Living the Dream: Surviving a live-aboard job
Posted By Vladimir Soto on 27 December 2005
The longer you do it the higher the odds you'll experience some very abrasive moments. But you might also get better at it. So pick yourself a copy of Psychology magazine or perhaps even check out some valuable tips NLP could teach you.
It's all about maneuvering into a win-win situation. Time and space. One of the biggest compromises you'll accept along with the job is the lack of personal time and space. Different boats/charters have different schedules, but most usually go out for a week. That usually means out to sea on Saturday and back to the dock on Friday afternoon, 6 nights later. Your free time usually starts Friday night and ends Saturday very early in the morning. Even getting enough time to email and brag to your friends about the amazing whale shark encounters you've had all week can be a challenge. Besides the captain's beat everyone will be marching to, time and space are the two factors that could end up being the most trying of your live-aboard experience. The interaction with your fellow crew and passengers will surely be affected by the physical space constraints. No matter how lovely anyone may seem to you, when they remain within your personal space too long you'll eventually want to cut their earlobes off with a dull,crusty dive knife.
So, the ability to deal with the pressures of relating to others while living in close quarters for an extended period of time will probably define how good of an experience you'll have onboard. On a boat there are usually very few places to hide, underwater and a spacious sense of humor are probably the best. Sleep is a commodity. As you probably guessed by now, you shouldn't expect to swing on a hammock on the top deck of the boat enjoying the pretty sunsets very often. Chances are you'll have little time to sleep and every bit of free time you'll probably use in ways that will help you maintain a smile on your face and a positive attitude to deal with all kinds of requests and answer all kinds of questions from guests. "If I bottle some sea water do you think it'll stay that nice blue color all the way home?" I swear to you that was an actual question. Kinda charming when you're well rested, but when it's the first thing you hear in the morning after you've had four hours of sleep, your body is achy because you're catching another guest's cold and are expected to suit up in the chilly rain to check on a mooring, the charm is easily lost.
Expect a hard schedule. However, the lack of sleep and hard work will probably be framed by another element to be aware of, boredom. When the guests are diving someone needs to be on deck, looking out for any kind of dive emergency. That's deck duty and since most operations will expect you to be ready to respond immediately should any of the guests have any troubles, you should plan on leaving your French-learning books at home.
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