Winter season of 2008 - bloody great!!

The Maldives, Thailand, Burma and The Seychelles. One cannot complain!

And although I find work incredibly intense at times the upsides - ie: experiencing these amazing places - far way out the downsides!

Its been a long ole season and I write this at the end of my summer season so I think this entry will be more about the photos and less about the stories - Suffice to say we worked bloody hard with a long ole owners trip and 2 charters top and tailing it. I had a few days off in The Maldives,

Where a few of us girls rented a little place on an island about 1 hour from the boat...

Bliss!!

I also managed to bump into little Bekalina, her boat anchored just near ours for a few days so we got to hang out Maldives stylie!I also got 2 days off in Thailand on the island of Phuket and in The Seychelles. As always I managed to fill them up to the max and feel really lucky to have enjoyed moments there. The Seychelles was particularly magical and a place i hope to come back to one day! .
The Maldives allowed us to create beautiful beach picnic moments for our guests. Thailand created beautiful letting off steam moments for the crew, as only Thailand can.

Burma was incredible conjuring up Jurrassic Park moments with wild boar running along the beach and sea gypsies checking us out. And The Seychelles was a perfect note to end on, marrying all of the aboveand adding some African flavour into the mix. There was - as always in my world - a few dramas and a few spectacular fuck ups however as the dust settled and the sun shined, all was ok - as always seems to be the case!

Arriving back to Europe was a weird relief - I felt this last time I sailed back from the Caribbean. I suppose it’s returning to what you know, to what is familiar! Also for me it means returning to my family and friends.

Tres importante!

The crossing back was slightly tense as we had piracy threats throughout the first part of the trip - Somalian pirates were attacking and kidnapping ships frequently but luckily we avoided them! We had the luxury of 3 ex SAS security guys on board with their LRAD for extra safety - LRAD is basically a bloody loud speaker used to deter approaching baddies! I really wanted to blast some drum and bass at them but was informed that was not the correct protocol!!!!

I had my leave almost immediately on arrival and after a few magical days in Italy

and France getting over what was a bumpy and pirate filled journey, I flew home. It was a pure family moment for me no mad gallivanting off with mates just family dinners picking my sister up from school and catching up on all the family events.

Then my little surprise for my mum and aunty kicked in - we went of to Egypt for 10 days = trip of a life time I highly recommend it. To actually touch something that is over 4000 years old blew me away. To actually see, walk around and go inside the pyramids - those iconic images I have seen and pondered on since I was tiny - was a super cool experience and to do it with my mum and aunty, witness their reaction to what was around us and spend such quality time alone with them made this holiday one of the best experiences of my life! I highly highly highly recommend it!
Writing all this now in the madness of my summer season where ground hog day and big brother madness doesn’t even touch the sides in terms of explaination, makes me realise just how excellent the 1st 6 months of this year have been and just how lucky I am… Sometimes when bogged down with endless 14 hour days no time off and living on top of 16 people its hard to really appreciate how special these moments are! Before I get all sentimental I’ll sign off… with plans of India, Brasil and of course Colombia forming in my mind I bid you farewell for now… BIG LOVE xxxxxxxxxx