Once I recovered from the temporary depression after my family returned to the States, I set out to enjoy my last week in Bali. I went to the beautiful and relatively remote Balangan beach for a few days to celebrate New Years with my fun and crazy Englishtown friends. It's always difficult to leave a place and its people behind but I very much enjoyed my time in Bali and know that its time to go. I've been ready for the next adventure I have coming up...
As soon as I realized the Englishtown teaching gig was not what I wanted to do long term I knew exactly what I wanted to do after leaving Bali and before I found my next job. I wanted to work on a boat. And that's exactly what I will do. You could say that I like to consider myself a skills-oriented person and for some time now I've been wanting to acquire some new skills. Some nautical skills, that is. I may not have many skills but I'd like to add knot-tying, sea navigation, driving a dinghy, words like stateroom, starboard!, 7 knots ahead, and ahoy! to my vocabulary and list of capabilities.
How does one with absolutely no boating experience do this, you ask? It's called findacrew.net. A friend told me about it awhile back and I've been a member for over a year. People like me, inexperienced but eager and willing to learn!, can get work exchanges on boats cruising all around the world. My list of competencies included things such as: cook, photographer, nanny, hostess, good conversationalist, etc. nothing certifiable, impressive or really even marketable. But low and behold, I have been contacted by boats the world over looking for crew. Mind you, I had to weed out the ones who checked the "looking for romantic relationships" box and find those that seemed to be a good fit. And I've found him!
The captain of the boat Furthur, Brian Calvert and I have been emailing back and forth for a time now and I've been invited to join his crew starting in early January. I'll be on board for a month and see how it goes from there. He has been cruising around the world starting in Seattle for over 2 years now and seems to have a good time wherever he goes. He has had over 30 people from findacrew on his boat who all give him rave reviews and highly recommend working with him. His emails are funny, enthusiastic and he's a 60 year old non-drinker, safety nut. I think I'll be in good hands :)
The plan is to meet the boat in Chalong Bay, Phuket, Thailand and cruise-scuba dive-enjoy our way around the many beautiful southern islands of the western coast of Thailand. Twist my arm.
Here's to hoping that this isn't too good to be true and that I have sea legs...
As soon as I realized the Englishtown teaching gig was not what I wanted to do long term I knew exactly what I wanted to do after leaving Bali and before I found my next job. I wanted to work on a boat. And that's exactly what I will do. You could say that I like to consider myself a skills-oriented person and for some time now I've been wanting to acquire some new skills. Some nautical skills, that is. I may not have many skills but I'd like to add knot-tying, sea navigation, driving a dinghy, words like stateroom, starboard!, 7 knots ahead, and ahoy! to my vocabulary and list of capabilities.
How does one with absolutely no boating experience do this, you ask? It's called findacrew.net. A friend told me about it awhile back and I've been a member for over a year. People like me, inexperienced but eager and willing to learn!, can get work exchanges on boats cruising all around the world. My list of competencies included things such as: cook, photographer, nanny, hostess, good conversationalist, etc. nothing certifiable, impressive or really even marketable. But low and behold, I have been contacted by boats the world over looking for crew. Mind you, I had to weed out the ones who checked the "looking for romantic relationships" box and find those that seemed to be a good fit. And I've found him!
Furthur, the Selene Trawler I'll come home for the next month
The plan is to meet the boat in Chalong Bay, Phuket, Thailand and cruise-scuba dive-enjoy our way around the many beautiful southern islands of the western coast of Thailand. Twist my arm.
Here's to hoping that this isn't too good to be true and that I have sea legs...
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