Lifestyles of the Rich and the famous

As I mentioned in my last entry our moment was cut short in Croatia and we headed back to the Cote d'Azur, more specifically St Tropez, via a few days in Viareggio, Italy... I think it is fair to say at this point that I have developed "Sailor in Port" syndrome... this, aptly given a name by Moi, is in short the stereotypical image you get when visualising a sailor hitting his first port after months at sea, with the inevitable drunken brawling, womanising and generally despicable behavior expected from this situation. Now I'm not suggesting I am fighting and sleeping around everytime i hit port.. Far from it... but I am definitely developing the drunken out of control look every time we touch down on terra firma...This last time in Viareggio culminated in poor Seb getting a phone call the day after my "first night on land" from a strange Australian asking if he knew who the owner of this phone, brown purse and silver shoes was.. he and i have been split up for 2.5 years, I think he thought he had got rid of me back then and wondered what the hell was going on!!!!!It got that little bit worse when my captain found me asleep on the fly sofa in the night before's outfit at 8am... Based on that I think it's affirmative that Yeah, this "Sailor in port" thing is defintely not a good look!!! And yeah, it's something cannot explain but will be definitely working on!

ANYWAY after embarassing myself (internationally) in Viareggio, we hit St Tropez again and have basically spent the last month there.. flitting back and forth between the town, moored in port , the beaches and being moored at anchor..I must admit I am a little gutted as we had planned to go to Ibiza in August and I was looking forward to having a blast there and maybe even hooking up with my friends, Amanda and Alex, who are both planning their hols there this year.. it feels like now would be a good time to show evidence of last years moment in Ibiza.. It was (like most Ibizan moments I'm sure) absolutely BONKERS and I haven't up until this moment had proof or the opportunity to share it with any of you.
During August last year I went with my Xmas tree selling friend Nigel and his 14 year old son on their boat Lady Mina


for 5 weeks from Southern Spain (Estepona) to Ibiza then back to Southern Spain. Bear in mind it was the first time I had been on any type of boat for longer than 3 days and it was also a first time Ibiza moment for all 3 of us...which proved interesting!!! I must admit Lady Mina is completely different to Blue Ice (my current vessel) and too be honest I prefer Lady Mina..

just wish she had the showers from Blue Ice.. We had no GPS (ie:someone had to be on watch, CONSTANTLY steering the boat).. which turned interesting at nightfall as perspective changes dramatically ("oh my God we're about to collide!"- "Amelia that boat is 2 miles away chill out") and things get a little crazy at night, I DEFINITELY heard band music on one of my watches at 2 am.. (...and I stand by that NIGEL!!)

We were just 3 crew.... Oh apart from these special two:
who were awarded, jointly, "the best seafarer" award at the end of the trip..

And we had no experience whatsoever of sailing together !!!!It meant those 5 weeks were definitely entertaining, providing me with the experience of my ship breaking down at 2 am in the middle of the Valencia Shipping Lanes and having to "..keep an eye out for other vessels, who could possible run into us!!"; A FatboySlim moment in Manumission, The inevitable let down of a Cafe del Mar sunset, and the beauty of Northern Ibiza and the Utterly Amazing Formentura.. It was thoroughly amusing and even though there was point where it all nearly fell apart when we all got the San Antonio itch....I can quite safely say it changed my opinion of Ibiza... hence being genuinely gutted I'm not there this year!!


Keeping with the theme of looking back, I have been sent some more photo's of my Mum's 60th birthday party... if you remember (or scroll down a few pages) I popped home in early June, this year to celebrate this big bday with my mum... and had a bit of crazy weekend! This crazy weekend meant I didn't get enough photos of the wonderful day with my family..there were a few moments that have to be shared.. for example.. the first time me and my twin brother James have been at a family gathering together, "getting on" for probably at least 10 years...
probably the first time a lot of you have even seen a picture of him,
let alone together with me...
The Eastman ladies got a chance to hang out together (My mum, My Gran and My Aunty Kim - see you made it on here!)... And the venue in Ascot really turned up trumps with wine, champers, food and sunshine!!


So back to the present moment.. and July / August in St Tropez... its time for me to name drop..(hold onto your horses!) I got the first bit of celeb action, after all the "talk" that goes round boats, yachties and people who have no life, like me currently!!!YUP ole Paris Hilton came aboard... and yeah it was as tragic as it sounds.. all us crew had mild hysterical attacks at the prospect of serving a celebrity.. even the seasoned capitan!!! And the owner and their guests (of which one had invited Paris) were equally wetting themselves!!! then we had Pamela Anderson and Kid Rock getting married on our neighbouring boat.. this led me and Prue to be binocular bound for the entire day trying to get a peek at who was arriving and disembarking from said boat.. told you I had no life!... and my most recent "out"ing in St Tropez, where by the way I avoided being "Sailor in Port" for the first time.. told you I was working on that.. and got to bump into Bono.. that was an entertaining moment as Prue and I had decided not to go for a drink but a walk.. and 2 Mojitos, 3 Italians and 1 shot later we found ourselves chatting to local St Tropez guys trying to get into the most exclusive club (Le Cave) in the town and yeah bumping into Bono....
That's it no more tragic name dropping.. but as i type I think I can safely say we are all up to date.. I am back in Viareggio, my owner has hired a different boat to take a tour in Turkey (honestly the wealth of this section of the population is ASTOUNDING), so we have a few days free and our captain has taken the boat back to Viareggio so the rest of the crew can be with their families whilst me and Prue can practise being good sailors in port (which by the way we are managing.. touch wood!) So apart from a brief visit to Florence yesterday.. LOVE IT.. a few quality clothes purchases and a longing for this job to be over (2 MONTHS TO GO starting from tomorrow...YEAH!) that'll be me up to date with you all... I briefly alluded to a few family and friends and quite a blunt text to Beckalina that the reality of this particular boat isn't quite what this blog describes it to be.. and I think my next entry will be a truthful expose of what life is really like with 6 italians on a smallish boat when everyone has no work and lots of time to kill.. or stewardesses to kill!!! Keep all your eyes peeled for that thrilling next installment

CIAO FOR NOW xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx