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| entry created: Tuesday 7 June 2011, 10:59pm (NZ time) | |
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| Location: Hellevoetsluis, Holland |
| Local time: Tuesday, 11pm |
| Music: |
 Yep, I'm pretty slack at the diary updates these days, I know. Not much was happening in my life for a while. And then I decided to quit my job on the boat. It had been two years, and I decided that it was time for a change. Time for a bigger boat, with more responsibility, and more money. As it was March, the timing was right to look for something new (the Mediterannean season begins around May), so I updated my CV, registered with all the crew agencies again, and began trawling the various job sites.So, for the next two months I had a few interviews, and a few job offers, but nothing seemed to be 'the one'. The job that ticked all the boxes. And being jobless in Antibes isn't cheap. Rent, food, running a car (yep I bought a beamer a couple months ago) and a motorbike, wining and dining - it all adds up. And it gets a bit boring. I was keeping fit going to the gym in the morning and kickboxing in the evening, But other than looking for work or playing around with my vehicles, I didn't have much else to do. But then the perfect job came along. The interview went really well, and the Captain called me back the same night to say I'd got the position. So I'm now the Chief Officer aboard a brand new 47m yacht. Totally stoked.  The town of Menton - the last town along the coast (just after Monaco) before the Italian border. Pretty from afar, but up close it's boring and full of old people.  I went for a road-trip to San Remo in Italy with two friends who'd never visited Italy. Good food and good coffee, just across the border. France, take note.  I went to Amsterdam for the night (love that city), to catch up with Dutch friend Paul, who played bass for my band in the Caribbean three years ago. Walking past this shop, I couldn't help but stop and drool for a bit...  A Febo 'restaurant'. Founded in 1941, they're the quintessential Dutch automatic food vendor, selling things like frikandellen and bitterballen from behind those little window flaps. Instant deep-fried gratification.  A friend on a neighbouring yacht ran a 1920s-themed murder-mystery evening aboard. It was a good laugh and they'd gone to a lot of effort, but so much champagne was consumed throughout the night that everybody eventually forgot about the object of the evening.   Yep, definitely Holland.  The main street of Hellevoetsluis. Not much to it.  Another recently-launched Heesen yacht (same company as my boat) - the 55m Quinta Essentia. Still loads of work going on on-board. At the moment we're tied up in front of them, until we leave in a few weeks for Gibraltar then France. |
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