While it was not important for the crew to have time off to see Stockholm, the owner did find it essential to send us to Waxholm and Sandhelm, tiny towns in the archipelago of Stockhom. They were both very picturesque but did not have very much to entertain besides nice views, particularly at night.
Stockholm I got to spend the least time in of all our stops since the owner and his family were on board, but I had my afternoon break and thus took a 45 minute walk around the oldest part of town.
WOW.
This part of the city was filled with beautiful bronze statues, narrow cobblestone streets, adorable boutiques full of classy Scandinavian design, and gorgeous blondes.
Helsinki was built by the Russians with St. Petersburg in mind, but locals are quick to put down their Russian neighbors if the topic arises (due to some unpleasant encounters during the World Wars, I was told). Like St. Petersburg, Helsinki is full of ornate and colorful 18th and 19th century buildings, palaces, and monuments but definitely is a bit more modern. One of the best points to see the city from is the bar at the Sokos Hotel, supposedly the highest point in the city and a great place to watch the sunset and sunrise that take place in a two hour span this time of year. We also made a stop at famous local watering hole, the Ice Bar, which is exactly what it sounds like. The cover charge even includes parka rental!
My boat had the fortune of booking a stagnant charter in St. Petersburg, Russia (stagnant meaning that the boat would stay at dock and not cruise around). Our guest was attending the International Economic Forum on Vasilisky Island, a more populated part of the St. Petersburg archipelago, and so we were granted a dock spot next to the massive cruise ships and close to the Forum’s main location. Mainly, I was concerned with the gorgeous, colorful buildings and gold-domed church that we were close to. According to the original schedule, the crew wouldn’t have any time off, but our guests arrived three days later and left a day earlier than we’d originally anticipated, so there was time enough to explore. We were there in the middle of the 35 famous White Nights, during which there is no darkness at night and the sun barely dips below the horizon for a short hour or two.
I was lucky enough to have one of my previous charter guests (from my trip to Los Roques Islands, Venezuela) as a local tour guide and was given a proper drive around the city and its surrounding islands. St. Petersburg’s amazing architecture, long streets, and big parks definitely won me over and a return trip is absolutely necessary!
UPDATE
It’s been a while since I posted regularly for a variety of reasons:
1. I can be extremely lazy.
2. I don’t like putting up posts that are unreadable or uninteresting.
3. Working on a boat, even freelance, for more than a week long charter is TOUGH and very busy!
4. I am not on a boat anymore and thus my motivation for writing has declined.
The boat that I had joined for the summer in the Baltic decided after a charter and one owners’ trip that my experience level was simply not adequate for its needs; it became necessary for me to be “let go”.
While this was definitely a blow to my inflated stew-ego, it was also a great relief. No longer was I to flounder about wracking my brain about what to do/clean/serve, when to do it, how to do it all day long. I realized that a small-time time waitress with her first job in the city wouldn’t ever start with a 5-star restaurant and that is essentially what I’d try to do (except it was waitressing + ten million other 5-star level skills that I needed!).
I decided to hang up my skort and epaulettes for the next ten months and focus on finishing my undergraduate degree, returning immediately to New York City where I am presently babysitting and lounging my way through the rest of the summer.
I’m still considering returning to the world of yachting when I graduate and may even look for a job or two over winter break.There are a few more posts I’ll put up about my last boat’s travels and my experiences with them, but it’s au revoir, perhaps only for a few months or maybe forever. For all the fellow stews who read this (I know there’s a handful of you!), keep up the awesome work and I hope you’ve enjoyed or even learned from my trials!
I did not have a chance to properly explore Gothenburg as my trips there have been on boat business, but I have gotten lost enough to see a good portion of it. It’s located on the ocean and has a solid older district with cobbled streets and ornamented buildings as well as some newer neighborhoods . Really, the photos speak for themselves!
My boat is presently returning to Walhamn, about 45 minutes north of Gothenburg, Sweden, after a few weeks of travel on charter and with the owner’s family. Where we are docked is actually an industrial marina with a small corner for drydocked sailboats, but our owner owns part of the marina as well and so the motoryacht, along with the owners 120ft sailyacht, are both there.
Generally, this provides for very little off-boat entertainment (unless you’re willing to drive) but occasionally we join the local workers at the cafeteria for lunch. There are some nice cliffs within view which I have yet to visit and a gorgeous view over the bay into the ocean and that’s about it.
(The boat was shrinkwrapped when I arrived and we were stuck in a fresh-airless bubble! And, unfortunately, that is not a circus tent as you may have thought, it is actually a storage tent for the contractors. Bummer, right?)
Owners & Hiring
I joined a 140ft M/Y in Sweden about five weeks ago as Chief Stewardess, a role usually taken by someone with several years experience in the yachting industry and a background in service/hospitality as well. This happened through a friend of a friend who knew the boat’s owner, who was doing the hiring himself. I was surprised when he offered me the position after seeing my CV, but I figured that my three months of yachting and leadership experience would serve me well enough to get by until I really got the hang of things.
I could not have been more wrong!
Lucky for me, the second stewardess was returning to her second year on the boat and had fifteen years of high-end service experience under her belt as well and was thus better prepared to take over the role. The captain, who helped some during the hiring process, but was in the middle of an Atlantic crossing, apologized for his oversight in hiring a junior stewardess as chief and has been extremely supportive in the transition.
After the last charter I did in the Caribbean, my captain suggested I title my position as Chief Stewardess (my current captain said Solo Stewardess would be a more appropriate title) and this may have led the owner somewhat astray about my level of experience. Although I really should have known better, I wonder if this type of situation is common when owners, rather than industry experts such as crew agents, boat managers, and captains, do the hiring.
It’s been a while!
Post-Venezuela, my last charter stopped in Curacao, Netherland Antilles (more on that later…) and returned to the gorgeous British Virgin Islands, from which I flew to see my parents and family in Chicago. After a brief visit there, I spent three weeks in Switzerland, visiting family, friends, and doing a week long work-exchange on a farm in Menzberg, Switzerland.
Through a business contact of one of my Swiss family friends, I have found a yachting job for the summer! I have landed the position of Chief Stewardess on a 140ft motoryacht based just outside of Gothenberg, Sweden. This boat charters, but the crew will also work on the owners other yacht, a 120ft sailboat that is presently undergoing a refit.
While part of me thinks I may be demented for having taken on such a senior position my first six months in the industry, part of me is confident that I can handle it! More updates to follow….
Best Article Yet on Ecofriendly Yachting for Crew
Another one of my MAJOR frustrations with yachting, especially on motoryachts, is how incredibly terrible it is for the environment. While I have become, unfortunately, desensitized to the “facts” that most marinas (that I have been to recently — they are much better in the US) do not recycle, constant laundry loads are necessary, as are the copious amounts of heinous cleaning products, I still hope and pray that such ways are changing. When I was living in a crew house, I implemented a recycling policy, but it seemed that most crew didn’t care. My father insists, though, that the outstanding presence of eco-friendly discussions in yacht crew publication indicates that it really IS a growing concern on the crew end, even if the owners still don’t care. I’ve read a fair number of similar articles at this point, but this one stands out as the most informative and complete guide for crew to minimize environmental impact without sacrificing the luxuries guests and owners delight in.
Though no metropolis or even a full-blown town could be found on any of the islands in Los Roques, it cannot be faulted for a lack of beautiful views. The largest island, Gran Roque, has an airport, a few posadas (inns), some bars, restaurants, and two small grocery stores as well as a tourism office/beach stand. The area is famous for its fishing (see the recently published New York Times article for more information on this aspect), for which you need a permit since it is a national park.
Texas Star was definitely the biggest recreational boat around and we had some trouble holding our anchorage since the sand is very rocky. The crew enjoyed a gorgeous sunset and a few beers in town after a day of hard work in preparation for our seven charter guests who would be aboard for the next six days.
Addendum: My first mate would like me to add and INSIST that the village on the island of Gran Roque is the prettiest in the entire Carribbean: “It has one of the coolest churches, no cars, nice bars, hot girls… It’s just quaint! It’s one of the cutest towns I’ve seen in the world, in fact. Also put down nice tits.” Perhaps I’ve spent too much time in cities to appreciate the simple beauty of this place.
Isla Margarita:
Margarita sounded, to me at least, like a bubbly, happy, and sunny isle with salt-rimmed cups overflowing with blended ice, juice, and tequila. What I found, though, was not quite this pretty picture.
In the harbor, the water was dirty, the coast guard was rude, and we had to keep constant watch in case of local fishermen-pirates. When I did go ashore for the first time, it was to a vast mall that could have been transplanted from virtually any part of the US (except, unfortunately for me, no one spoke any English) and my captain insisted we stop at McDonald’s on the way back to the boat to pick up dinner for the crew. Was Venezuala just a Spanish-speaking clone of corporate-run America?
For my second trip onto the island, I insistently went to the main stretch of town that had all of the supposed local flavor. I was generally disappointed, though, because it was similar to the mall in that all the merchandise was mass-produced kitsch made in China and, furthermore, it was grubby and decrepit. I was even more bummed to discover that none of the local hand-crafted goods I was hoping to bring friends and family as gifts were available anywhere. Even the pastries in the bakeries looked stale and full of preservatives.
This is at the peak of tourist season, Easter Week, possibly the busiest week on Margarita.
I thought maybe I’d just traveled to the wrong parts of the island until we pulled up on the beach closest to the boat for a quick run to a grocery store. This was, by far, the most disgusting beach I had seen (despite frequenting the e-coli-ridden beaches of Chicago my whole life). There were rusty boats a few meters from shore that children were playing on and jumping off of, the stench of decayed fish and garbage lingered in the air, and the beach was lined with trash-entangled seaweed.
As I sat on watch for pirates while we exited Margarita, I hoped that our next destination, the national park of islands, Los Roques, would have better to offer.
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Found this video in my class today! It reminds me of a short story I read in high school called...
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choco sculpture
