things so far. I also did a bit of fishing with a net and caught a fish!!! Well two fish actually!! Other than that I went up in the morning to go see the Castle and had the best Capppuccino ever!! Italians definitely know how to make cappuccinos!!!
Vernere: The most interesting part of the trip... We spent two nights in Vernere, where we wondered around, checked out all the restaurants and watched the hundreds of Italian girls sun bathing in tiny bikini's on the breakwall behind our boat! The weather however was turning for the worst, so we thought we'd go to Elba before the storm hits and wait out the storm there... however.... we managed to get stuck tight in the middle of the storm!!! Awesome!!! Hadley's captain, Greg, and the owner's nephew, Harry, and I went on Hadley, while the other two families were on Chocolat. Since Chocolat was the bigger boat they reckoned it would be better... but with 4m waves and 30knot winds, neither boat was good. An hour into the trip and having been tossed around the whole way, the storm suddenly picked up and we ended up ramping the waves!! The first time it happened i was filming Chocolat out the back of the boat, since chocolat was following us, and was suddenly thrown into the air as our boat went over the top of the wave at 20 knots and hit the floor hard as the boat flew off the wave and landed on the sea again!!! The feeling of being airborne was awesome!!!! Well after this happening twice more, the families in Chocolat decided we had to turn around, since almost everyone was sea sick. Due to that day, the wives weren't keen to travel on to Corsica and Sardinia, and so we spent another night in Vernere.
Rapollo: Instead of carrying on our journey, we started to head back, and stopped in Rapollo for two days. The port was amazing!! It was in a big town, where there was loads of shopping for the girls and the water in the port was as smooth as glass!! Needless to say they were loving it, and the second night there they decided to take the boat out on it's first night cruise to Portofino/ When they left, i was given the tender and had to pick up Greg from the town and then race over to meet them at Portofino before they got into port. As luck would have it... Greg was running a bit late, so by the time we left Rapallo, the only thing I could do was hit full throttle the whole way to Portofino!!!!:):) 45knots in a little tender over bumpy water... what could be better!?!?! We arrived as they were going into the port and greg hoppen on Chocolat to help them moor while the two families got off to go to dinner. Once the families were off, Chocolat left to anchor just outside the port while I was left to grab pizza and bring it back to Chocolat by tender. This is when things got interesting... The tender wouldn't start when I tried to leave the port to go to Chocolat... so after several minutes I managed to hook up a tow out to Chocolat. Once on Chocolat the two captains and I ate the Pizzas before checking out the tender. Greg's an engineer, so we were pretty confident he could get it to work... however the problem was not too easy to solve. Since the night was still young... we thought we'd pop over to Rapallo quick and swap the tenders and be back before the families had finished dinner... however half way back the boss phoned and said they were finished. So we turned around quickly and started back. The plan had been to pick them up by tender and chauffeur them back to chocolat... however, now that the tender was broken, we would have to pick them up with Chocolat. (Picking up a bunch of passengers from a small port on a big boat on it's first night cruise is not an ideal thing to do!!) Luckily we never had to do that though... because as we turned the boat around to go pick them up... one of the engines started giving off warning alarms! Turns out the oil and gearbox level was low, and the turblos were over heating! Total disaster!! Luckily we had another engine!! Anyway... we had to phone the boss and let him know it was not possible for us to pick him up, and so we limped back to Rapallo while they caught the ferry. We found out the next day that nothing was wrong with the engines though, and that it was all a default with the sensors!!!
From Rapallo we entered back into France and stopped at Beaulieu before heading home... It was definitely an amazing week of travelling!!!
San Remo: San Remo was our first stop. The port there was quite big and the town was also massive, and o celebrate our first day in Italy... we had some beers at a strip club at 1am of course!! First strip club I'd been to... and was not too bad... would've been better if the beers didn't cost R100... not that I paid for it anyway. lol. Anyway... that was the highlight of San Remo.
Portofino: Portofino is basically the St Tropez of Italy. It is a very small port built into the mountains, with a castle and few other buildings surrounding it. The place is absolutely stunning!! However it was quite rocky, and since the wives don't like being on board when the boat rocks, we put the table and chairs on the dock and cracked a few bottles of wine before heading off to bed that night. Drinking expensive wine from crystal glasses with the boss and family... DEFINITELY one of the best things so far. I also did a bit of fishing with a net and caught a fish!!! Well two fish actually!! Other than that I went up in the morning to go see the Castle and had the best Capppuccino ever!! Italians definitely know how to make cappuccinos!!!
Vernere: The most interesting part of the trip... We spent two nights in Vernere, where we wondered around, checked out all the restaurants and watched the hundreds of Italian girls sun bathing in tiny bikini's on the breakwall behind our boat! The weather however was turning for the worst, so we thought we'd go to Elba before the storm hits and wait out the storm there... however.... we managed to get stuck tight in the middle of the storm!!! Awesome!!! Hadley's captain, Greg, and the owner's nephew, Harry, and I went on Hadley, while the other two families were on Chocolat. Since Chocolat was the bigger boat they reckoned it would be better... but with 4m waves and 30knot winds, neither boat was good. An hour into the trip and having been tossed around the whole way, the storm suddenly picked up and we ended up ramping the waves!! The first time it happened i was filming Chocolat out the back of the boat, since chocolat was following us, and was suddenly thrown into the air as our boat went over the top of the wave at 20 knots and hit the floor hard as the boat flew off the wave and landed on the sea again!!! The feeling of being airborne was awesome!!!! Well after this happening twice more, the families in Chocolat decided we had to turn around, since almost everyone was sea sick. Due to that day, the wives weren't keen to travel on to Corsica and Sardinia, and so we spent another night in Vernere.
Rapollo: Instead of carrying on our journey, we started to head back, and stopped in Rapollo for two days. The port was amazing!! It was in a big town, where there was loads of shopping for the girls and the water in the port was as smooth as glass!! Needless to say they were loving it, and the second night there they decided to take the boat out on it's first night cruise to Portofino/ When they left, i was given the tender and had to pick up Greg from the town and then race over to meet them at Portofino before they got into port. As luck would have it... Greg was running a bit late, so by the time we left Rapallo, the only thing I could do was hit full throttle the whole way to Portofino!!!!:):) 45knots in a little tender over bumpy water... what could be better!?!?! We arrived as they were going into the port and greg hoppen on Chocolat to help them moor while the two families got off to go to dinner. Once the families were off, Chocolat left to anchor just outside the port while I was left to grab pizza and bring it back to Chocolat by tender. This is when things got interesting... The tender wouldn't start when I tried to leave the port to go to Chocolat... so after several minutes I managed to hook up a tow out to Chocolat. Once on Chocolat the two captains and I ate the Pizzas before checking out the tender. Greg's an engineer, so we were pretty confident he could get it to work... however the problem was not too easy to solve. Since the night was still young... we thought we'd pop over to Rapallo quick and swap the tenders and be back before the families had finished dinner... however half way back the boss phoned and said they were finished. So we turned around quickly and started back. The plan had been to pick them up by tender and chauffeur them back to chocolat... however, now that the tender was broken, we would have to pick them up with Chocolat. (Picking up a bunch of passengers from a small port on a big boat on it's first night cruise is not an ideal thing to do!!) Luckily we never had to do that though... because as we turned the boat around to go pick them up... one of the engines started giving off warning alarms! Turns out the oil and gearbox level was low, and the turblos were over heating! Total disaster!! Luckily we had another engine!! Anyway... we had to phone the boss and let him know it was not possible for us to pick him up, and so we limped back to Rapallo while they caught the ferry. We found out the next day that nothing was wrong with the engines though, and that it was all a default with the sensors!!!
From Rapallo we entered back into France and stopped at Beaulieu before heading home... It was definitely an amazing week of travelling!!!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Back at Port Grimaud
Once we got back to Port Grimaud, the owner's two duaghters friends left and we were just left woth the Family. I'd shown their oldest son some insanely crazy magic tricks before his parents came, and once they heard this the whole family wanted to see them. So I blew their mind with the tricks and decided I'd show the youngest kid, Archie, how to do them. He loved them and spent two days walking around with a deck of cards, practicing the tricks and showing everyone them. He pulled them off very well as well for an 8 year old.
The family found out later that I was good at chess, when I killed their oldest son in it, and bought a chess board so that I could teach their youngest son chess and teach the daughters how to play it better. I ended up teaching the cousin's, who are on the sister boat to Chocolat, Hadley G, and the oldest son chess as well, and as I'm writing this I'm busy playing my captain, who is actually pretty good. I just want to point out though that I am still undefeated! lol.
Normally the family eats out for every meal, but lately they've been staying in the boat and eating on the boat. What's awesome is that every time they do this, they invite me the dinner, which is delicious, and give me money to take out the kids to get Haagen Dazs for all of us!! Amazing!! The wife has also made a habit of forcing a beer into my hand after I finish work each day, which I'm not complaining about.
The owner's wife's sister owns another boat in Port Grimaud, Hadley G, with her husband and two kids. The oldest son Harry, who's 20, I get along with very well. The other night the parents had their friends over and ordered two of the biggest seafood platters I'd seen in my life!! So while all the parents and friends were on Chocolat, we were watching movies and chilling out on Hadley. Anyway... getting to the important part, Harry's mom came later with the other seafood platter, which must be worth at least 200 euros, and told us to finish it all. To give you an idea... we couldn't get half the way through the platter... there was crayfich, crab, crab claws, Huge prawns, Two bowls of small prawns, about 50 medium prawns, some weird things that look like snails and some other stuff. Anyway... that was followed by three amazing deserts, one of which come from saint tropez!
Since being back we go out whenever possible, which is almost every day, to Pampelonne, and chill here and play on the jet ski and tender and tubes etc... Then the captain and I chill on the boat while the families go ashore for lunch. So far everything is going amazingly... and my first paycheck of 1500 euros is coming up end of this month!!! YAY!! We off to Cannes and Juan Les Pins for a few days tomorrow.
The family found out later that I was good at chess, when I killed their oldest son in it, and bought a chess board so that I could teach their youngest son chess and teach the daughters how to play it better. I ended up teaching the cousin's, who are on the sister boat to Chocolat, Hadley G, and the oldest son chess as well, and as I'm writing this I'm busy playing my captain, who is actually pretty good. I just want to point out though that I am still undefeated! lol.
Normally the family eats out for every meal, but lately they've been staying in the boat and eating on the boat. What's awesome is that every time they do this, they invite me the dinner, which is delicious, and give me money to take out the kids to get Haagen Dazs for all of us!! Amazing!! The wife has also made a habit of forcing a beer into my hand after I finish work each day, which I'm not complaining about.
The owner's wife's sister owns another boat in Port Grimaud, Hadley G, with her husband and two kids. The oldest son Harry, who's 20, I get along with very well. The other night the parents had their friends over and ordered two of the biggest seafood platters I'd seen in my life!! So while all the parents and friends were on Chocolat, we were watching movies and chilling out on Hadley. Anyway... getting to the important part, Harry's mom came later with the other seafood platter, which must be worth at least 200 euros, and told us to finish it all. To give you an idea... we couldn't get half the way through the platter... there was crayfich, crab, crab claws, Huge prawns, Two bowls of small prawns, about 50 medium prawns, some weird things that look like snails and some other stuff. Anyway... that was followed by three amazing deserts, one of which come from saint tropez!
Since being back we go out whenever possible, which is almost every day, to Pampelonne, and chill here and play on the jet ski and tender and tubes etc... Then the captain and I chill on the boat while the families go ashore for lunch. So far everything is going amazingly... and my first paycheck of 1500 euros is coming up end of this month!!! YAY!! We off to Cannes and Juan Les Pins for a few days tomorrow.
Qiuck recap of Chocolat
Ok... Since my last post, not too much has happened since my last post, but here's what's new:
I've sent in all the applications for my Seaman's discharge book. For those of you who don't know what that is... basically, as long as I'm employed on a boat, a seaman's discharge book will act as a British passport, and allow me to work in different countries without having to get a Visa!! Which kicks ass! It also allows me 40kg luggage and cheaper flights. That's busy being processed and I should have that by beginning of August.
We also spent two more nights in Monaco, and 1 night in Juan Les Pins (So far the most beautiful port). While in Monaco, I slept on the double bed on the fly bridge under the stars. It was so warm I didn't even need a blanket. Waking up to the sun rising over Monaco was definitely one of the highlights! I found out that the night before we arrived, Mika was doing a live concert there, and the day that we left, Calvin Harris was playing at one of the bars there. From Monaco we left to Juan Les Pins. Since Juan Kes Pins is next to Antibes, I went over to Antibes that ight to see Amy (see... I mentioned your name! lol) and my other mates, who i found out once I got there, had gone to the Calvin Harris thing in Monaco. I was so tempted to go... but getting back at 7am, half drunk having no sleep is not a great idea for keeping a job! From there we left to go back Port Grimaud.
I've sent in all the applications for my Seaman's discharge book. For those of you who don't know what that is... basically, as long as I'm employed on a boat, a seaman's discharge book will act as a British passport, and allow me to work in different countries without having to get a Visa!! Which kicks ass! It also allows me 40kg luggage and cheaper flights. That's busy being processed and I should have that by beginning of August.
We also spent two more nights in Monaco, and 1 night in Juan Les Pins (So far the most beautiful port). While in Monaco, I slept on the double bed on the fly bridge under the stars. It was so warm I didn't even need a blanket. Waking up to the sun rising over Monaco was definitely one of the highlights! I found out that the night before we arrived, Mika was doing a live concert there, and the day that we left, Calvin Harris was playing at one of the bars there. From Monaco we left to Juan Les Pins. Since Juan Kes Pins is next to Antibes, I went over to Antibes that ight to see Amy (see... I mentioned your name! lol) and my other mates, who i found out once I got there, had gone to the Calvin Harris thing in Monaco. I was so tempted to go... but getting back at 7am, half drunk having no sleep is not a great idea for keeping a job! From there we left to go back Port Grimaud.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Where I've been and what I've seen!
This is just a note for me to keep track of all the cities I've been to and all the cool stuff i've done or seen.
Monaco - Monaco Casino, Monaco tunnel, Maltese Falcon, Monaco Palace, Bugatti Veyron!
Fontviene
Cap d'ail
Beaulieu
Villefrance
Nice
Villenieuve Loubert - boob shaped towers
Biot
Antibes - Hop Store, Ekinox, Absinthe bar, Antibes Regetta.
Juan Les Pins
Golfe Juan
Cannes
Grasse
St Raphael
Port Grimaud
Cogolin
St Tropez
La Pamponelle
Toulon
Italy
San Remo - Saw my first whale at sea
Portofino
Vernere
Rapallo - bought my first laptop
Chocolat!
The first week was basically a trial week to see if the owners liked me and whether I was right for the job. I got thrown in the deep end, having to polish the whole boat in a day and make sure everything was ready for when the owners came! I managed all of that really well and things were off to a good start.
The owners came with friends for a few days and we travelled to Beaulieu, Cannes and St Tropez! Which I have to point out that St Tropez is absolutely amazing!!! There are just stunning, model fit girls walking around everywhere!! and everyone around you is super rich and most likely either driving a Ferrari, Mazerati or Porsche!
Everything went well on the trip and I have the job!!!:) Right now I'm on the boat with the captain and owner's son waiting for the owners to get back in a weeks time with their youngest son and two daughters plus their friends. So it's going to be a busy few months from the 11th of July!!! Looking forward to it:) The owner also plans on spending two weeks in August travelling Italy!
My First Job!!!!:):):)
Like I said... the last week or two were pretty much straight partying, and I'd decided to work through the agencies and online, than do the dockwalking. www.angloinfo.com and www.jobonsuperyachts.com were great sites for looking for jobs. However... just like dock walking, I never got responses
One ad however, I saw several people had replied to and pretty much knew it was useless sending in my CV, so I left a message saying if the position was still open and he was interested, he should email me. The next day I got an email from him asking for my CV, which I thought was just luck... so I sent it through and was definitely not expecting the call that night saying I must come for an interview!!
Ok... I did kinda lie a tiny bit and say I was staying near St Tropez... which in fact I was staying a minimum of 3 hours away, but the interview and doing my first day day work, the captain didn't mind, especially since I said I'd happily move into a camp site next door to the boat.
That's pretty much how I got my first job. The boat I'm working on is called CHOCOLAT!!! I know... pretty much the best name you can give a boat!! It's a small boat... 21m, with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, lounge, dining area, kitchen, crew cabin and toilets and a fly bridge with a double bed!. We also have a tender and a jet ski... of which I drive the tender most of the time!:) and the captain is gonna show me how to drive the main boat when the owners get back, which will be awesome!:)
Recap of the last month!
Ok... it's been like a month or something since i've last entered in a post. Just to bring you guys up to date of what's been happening until I found my first job:
Since my last post, basically we just spent the whole time partying in Antibes. Ya... we should've been doing dockwalking and stuff... but after a few weeks of doing it, you get over it quite quickly. Plus with all the partying I met tons of people who gave me extra advice here and there.
The one day which did stand out though, was when me and Amy (one of the new girls at the crew house) went to Monaco dockwalking. We ran into another guy who used to stay at the crew house and who now had a job as skipper of a 17m chase boat. We ended up staying there the whole afternoon meeting his friends and having drinks on the boat inside the Monaco Marina! Absolutely amazing!
So far the best night I've had in Antibes was the one Amy forced us into!! It was either a Wednesday or Friday night and The Hop Store was pumping as usual... however, Amy decided we HAD to go to Absinthe bar!! Which is basically a bar that specialises in Absinthe and sells absinthe with everything!!! They also have loads of hats that you can wear for shits and giggles. This was the first time i'd had absinthe the proper way!! From there we went to drinkers club, then when that closed, The Hop Store and Finally off to the old faithful.... Ekinox!!! And came in just before sunrise!!! Amazing!:)
Upon walking into the crew house at 3 in the morning the one day, I found a piece of paper offering a 4 sleeper apartment for 50 euros for two weeks. I thought it was too good to be true, but figured i'd give them a call the next day. As it turns out, it was true, and the apartment was RIGHT NEXT TO the Crew house! I could throw a rock onto the crew house roof from the apartment! For the moment they just needed two people to move in, so I let my two mates move in, since they were in money trouble and agreed I'd move in the following week. As it happens, the two guys staying with them got jobs before the week ended, so I moved in soon as they left with my other mate from South Africa. So right now, Ryan (South African), Shaun(South African), Patrik(Namibian) and I were stating in an apartment, in the middle of Antibes and had only paid 50 euros for two weeks! It was the sickest thing ever!!! To make matters better... we found a brand new bar someone threw away and put it into our apartment and stocked it with stolen shot glasses and beer glasses! I would've preferred to stay at this apartment the rest of the year, partying every night and living off day work wages! Unfortunately... the third night I was there I had to leave... since I found my first job. But that i'll tell you in the next posting.
This is just a super quick review of what happened... I don't have the time to type out everything that happened.
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Wednesday night partying!!
For some unknown reason, Wednesday is one of the big nights for partying! I have no clue why! Anyway... The Hop Store and La Gaffe are the best places to go on a Wednesday night, but unfortunately La Gaffe was closed, so Hop Store it was.
By now I've met pretty much half of te yachties in Antibes, since it isn't that big, so everyone we knew was at the Hop Store. There's a chilled vibe there, with live bands playing. Was awesome! The only hting I wasn't so keen on... The 5 euro beers!!!
To cut it short, we had pre drinks at the crew house, went out parting at the hop, most people left aound 12, so a few of us headed over to Ekinox afterwards. I had a girl buy me 3 beers there, costing a total of 21 euros (R210), possibly the most expensive beers i've ever seen!!! Around 3am, the boucers kicked everyone out the club because the building next door was burning down!! So after the 3 fire trucks rocked up and put it out we all left for bed! Was pretty awesome, I won't lie!:)
By now I've met pretty much half of te yachties in Antibes, since it isn't that big, so everyone we knew was at the Hop Store. There's a chilled vibe there, with live bands playing. Was awesome! The only hting I wasn't so keen on... The 5 euro beers!!!
To cut it short, we had pre drinks at the crew house, went out parting at the hop, most people left aound 12, so a few of us headed over to Ekinox afterwards. I had a girl buy me 3 beers there, costing a total of 21 euros (R210), possibly the most expensive beers i've ever seen!!! Around 3am, the boucers kicked everyone out the club because the building next door was burning down!! So after the 3 fire trucks rocked up and put it out we all left for bed! Was pretty awesome, I won't lie!:)
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Chillaxing down at the beach;)
By now I have been in Antibes just over a week... and had spent that week stressing, settling down and looking for work. It was time to finally relax!
Two mates and I went down to the beach to meet up with a bunch of our friends. It was amazing... A whole day on the beach with about 20 friends just relaxing! I needed that!!!
Most of us were South Africans, but there were a lot of Aussies, kiwis and Poms with us. It was quite interesting conversing with al the different cultures. A few of us ended up going cliff jumping later on ofF a cliff about 13m high! With that out the way... it was time to get back and prepare for dock walking the next day.
Two mates and I went down to the beach to meet up with a bunch of our friends. It was amazing... A whole day on the beach with about 20 friends just relaxing! I needed that!!!
Most of us were South Africans, but there were a lot of Aussies, kiwis and Poms with us. It was quite interesting conversing with al the different cultures. A few of us ended up going cliff jumping later on ofF a cliff about 13m high! With that out the way... it was time to get back and prepare for dock walking the next day.
Daywork!:)
While taking the captain and crew out on the Riva, I had to make way for a super yacht that was about to dock. We moved to the side and watched as the huge yacht came into the dock. As the yacht was almost in, the engines started roaring and smoke bellowed from the side... then the back end slammed into the dockside, taking out two big chunks from the side.
Later that evening, my friend wanted to go dock walking at 6pm. Everyone laughed and said we'd never find work at that time. Since I had a job pending... I wasn't really interested in day work and just went with to keep him company. I got over it pretty quickly and waited for him while he finished. Once he'd finished I found out he'd found a boat looking for a day worker to paint and he was not qualified, so I got him to show me the boat, since I was qualified and desperately needed the experience!! As luck would have it... it was the same boat I'd watched smash into the dock. I was hired for the next day.
The next day I met up with the boat and stripped the side of all the loose edges and began sanding. After the sanding I started filling the hole with this super messy and insanely strong putty substance. Half way through we had to leave the harbour and go anchor out in sea, so I was left trying to finish the job while bobbing up and down in a small tender!
The end of the day came and I'd managed to patch up the big whole (probably 1 squared metre), but had not had enough time to do the final sanding and painting. The deckhand was to finish that the next day.
The amazing thing about it... I got paid 100 euros for it!!!
Later that evening, my friend wanted to go dock walking at 6pm. Everyone laughed and said we'd never find work at that time. Since I had a job pending... I wasn't really interested in day work and just went with to keep him company. I got over it pretty quickly and waited for him while he finished. Once he'd finished I found out he'd found a boat looking for a day worker to paint and he was not qualified, so I got him to show me the boat, since I was qualified and desperately needed the experience!! As luck would have it... it was the same boat I'd watched smash into the dock. I was hired for the next day.
The next day I met up with the boat and stripped the side of all the loose edges and began sanding. After the sanding I started filling the hole with this super messy and insanely strong putty substance. Half way through we had to leave the harbour and go anchor out in sea, so I was left trying to finish the job while bobbing up and down in a small tender!
The end of the day came and I'd managed to patch up the big whole (probably 1 squared metre), but had not had enough time to do the final sanding and painting. The deckhand was to finish that the next day.
The amazing thing about it... I got paid 100 euros for it!!!
Monday, May 31, 2010
My First Interview!!!
Ok... so until now... a week later... I still haven't had any lucks with jobs! While walking back from the beach the one day though, I decided to do a quick dock walk and see if anyone needed day work. Supposedly the best time of day for day walking is the morning, so it was a long shot dock walking now!
After asking about 20 boats, I came around a corner and saw my one Aussie friend asking for a chef job, and overheard the guy he was asking saying they were looking for someone with a tender license. Once he'd finished I tried my luck. At first the guy wasn't interester, but after chatting to him for a while, he started showing interest. I told him I had the tender license, and when I learned they were looking for someone to teach wake boarding, I took the opportunity and started 'bragging' about all the wake boarding experience I had. Eventually the captain came out, took one look at me, asked what qualifications I had, then told me to come for an interview the next day, so hopefully that#s a good thing!
The next day I went for the interview and found out I had to drive the captain and crew around in R5.5 million rand boat called the Riva. If I'd known the price before hand, I think I would've had a heart attack!! Anyway... I drove it well and maxed it out at 40 knots... The parking however I wasn't too great at, since this thing had soooo much power!! Anyway, the captain told me not to stress about the docking, and that he'd call me back for an interview with the owners some time this week... probably wednesday. Today is Monday by the way... so i'll be expecting the phone call soon!! Hopefully I'll get this call and make a good impression on the owner!! The job opportunity is absolutely amazing! If I get the job all I'll have to do is drive the Riva around whenever they need it and teach the owners kids how to wake board, while getting paid 2000 euros a month... untaxed!! Who could ask for anything better!?!?! So I've got my fingers crossed!
After asking about 20 boats, I came around a corner and saw my one Aussie friend asking for a chef job, and overheard the guy he was asking saying they were looking for someone with a tender license. Once he'd finished I tried my luck. At first the guy wasn't interester, but after chatting to him for a while, he started showing interest. I told him I had the tender license, and when I learned they were looking for someone to teach wake boarding, I took the opportunity and started 'bragging' about all the wake boarding experience I had. Eventually the captain came out, took one look at me, asked what qualifications I had, then told me to come for an interview the next day, so hopefully that#s a good thing!
The next day I went for the interview and found out I had to drive the captain and crew around in R5.5 million rand boat called the Riva. If I'd known the price before hand, I think I would've had a heart attack!! Anyway... I drove it well and maxed it out at 40 knots... The parking however I wasn't too great at, since this thing had soooo much power!! Anyway, the captain told me not to stress about the docking, and that he'd call me back for an interview with the owners some time this week... probably wednesday. Today is Monday by the way... so i'll be expecting the phone call soon!! Hopefully I'll get this call and make a good impression on the owner!! The job opportunity is absolutely amazing! If I get the job all I'll have to do is drive the Riva around whenever they need it and teach the owners kids how to wake board, while getting paid 2000 euros a month... untaxed!! Who could ask for anything better!?!?! So I've got my fingers crossed!
A few tips that could help newbies...
The train tickets are quite expensice sometimes, especially to Monaco and back. I used to buy tickets every time I travelled, until one South African girl told me buying tickets were useless. If you got asked and you didn't have a ticket, you just got a 35 euro fine, which was about two days of travelling. The thing was, because the time between each station was so short, noone actually checked whether you had tickets or not, so for the past week I have not bought a ticket and saved tons of money! However... I just found out today that you can buy a week's pass to the railway from Cannes to Monaco for 20 euro, so I think I might invest in that just to be safe.
The crew houses are also pretty expensive, starting at 120 euros a week. Most people move into apartments, and some people I spoke to even got apartments for 140 euros a week, for four of them, making it 35 euros a week. The only plus about the crewhouses are that you always around people in the yachting industry, which makes networking a lot easier, and you keep learning about the industry.
For those people looking for sim cards, Mobiho I found is the way to go. You can find the sim card at any tabac shop, and they are definit
The crew houses are also pretty expensive, starting at 120 euros a week. Most people move into apartments, and some people I spoke to even got apartments for 140 euros a week, for four of them, making it 35 euros a week. The only plus about the crewhouses are that you always around people in the yachting industry, which makes networking a lot easier, and you keep learning about the industry.
For those people looking for sim cards, Mobiho I found is the way to go. You can find the sim card at any tabac shop, and they are definit
Monaco!!! WOW!!!
After walking Antibes day after day, and not finding any work, some friends and I decided to take a trip up to Monaco. Never thought the day would come when I woke up and thought... Well I feel like going to Monaco today!
So early morning we headed off to Monaco. Along the way we saw a beautiful beach at VilleFrance. My one friend and I decided to try look there for work, since it looked pretty quiet, and then meet up with everyone else later at Monaco. Once we got down to the dock... we soon realised there were no actual super yachts there... and the next train to Monaco was in a few hours... So we thought we'd be clever and run to Beaulieu to check out their harbour. Well after an hour of running and taking several wrong turns, we finally made it to Beaulieu. There were at least super yachts here! Another South African girl I had met the day before was also here looking for work, so we ended up all walking together. After 2 hours and no luck whatsoever, we finally made our way to Monaco.
I could not believe beautiful Monaco was!! There were superyachts everywhere you looked!! And they were still tearing down everything they'd set up for the Monaco grand prix! We made our way around all the super yachts, stopping and asking if any of them needed day work or permanent crew. Of the many hundred we asked, one or two seemed semi interested in our CV's! Finally!!! To this day I still have not heard from them though... but that's not the point! While in Monaco I spoke to the Captain of the biggest luxury sailing yacht in the world! The yacht was beautiful!! The Maltese Falcon, the captain reconned, could reach a top speed of 25 knots under sail! The biggest sailing cruise liner in the world was also there, and yes they do make sailing cruise liner ships, and yes... they look exactly the same as normal cruise liners... just with huge masts!! It was quite a sight! After several hours of walking the docks, we decided to explore a bit. We headed off to the Monaco Casino, where I gambled and lost a whole.... 5 euros!! Before heading home, we chilled for a bit on the mountain side watching the sea. Definitely going back to Monaco soon... the place is exquisite!!!
So early morning we headed off to Monaco. Along the way we saw a beautiful beach at VilleFrance. My one friend and I decided to try look there for work, since it looked pretty quiet, and then meet up with everyone else later at Monaco. Once we got down to the dock... we soon realised there were no actual super yachts there... and the next train to Monaco was in a few hours... So we thought we'd be clever and run to Beaulieu to check out their harbour. Well after an hour of running and taking several wrong turns, we finally made it to Beaulieu. There were at least super yachts here! Another South African girl I had met the day before was also here looking for work, so we ended up all walking together. After 2 hours and no luck whatsoever, we finally made our way to Monaco.
I could not believe beautiful Monaco was!! There were superyachts everywhere you looked!! And they were still tearing down everything they'd set up for the Monaco grand prix! We made our way around all the super yachts, stopping and asking if any of them needed day work or permanent crew. Of the many hundred we asked, one or two seemed semi interested in our CV's! Finally!!! To this day I still have not heard from them though... but that's not the point! While in Monaco I spoke to the Captain of the biggest luxury sailing yacht in the world! The yacht was beautiful!! The Maltese Falcon, the captain reconned, could reach a top speed of 25 knots under sail! The biggest sailing cruise liner in the world was also there, and yes they do make sailing cruise liner ships, and yes... they look exactly the same as normal cruise liners... just with huge masts!! It was quite a sight! After several hours of walking the docks, we decided to explore a bit. We headed off to the Monaco Casino, where I gambled and lost a whole.... 5 euros!! Before heading home, we chilled for a bit on the mountain side watching the sea. Definitely going back to Monaco soon... the place is exquisite!!!
The start of it all...
On the 19th of May 2010 i departed from OR Tambo international on route to France. I had heard of an amazing opportunity of working on the super yachts and had set my mind on getting started in that industry.
I arrived in France on the 20th and stayed a night before heading over to Antibes to start looking for work. I arrived in Antibes on the 21st of May, without any place to stay. I planned on meeting up with my one mate at the crew house and he'd help me look for accommodation. On arriving at the crew house I found out he'd got a job earlier that day and had up and left. Luckily, as i walked in, a mate of mine from the STCW had just popped in to get something from the crew house, so I left my bags there and got a full tour of the town and a breakdown of pretty much what was happening in Antibes and what I was to expect. 6pm came and I still had no clue where I was going to stay... everywhere was booked solid. My friend suggested I have a look at the place where he was staying. There was one spot left... but to put it bluntly...the place was a shit hole! Anyone looking for accommodation in Antibes... Amma's usually has place... but I wouldn't recommend it!
After two days I managed to get accommodation at the crew house. From what I'd heard, finding work would be easy... but it was far from easy!! We'd wake up in the morning at 7am to get ready and go dock walking. Within the few days I'd been in Antibes I'd met a few friends I had from South Africa and had also made a whole lot of friends down here. One of the key things in this industry is networking! By the 4th day I was here I had settled down and done a fair amount of dock walking, without any success at all.
I arrived in France on the 20th and stayed a night before heading over to Antibes to start looking for work. I arrived in Antibes on the 21st of May, without any place to stay. I planned on meeting up with my one mate at the crew house and he'd help me look for accommodation. On arriving at the crew house I found out he'd got a job earlier that day and had up and left. Luckily, as i walked in, a mate of mine from the STCW had just popped in to get something from the crew house, so I left my bags there and got a full tour of the town and a breakdown of pretty much what was happening in Antibes and what I was to expect. 6pm came and I still had no clue where I was going to stay... everywhere was booked solid. My friend suggested I have a look at the place where he was staying. There was one spot left... but to put it bluntly...the place was a shit hole! Anyone looking for accommodation in Antibes... Amma's usually has place... but I wouldn't recommend it!
After two days I managed to get accommodation at the crew house. From what I'd heard, finding work would be easy... but it was far from easy!! We'd wake up in the morning at 7am to get ready and go dock walking. Within the few days I'd been in Antibes I'd met a few friends I had from South Africa and had also made a whole lot of friends down here. One of the key things in this industry is networking! By the 4th day I was here I had settled down and done a fair amount of dock walking, without any success at all.
The reason why.
Ok... So I had the opportunity to take up a scholarship to UCT this year to study civil engineering, get my degree, find my first job, get married, work towards retirement at the age of 60 and travel the world if i'm still alive! There were just a few things missing from the equation though... Fun, Money, Travel, and experience!!! I then found out about the Superyachting industry. Once on a boat you get paid crazy amounts of money starting from 2000 euros upwards, get to travel the world and experience the life of the rich and the famous! I'd heard so much about the industry, and couldn't wait to find out about it first hand, so here I am, in Antibes looking for work. This blog is set up to keep my friends and family up to date with what's happening in my life, and also to just show new yachties what the whole industry is like!
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