Heather's Experiences of Crewing on a yacht

Joining the Ship, Latina is beautiful !

Flying into St. Thomas was breathtaking. This was my first trip to the Caribbean. I was immediately falling in love with the scenery and ambience. The doors of the plane opened, I stepped out of the plane into a wall of humidity and walked onto the tarmac.
The Captain met me at the airport, helped me through immigration, taxied to the port and tossed my luggage onto the dinghy. My first dinghy ride, splashing and bouncing to the ship in Charlotte Amalie Harbour. “There she is, that blue one over there !  What do you think?”  I gasped in wonderment, wow, she was big !  “I didn’t realize she was so big!”  We pulled alongside and the crew greeted me as I walked onboard.  I was introduced to Bart the Chef and Jerry the 1st Mate. (I later learned that these two crewmen were very excited to check out their new female crewmember, and they had cleaned up nicely beforehand for their initial impression.)  Jerry was requested to show me to my cabin quarters and that I could take my time to get settled in. Well, let me tell you about a 25 year old lady’s impression of her new cabin mate!  First, my new cabin’s entrance was off the bow deck, had a bunk on either side and a head with shower, along with storage area for provisions. Not bad accommodation, simple but clean.  What caught my interest most was my cabin mate, Jerry’s, hospitality, charm, good looks and accent. He was from the Mediterranean, and golden skinned gorgeous, with dark eyes and wavy hair. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Then, of course, it turned out that he was my trainer. I spent quite alot of time with Jerry in my first week.

 Do you know where this is headed?  Romance yes, engagement yes, marriage YES !  From April to August all stages were accomplished !  That’s a whole other story, let me get back to arrival onboard.
Latina was a lovely 110’ wooden sailing ship built in Italy in the 1940’s originally used as a cargo ship and then bought and re-furbished for the Ferrari family.  In 1992, she was well preserved and continually maintained, thus the need for crew.  She held up to 16 guests and 5 crew members. She chartered in the Virgin Islands on one week excursions, in the hospitality and tourism business of providing international travellers with an amazing vacation experience in the Caribbean.

Barbie.....my new nickname. I never thought of myself as a Barbie. Far from it, I grew up on a hobby farm and was a bit of a tomboy.  How did I come across this name.  Bart our Chef, started it. Because in my first week, I put on earrings and makeup daily, he called me Barbie. I soon learned that au natural was the way to go, fastest dressing (for work) experience ever; t-shirt and shorts. Don`t forget the sunglasses, a necessity.   I learned that Bart, wasn`t really his name, he was named that after the comic character, Bart Simpson, for his similar early morning wake up hairstyle. And there was our 2nd Mate, Lightning (a nickname), Ricky from Canada, came to live up to his label as he very quickly took on the pace of a local islander. Jerry, the 1st Mate, an English name, his real name derived from Jerko, the Croatian name.

My crewmates have become my lifetime friends.