A New Adventure - This Time in Florida...and the Bahamas

The big news is that I’m leaving again on another adventure! This time I’ll be gone for awhile…like, until May.

Completely by chance, I got a job working on a boat that will be docked in Florida for the winter. I will be cook / housekeeper / crew for this boat from November 1; docked in St. Petersburg harbor; to January or February; when we weigh anchor (how much does an anchor weigh anyway?) and head for the Bahamas; through April and perhaps until the middle of May, after which we return to Chicago via the Mississippi river.

I will be the only other crew member on the boat and although I was a little unsure about this at first, after talking to the owner and speaking with some of his past employees, I realized that the sleaze factor for this scenario is zero, and nothing to worry about. I get to learn how to navigate, maintain, dock and generally care for a 56’ Hatteras power yacht, as well as cook and clean…I’ve also got to learn how to gut, fillet and prepare a super-fresh fish A.S.A.P! The owner really likes to fish and anything that we catch, we eat.

I’m very excited about this new adventure but also a little nervous…you know that saying, “If it seems too good to be true it probably is…” yeah. That’s kinda how I’m feeling. Getting paid to travel? Wow,…you know how some kids dreamt of being policemen or firefighters? I always dreamt of being a professional traveler…when I was little, I thought that being a flight attendant was the absolute pinnacle of existence. I’m not so keen on the flight attendant career anymore, but traveling! I can’t get it out of my blood. It’s probably my parents’ fault. I mean, really, who takes a 10 month old baby to Europe and then expects her to grow up all normal like!!??!