Easter

Well we had a day and a half off after the MIPIM conference charter during which time I brought on Iwona (Eva) as stewardess. Monday came and it was time to get prepared for our Easter charter which was to begin on Thursday and end on the following Monday.

During that time we cruised between Monaco and Cannes and the weather was spotty at best. It all went pretty well until Sunday evening when the boys came back to the boat around 11:30pm and asked for a snack. I asked the chef to prepare them something and he refused! So about 30 seconds later I fired him and he was packing his bags. The first time I’ve had that pleasure, but probably not the last. It’s a difficult position to be in letting go of a chef during a charter, but I really didn’t have a choice except to wait until the next afternoon when the charter ended. Although by then I might have done something stupid and forgiven him. It really wasn’t working out anyway and I think he wanted to go. So now I’m looking for a chef and they are in short supply and high demand so it will be a challenge. And if anyone wants to come by for a BBQ, please do. I have about 100 lbs of meat and fish that he over ordered which is bound to go bad!

Of course again the crew is bordering on exhaustion because the two the guests decided to stay another week turning our 4 day charter into a 11 day charter. I won’t air out all my laundry, but suffice to say that there has been a lot going on behind the scenes which has made it a stressful week.

By the way, thank you all for the Birthday well wishes. I can hardly believe I’m 30!! ;) I must admit that I’m a little miffed that it will be a week after my birthday before I get a chance to step off the boat for a celebratory drink. Oh well, there is always next year.

So now all the guests have gone and I’ve had a chance to get the crew some time off. I worked though, albeit at a more relaxed pace. It’s the weekend now and although I can’t seem to completely stop working I’m not killing myself with the load.

Spring is in the air here in the Riviera with nice sunny and warm days. Captain Pierre is back from Florida and in the area so I’ll get to catch up with him over lunch tomorrow. All the big boats are trickling back into the area. One of them arrives Tuesday and we are in their berth so we have to move. Our time is running out here in Port Hercule I think. We may be able to bounce around from one empty berth to another for another week or two, but after that I expect that all the berths will be filled with their rightful owners and we will have to move around the hill to Port Fontvielle.

Interesting note: We are paying about 100 euro ($150) a day for electricity! We aren’t even running the air conditioning! It would actually be cheaper for us to live on generator power except for the wear and tear on the gen sets. Not my problem though, you want to live the life, you gotta pay the price.

And I don’t know what gas prices are up to in the states, but this might make you all feel a little better. It’s 1.20 euro a litre here. There are 4 litres to a gallon so that’s 4.80/gal. !!! Now you realize why there are so many matchbox cars in Europe.
Anyway, I’m going to go and mix in with the nightlife and get my dance on.
Take care,

PS. Still looking for another stewardess and chef for any yachtees out there reading this. Oh, and a captain for our chase boat too. And a relief capatain for the yacht so I can take a holiday! ;)