Find a Crew and other networking platforms like Ocean Crew Link or Crewseekers connect boat owners with crew members. At times this will enable you to sail for FREE in return for helping out with everyday duties in return. Sometimes you’ll need to contribute with a weekly amount to chip in as the maintenance and upkeep of boats is very expensive!
You might be surprised to hear that you don’t necessary need to be a qualified skipper or chef. Some captains will be happy to let you learn on the job! Applying for a deckhand for example requires you to help out with the day to day running of the boat but basically means you’ll help out wherever needed.
You can imagine our joy when my girlfriend Fiona and I found a boat to sail 15 days around Belize and snorkel around the Blue Hole. We used a german website called ‘Hand gegen Koje‘ and sailed on the Wild Too catamaran. But our experience definitely did not go to plan and had a lot of surprises in store! Hopefully sharing our experience will prepare you to ask the right questions before joining a boat or simply entertain you. We often still laugh about this crazy sailing trip!
Finding a boat to join
So neither of us had ever heard about any of these sites. In fact, we met a lovely, retired German couple during a sailing trip in Bacalar who introduced us to the concept just a few days before we tried this out for the first time. The way they explained it was that there are people travelling the world by boat and they rent out the cabin spaces for certain parts of their journey to help them towards the maintenance costs. So I saw it kind of like renting a room on AirBnB, except it was going to be on a boat!
As soon as we reached land we checked it out. Coincidentally there was a boat leaving in 48 hours. So we contacted the captain via the site but didn’t hear back. No worries we thought. We would simply go island hopping ourselves, in so far as was possible, relying on ferries and booking day tours.
Asking the right questions BEFORE you go
Then suddenly the captain, who had just docked in Belize City, got in touch. He just had a cancellation and could accommodate us if we could be ready the next morning. The cost was 700 Euros per person / week. Of course we were totally unprepared so I simply told him that neither of us had any experience with the site and asked him what would be expected of us. Other than the obvious, like keeping our space clean and such things. “Nothing” he replied. “The crew takes care of everything“!
The sailing trip was way out of our budget but this was going to be by far the best way to explore all the beautiful islands and snorkel along the second biggest Barrier Reef in the world. The catamaran looked modern and nice and we’d have a cabin to ourselves with a private bathroom. It’ll be like a honeymoon we thought and decided to splash out and join the trip!
Meeting up on the day of departure
We were met by our Captain Martin who seemed very nice and friendly. He introduced us to Mariette aka TULUMINIÑA who calls Mexico home and has established herself as a local tourist guide promoting conscious, sustainable travelling within the Yucatan Peninsula. She has a great vibe about herself and oozes positive energy so we were instantly happy to hear that she had booked the same sailing trip. Then there were a couple of Swiss guys in their 50s perhaps who seemed lovely too and a to my surprise a family. This was the first time I heard that a child was travelling with us. Martin only told us about Mariette and two couples. Neither of us had an issue with it but it certainly would have been nice to be told in advance, knowing we’d be sharing a small space for a long period of time!
All on board
Once everyone had met, we immediately boarded the boat. Martin took every person or couple in individually to show us our cabins. When he called us, he took us into the promised private cabin with private bathroom. To our surprise though, there was an additional single bed which he had already allocated to the lovely Mariette without asking us if we would mind a change of plans.
It was incredibly awkward to say anything on the spot but Fiona and I were both gutted. Mariette would be the nicest person you could possibly share a room with but after splashing out for this trip we wanted the privacy that was offered to us at the time of booking. But even this was NOT the biggest surprise of the day.
Pre-departure Meeting
Fiona and I still didn’t have a moment to discuss how we felt about the cabin situation when we were all called in for a briefing. Of course this included a safety talk, life on the boat and some practical information of how to flush the toilet and what not. But suddenly we started discussing people’s diets and I got very confused. The longer we spoke about it, the more confused I became. I glanced over at Fiona but she couldn’t make much sense of it either. When we started making a shopping list, I needed some clarification.
“I’m very confused” I said to Martin. “Hasn’t the crew already gone shopping”? The thought of needing to pass the shopping list to the crew and wait for them to return was annoying to say the least. I wanted to set sail and was even hoping to get some snorkelling in on our first day. We will never forget Martin’s response. “You ARE the crew”!
What the F***!
Fiona and I were horrified. When I asked Martin what was expected of us, he told me “nothing” because “the crew will take care of everything”. He forgot to bloody mention the crew was us! So what we had to do was go shopping, cook, do the dishes and as we’d later find out help out with the ropes, anker and watchkeeping. Words cannot describe how disappointed and betrayed we felt in this very moment!
When we disembarked to go shopping and reached the peer I pulled Fiona to the side and we could finally exchange a few words in private. “Do we want this”? I asked her. “I don’t know” Fiona said, clearly as horrified as I was.
We thought we’d signed up to what we thought would feel like a honeymoon. We knew there was an additional cost to the food which we were told was 70 Euros per person / week. But this was the first we heard that we’d signed up to be the actual crew!
We are here now
Fiona and I had to make a decision pretty quickly. We knew getting to the Blue Hole wasn’t easy at all. And we were looking forward to being able to see the most remote islands that we’d never be able to reach if we would just rely on day trips and visiting the main islands.
So although this was absolutely not what we had signed up for, we decided to still go ahead. We were already here after all!
Shopping like The Apprentice
Have you ever seen The Apprentice? There is usually a shopping task involved where teams have to shop smart and gather certain items within their budget. I remember the frantic scenes of smartly dressed business people trying to negotiate in the Medina of Marrakech, sticking out like a sore thumb. Or that other time they tried to negotiate at Smithfields – London’s biggest meat market – to source their ingredients for the task at hand.
THIS was exactly what shopping for the boat was like! Nobody had a car so we needed a taxi. We had to go to the supermarket but also the local fruit and vegetable market. Would we split up or stay together as a group? Would we even all fit into the taxi? Did we actually all have to go or were people happy to stay behind?
In the supermarket one thing became apparent very quickly: trying to cater for all sorts of different diets would be a nightmare! The child needed special food which the parents would pick out and pop in the basket. One person was vegetarian. The next gluten-intolerant. The other person lactose-intolerant. Honestly, I wanted to tear my hair out!
Can we afford this?
Belize was a very interesting place to shop. Fruits and vegetables were very reasonably priced at the market. The supermarkets weren’t cheap though. But any type of imported foreign food was extortionately priced. There was a jar of jam for 20 USD someone popped into the basket. Fiona grabbed some crisps that usually cost 1 USD and they were around 6 USD. Nutella was crazy expensive!
The worst part? The ease at which everyone just chucked whatever they fancied into the basket. I have no clue where Martin got the figure of 70 Euros per person from but at this rate, we would sure need to dig deeper into our pockets. And I didn’t care for any of the European junk food everyone wanted to buy. But here we are, splitting food bills with complete strangers. We were the only full-time travellers who had a budget to think about while everyone else had well paid corporate jobs back home.
Sailing (mostly) sober
We got to the alcohol section. Fiona doesn’t drink but I certainly enjoy a glass of wine! However when I saw the amounts of alcohol that people were buying I knew what to do. I told everyone we don’t drink alcohol and to share that part of the bill without us. And I sure am lucky we did!
I later ended up buying a bottle of wine on one of the islands and enjoyed it on the deck with Mariette – that was enough for me and saved us a lot of money!
Can we finally go sailing?
It was incredibly late in the day when we were finally able to set sail. It had taken the best part of the day to go shopping! We were starting to get bitten by mosquitos and so we decided to sail further out. But we didn’t make it very far and instead decided to call it a night and aim for an early start in the morning!
It wasn’t a great first day but I was just happy that we were finally sailing and would go snorkelling soon. But not so fast! The next day we first had to go to one of the main islands to do some paperwork for the boat!
In summary the first two days were simply “preparing for the trip”. So if you ever work out the daily cost of your sailing trip, bear in mind that by the time you do your shopping / admin you can easily lose 1-3 days.
Day 3: Time to relax
Finally! After a slow start we were sailing. One of my favourite things about sailing on catamarans is lying in the net in the front and feeling the occasional splash of water to cool you off. It’s also the best place to look out for and spot dolphins! Except, we were just about to learn the no-one-is-allowed-to-chill-in-the-nets rule. WHAAATTT????
I mean that’s the best part of being on a catamaran and never EVER have I heard that you shouldn’t use this area. But Martin was renting out the cabin spaces for a living and having recently replaced one of the nets, he decided it was cheaper to just ban people from using them altogether than to deal with any potential repairs from wear and tear. I was gutted! In addition there were no bean bags or anything to make for a comfortable arrangement of lying on the deck to sunbath. Lying a towel underneath you didn’t exactly help to increase the comfort.
Realising what we’ve signed up for
We were all chilling in various parts of the boat when Martin decided to get completely naked, go for a swim and shower right in front of us. Honestly, I’m fine with nudity when I go to the sauna but living with complete strangers on a boat for two weeks I certainly did not feel the need to get to know people THIS well! In fact, I feel it would have been polite to ask everyone else if they are okay with it, especially as we had a four years old child onboard.
It’s one of those things which, unless you address them right away, get really awkward. And as no one said anything in the first few days, it became normal and part of everyday life on the boat. But as the days passed Martin would start to draw attention onto him. Like asking a question just before he pulled his swim shorts down. Sometimes he would walk from the deck into his cabin and come back out again to get changed. Why couldn’t he have done that in his room? It’s like he wanted to make sure that we were actually watching. As it turned out, Martin was an exhibitionist. I hated that no one said anything, especially as we later found out that at least half of the crew felt uncomfortable with it.
But that would not be the worst issue …
… because the parents of the child turned out to be full-on racists. In the first few days they came out with really ignorant comments. The dad noticed that Fiona was pretty strong when she was working the ropes on the boat. “Look how good she is with the ropes” he pointed out. “Must have been because she’s used to chasing Tigers back home”. I was horrified!
Where do you think “back home” is? I asked. “Don’t know. Where is she from?”. I asked him to guess but he couldn’t come up with anything. Then I pointed out that Fiona was born in England. But he still didn’t get that his comment was really ignorant.
In the days to follow I then overheard a bunch of racist comments. Never said to me directly. And I’m pretty sure that no one else shared his opinions. I just think nobody on the boat wanted to point out to them that they were racist. I decided I wouldn’t be one of them and put him in his place. But throughout the entire time he never said any such comments to me directly. Just as well!
But what about the sailing, snorkeling and diving? Was it amazing?
Of course it was. Not just that. It was the best sailing trip and the best snorkelling we have ever experienced anywhere in the world! Being so far from the main islands tourists usually get to visit and being able to see all the beautiful remote islands instead was a privilege!
The sealife was unreal! It was so easy not just to spot tropical fish but also eagle rays, sharks, turtles, sting rays, manatees and dolphins. And sometimes just from the peer of an island you could see so much sea life in the shallow waters without even going snorkeling.
The highlight was of course seeing the Blue Hole. We even had it to ourselves for an entire 24 hours. It is one of our all-time travel highlights!
So was it worth it?
We later found out that although paying 3200 Euros for two weeks of sailing for two felt really expensive, it actually isn’t for Belize! Most people pay 350 USD for a day trip to the Blue Hole alone and don’t get to see all the amazing islands along the way.
So despite the fact that we weren’t keen on the captain or the family we shared the boat with, we have no regrets. There is no way we would have been able to experience Belize the way we did without this bizzare sailing experience!
That said, the only reason we feel this way is because The Blue Hole was such a highlight and just isn’t easy to get to. Had it been a sailing trip anywhere else in the world I don’t think we would have felt the same.
Top 5 Tips before you ever decide to join a boat like we did
- Check reviews of the captain / boat from other passengers
- Understand what your role is on board. Are you renting a cabin space or you expected to work / help out?
- Remember there will be additional costs for food, docking and National Park fee entrances
- Bear in mind that living with complete strangers on a boat for a week is A LOT no matter how exotic the destination is – you never know who you’ll you end up with on your boat
- Carry sea sickness tablets. When people got seasick we never stopped for them … the boat will keep going
In case I put you off
After our trip we caught up with the German couple who recommended this kind of travelling to us. They reassured us that they never had such an experience before! They were never part of the crew and never EVER had to cook, do the dishes or even take care of the shopping! For them it truly has always been a very relaxing and somewhat luxurious experience.
So please don’t be put off by our story. We just wanted to share our honest account of events to help you have a better experience or know what to look out for if you are looking into doing the same! Have you tried any of these websites before? How was your experience? As always we’d love to hear from, so please leave us a comment below.
