Funny how things never shake out as you expect them to. Crewing on Furthur for the past month has been an absolute blast and not at all like anticipated. Adjusting to the "work load" was probably the biggest surprise in that there basically wasn't much of one. I knew crewing on a powerboat, versus a sailboat, would mean less work but I didn't realize just how little. My main responsibility was keeping the captain happily fed. Not so difficult for someone who loves to cook and feed people...
Despite the jokes (so, what's your uniform?) and many peoples' leeriness of potential creepiness in this whole situation, everything turned out fine. I'd be lying if I denied the obvious fact that the captain likes to have girls around and that he likes to brag a bit about that. Whatever, boys will be boys. But overall Brian was easy to get along with and a ton of fun to listen to. This guy has stories about everything! We listened to him chat about everything under the sun- riding into bars on horses, participating in political campaigns, swimming with sharks, being married (x3), being an alcoholic (formerly) and a debatably crazy hippy, etc etc etc. The stories were never-ending and endlessly entertaining. He is one of those kinds of people who believes that anything done in moderation is a cop-out. And he lives by those lines- he's 60 and cruising around the world for Pete's sake! I guess the strangest thing about being on board was dealing with his affinity for the local culture (i.e. girly bars) but hey, to each their own I guess. I learned so much from Brian and I will be forever grateful for all the good times, lessons taught and experiences shared.
Now folks have been asking for this a good bit so here we go... The daily routine while on board went as such: wake up to Brian's coffee grinder around 7:30, have tea over a morning chat, read on top the boat for a bit, give Brian his breakfast (cereal mostly but some days we got fancy with eggs or pancakes). Then we'd either cruise to the next anchoring spot or start out on the day's activities. Diving, snorkeling, swimming, hanging out on little beaches, kayaking through lagoons, caves, mangrove forests, etc, all were regular activities on Furthur. After playing awhile we'd come in for lunch when I'd make Brian a sandwich and throw something together for myself (having fresh veggies, cheese and hummus at my disposal was like Heaven!) Around this time of the day is when Brian would have his nap or write on his blog. We joked that we'd have to put him down for his nap like a baby... not too far from the truth :) I'd layout, read, swim, do whatever until he'd be up and ready for a chitchat. Then we'd do another activity or take a dinghy ride to explore around the area we were anchored in. (A dinghy is the small, inflatable, outboard motorboat that every big boat has to have in order to get to shore, boat around and go on shorts trips.) Then one of my favorite parts of the day would come round; poo-poo platter time. I was unfamiliar with this lovely phrase but very fond of the idea: a plate of nibbles awhile before dinner. My master poo-poo platters included meats, cheeses, veggies, crackers, hummus, chips and salsa, fruit, etc. with smoothies and maybe a beer or glass of wine (for crew, never Brian!)... needless to say I don't think I lost any weight while crewing but I definitely enjoyed myself/ ate like a king. We'd then read, watch the sunset, I'd normally tidy up the boat and start planning dinner.
I cooked pretty much every night on the boat because I missed cooking so much but sometimes we went to shore to have dinner and check out the local scene. I fixed everything from Thai stir-frys to pan-roasted chicken breasts to homemade pizza to pasta salad. And even a chocolate almond pie! Luckily Brian was easy to please and never led on if he secretly hated my cooking :) Dinner time, as it is at home, is always one of my favorite parts of the day. What made it even better on Furthur was Brian's daily tradition of holding hands before eating and having everyone say what they were grateful for that day. It was a very sweet and reflective way to end the day (and we had a lot to be thankful for!) After chatting often for a long time and cleaning up the kitchen we would settle in for a movie (1 of the umpteen million on his hard drive) and then call it a night. It's actually kinda embarrassing writing this all out... it was as ridiculous and enjoyable as it sounds...
Before everyone starts cursing my name, let me come to my own defense. There was 1 week when we pulled the boat out of the water for some much-needed cleaning when we did a lot of work. Mainly the hull (bottom of the boat) needed to be repainted and scrapped clean of all the barnacles (so sooo gratifying) and scrubbed down in every corner. That meant days filled with cleaning the bathrooms, moping the floors, rubbing down the entire boat with Murphy's soap to make it shiny, waxing all the chrome on the boat, cleaning out all the clutter, doing inventory of the food (after lots of crew and no organization things were pretty interesting), getting seat cushions fixed, etc! Don't feel too sorry for me though, we did spend the latter part of each day at the marina's swimming pool :)
So maybe I haven't learned to navigate the sea by the stars but I did have a wonderful time. What's wrong with some good ole enjoyment for enjoyment's sake every once in awhile, hm? I feel very lucky to have been introduced to this incredible sub-culture of boating and the amazing people and places that come with it. I think next time I would like to try crewing on a sailboat, even just to learn the differences, but it something that I most definitely would like to do again some day.
Below are a bunch of photos, some of Brian's, other crew member's and mine, from my time on the boat:
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Despite the jokes (so, what's your uniform?) and many peoples' leeriness of potential creepiness in this whole situation, everything turned out fine. I'd be lying if I denied the obvious fact that the captain likes to have girls around and that he likes to brag a bit about that. Whatever, boys will be boys. But overall Brian was easy to get along with and a ton of fun to listen to. This guy has stories about everything! We listened to him chat about everything under the sun- riding into bars on horses, participating in political campaigns, swimming with sharks, being married (x3), being an alcoholic (formerly) and a debatably crazy hippy, etc etc etc. The stories were never-ending and endlessly entertaining. He is one of those kinds of people who believes that anything done in moderation is a cop-out. And he lives by those lines- he's 60 and cruising around the world for Pete's sake! I guess the strangest thing about being on board was dealing with his affinity for the local culture (i.e. girly bars) but hey, to each their own I guess. I learned so much from Brian and I will be forever grateful for all the good times, lessons taught and experiences shared.
Now folks have been asking for this a good bit so here we go... The daily routine while on board went as such: wake up to Brian's coffee grinder around 7:30, have tea over a morning chat, read on top the boat for a bit, give Brian his breakfast (cereal mostly but some days we got fancy with eggs or pancakes). Then we'd either cruise to the next anchoring spot or start out on the day's activities. Diving, snorkeling, swimming, hanging out on little beaches, kayaking through lagoons, caves, mangrove forests, etc, all were regular activities on Furthur. After playing awhile we'd come in for lunch when I'd make Brian a sandwich and throw something together for myself (having fresh veggies, cheese and hummus at my disposal was like Heaven!) Around this time of the day is when Brian would have his nap or write on his blog. We joked that we'd have to put him down for his nap like a baby... not too far from the truth :) I'd layout, read, swim, do whatever until he'd be up and ready for a chitchat. Then we'd do another activity or take a dinghy ride to explore around the area we were anchored in. (A dinghy is the small, inflatable, outboard motorboat that every big boat has to have in order to get to shore, boat around and go on shorts trips.) Then one of my favorite parts of the day would come round; poo-poo platter time. I was unfamiliar with this lovely phrase but very fond of the idea: a plate of nibbles awhile before dinner. My master poo-poo platters included meats, cheeses, veggies, crackers, hummus, chips and salsa, fruit, etc. with smoothies and maybe a beer or glass of wine (for crew, never Brian!)... needless to say I don't think I lost any weight while crewing but I definitely enjoyed myself/ ate like a king. We'd then read, watch the sunset, I'd normally tidy up the boat and start planning dinner.
I cooked pretty much every night on the boat because I missed cooking so much but sometimes we went to shore to have dinner and check out the local scene. I fixed everything from Thai stir-frys to pan-roasted chicken breasts to homemade pizza to pasta salad. And even a chocolate almond pie! Luckily Brian was easy to please and never led on if he secretly hated my cooking :) Dinner time, as it is at home, is always one of my favorite parts of the day. What made it even better on Furthur was Brian's daily tradition of holding hands before eating and having everyone say what they were grateful for that day. It was a very sweet and reflective way to end the day (and we had a lot to be thankful for!) After chatting often for a long time and cleaning up the kitchen we would settle in for a movie (1 of the umpteen million on his hard drive) and then call it a night. It's actually kinda embarrassing writing this all out... it was as ridiculous and enjoyable as it sounds...
Before everyone starts cursing my name, let me come to my own defense. There was 1 week when we pulled the boat out of the water for some much-needed cleaning when we did a lot of work. Mainly the hull (bottom of the boat) needed to be repainted and scrapped clean of all the barnacles (so sooo gratifying) and scrubbed down in every corner. That meant days filled with cleaning the bathrooms, moping the floors, rubbing down the entire boat with Murphy's soap to make it shiny, waxing all the chrome on the boat, cleaning out all the clutter, doing inventory of the food (after lots of crew and no organization things were pretty interesting), getting seat cushions fixed, etc! Don't feel too sorry for me though, we did spend the latter part of each day at the marina's swimming pool :)
So maybe I haven't learned to navigate the sea by the stars but I did have a wonderful time. What's wrong with some good ole enjoyment for enjoyment's sake every once in awhile, hm? I feel very lucky to have been introduced to this incredible sub-culture of boating and the amazing people and places that come with it. I think next time I would like to try crewing on a sailboat, even just to learn the differences, but it something that I most definitely would like to do again some day.
Below are a bunch of photos, some of Brian's, other crew member's and mine, from my time on the boat:
one of the first days on board, cruising to some beautiful islands
compulsory jump off the top of the boat,
taken in Maya Bay where the movie, The Beach, was filmed
Captain Brian hard at work
one of the many incredible sunsets we enjoyed at the end of the day
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the disappearing beach between 2 islands that faded away with high tide
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kayaking through some big ole rocks
kayaking out of a cave
kayaking through a cave into a massive lagoon
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kayaking up to beautiful, secluded beaches...
told you we did lots of kayaking!
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rock climbing- not so scary when you can jump
into the water once you don't want to go any higher
under the sea with some fishies
Brian at his best, scuba diving
peace to the world, above and below the water's surface
dinghy ride through mangrove forests
one of the million fishing boats that light up the horizon at night
adorable and very functional village on stilts in the middle of nowhere
our new Iranian friends we met on the island where the
James Bond movie, Man with the Golden Gun, was filmed
Furthur out of the water and in the boat yard
while we did some serious fixing and cleaning up
see! told yall we did lots of work!
and welcome to Phuket, hop in line for your one of a kind massage
best way to celebrate my 24th!
birthday dive with the lovely Marina,
other crew member from Germany
lovely little family fishing boat
the close to another day in paradise
lucky lady I am to have experienced beautiful places like this!
Thanks SO much again to the wonderful Brian Calvert for letting me come crew on Furthur- it is an experience I'll surely never forget! And you never know, maybe I'll be back sometime soon :)
you are amazing! goodness gracious, i miss you SO much. -lauren
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