How To Get Paid To Travel In The Caribbean And Live On Yachts: Coffee Shop To Caribbean
Here we are, the "Trippies" (Pronounced Tree-Peas - shorthand for three peas in a pod), being babes in front of our favorite place in the universe, Queens Garden on Saba, during our 14 day boat delivery trip from Martinique to St. Thomas, USVI.
How To Get Paid To Travel In The Caribbean And Live On Yachts: Coffee Shop To Caribbean…AKA How Did This Trip Happen?
One day video editing in a coffee shop I got a text message from one of my oldest friends, Laura, here on out referred to as Laurford (because that's her proper name...It's a long story) saying, "Hey, do you want to help us with a boat delivery from Martinique to St. Thomas?" Approximately 2.5 seconds later she received the response back, "YES." And two weeks later I found myself packing a bag for a two-week boat delivery up island on year old Saba 50 Catamaran.
Alright, so it wasn't exactly THAT simple, and to understand the whole premise of this story one needs to take a step back and explain the context.
My background is in working on boats. My dear friend Laurford and I started out working on sailing day charters out of St. Thomas on our beloved New Horizons (RIP you sweet, sweet 65' Sloop Rigged Ferro Cement hunk of Monohull Bliss).
From there I moved into the term charter sailing industry where I became a first mate / chef and then eventually got Laurford and her boo, Danny, to catch the bug and make the shift to term charters, too.
They ran a 62' Robertson and Caine Leopard Catamaran and then transitioned to yacht management with a clearinghouse out of St. Thomas, USVI.
My Adventure Friends
Laurford and Danny are a special breed of friend. We may not talk for weeks or even months, but we'll call each other out of the blue saying things like, "Hey - we're taking a ski trip to New York with our family in January, you in?" and then the other respective party books their flight about 12 hours later. We're adventure buddies. We all have the sense of humor of a 7 year old, Laurford is obsessed with Disney movies, and we all just go along with it. And we do really, really cool stuff together.
That time Laura and Danny snuck me up to the summit at White Face when I was supposed to stay on the bunny slopes because I was taking lessons. "It's a lesson." Laurford declared to the teenage ticket taker when my ski pass got denied going up the Gondola #justgowithit #dontaskquestions #itsalesson
“Hey, Want To Help Us Deliver A Boat Up The Lesser Antilles?”
SO, when I got this text message, I serendipitously didn't have any weddings during the block of time they were flirting with, and it worked out.
So our mission? Bring this 2016 Fountaine Pajot Saba 50 up island from it's clearance through the brokerage on Martinique to it's new home in Charter House's term charter fleet to charter primarily through the British Virgin Islands.
Responsibilities Involved With Delivering A Boat
So as crew on a boat delivery you're responsible for taking watches through day and night passages, need to be competent sailing solo on your shift, know how to drop the sails if foul weather arises, be familiar with man overboard protocol, anchoring, mooring catamarans, docking, making tasty snacks while under way (okay not really, but kinda) and pulling your weight in making sure this boat arrives completely safe and sound. A boat delivery in a word: adventure. So that's how it started.