It’s been so long since I have written a blog post that I have actually been petrified to click the blog tab on my Chrome Tab Bar.  Not only because I have so many things to write, but also because I am aware that our views have been fast and furiously dwindling, due to SIX MONTHS of inactivity. Shocking.

I guess the big news, is that I am sitting in my cabin, which I share with The Bricycle half of this blog (some might call him a GHOST writer, not because he writes under my pseudonym but rather for the true meaning of the word…), and I am underway from Sardinia to Bonifacio. Our cabin is the humblest and most happy cabin I have ever stayed in.  I love it.

But hold on, let me backtrack a bit, because so much has happened since ticking Ireland off my Bucketlist and being underway to Bonifacio.

So although I plan on writing a lot about the adventures along the way, this is the main gist of the “how we are on a boat together” story.  When Bryce finally crossed The Atlantic on a remarkable motor yacht, we reunited at Nice airport, after a very long three months apart.  We went back to our beautiful apartment in Antibes and began the adventure of looking for work.  With Bryce it is all very systematic, it involves a lot of lists and a lot of visits to agents.  Which is brilliant, it helped us a lot.  However, my system, of trawling all the Facebook yachting groups is eventually the thing that got us some day work in Cannes together.

We were needed to help a boat out just before the Cannes Film Festival.  So stoked to have found some daywork and together-  we missioned to Cannes on the train at the crack of dawn, got picked up by a speed boat (Tender) and arrived at work promptly before 8. We worked for the boat for a couple of days and then parted ways with some euros and some more experience on our CVs.

Not long later, we got a call back to go and help that same boat again.  We were in a very difficult spot, having been together, looking for work together for a very long time (coming up to 8.5 months), we were starting to broach the discussions of whether to take work separately or not.  I had been offered some positions that would be a step up for me.  But nothing was looking convincing enough to tear our goal apart of being on the same boat together, working as an engineer or deck/eng and a chief stew/ second stew.

When I had left the boat the last time we day worked there, I said to Bryce that I had a funny feeling that something was going to happen for us there.  One of the stews on board had hinted as much and we had held out for so long, that it couldn’t not happen for us!  Besides, this boat was so couple friendly!!!

In the coming weeks, we had gone to all the agents and checked in a couple of times with some of the really good ones.  All of them were telling us that we would probably need to split. We were really considering it.  I had even taken a train up to San Remo to go and walk around a potential boat that I could join for the summer season.  It just didn’t feel right.

And then one day, while I was working an insanely tough job at The Monaco Grand Prix, I got an email from the AMAZING Chief Stew off the boat we had day worked on, the one where we had a little feeling something would happen.  She told me a couple had left and the first people they were considering was us- were we keen?  My heart jumped up into my throat and I sent a screenshot to Bryce who was also working The Grand Prix (in the Mc Claren box!).

Keen didn’t even begin to cover it.

We were elated and at The Monaco Grand Prix, so we couldn’t not celebrate the first major bite we had had for a permanent couples position together.  Although it felt slightly premature, we had a drink just off the track, and then walked all the way along the track to the famous Razcass Bar, had a few more drinks there and made a dent on the dancefloor.  We couldn’t stop grinning.

The positions were near to exactly what we were looking for.  The boat was prepared to create a deck/eng position for Bryce and I would be employed as Second Stew.  It was so uncanny, as our rent had been paid up until the end of May, and we were due to move out on the Thursday, which was the exact day that the boat was planning to fly us to Sardinia to join them.  Crazy. The search was finally over.

And so without further adieu, we filled our next few days with fabulous activities, met up with the amazing friends we had made, did a little day trip to Eze, packed our bags and flew to Sardinia.

Ha ha, the rest, they say, is history….