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Matt Brown (Blog: "The Life of a Contract Yachtie") interviews former luxury megayacht stewardess, Julie Perry, about her book: "The Insiders' Guide To Being A Yacht Stewardess: Confessions from My Years Afloat with the Rich and Famous". A part how-to guide/part memoir, Julie's book includes her "confessions"----short, anecdotal side-stories that serve to illustrate some of the adventurers one can look forward to in the megayacht industry. The book also contains all the exclusive advice and practical guidance one needs to get started----and succeed----as crew in the luxury yachting industry, whether it be as a steward/ess, chef, engineer, or deckhand (all entry-level megayacht crew positions).

Just heard this on NPR yesterday -- looks like it came out a year ago. I'm happy to see this is the trend. The generation now dubbed the "twixters" and the "millineals" are opting to take a bit more time to explore different career paths. I have always focused on encouraging young adults coming out of college to go work/study/volunteer abroad -- or just take time out to travel abroad -- for a year prior to entering the work force. Based on this article, those coming out of high school are now choosing this path prior to, or instead of, college. I'm beginning to think that's even better after listening to this interview. Granted, these "gap year"-type activities/experiences do not need to be sought out abroad. It's taking the time to be more sure of one's interests and gaining a little more life experience before moving too full-steam ahead into career choices or expensive educational pursuits.

Navquest.com has developed a new state-of-the-art technology, that assists recreational and experienced mariners everywhere with trip and route planning, obtaining and browsing charts, GPS navigation, finding marine businesses in your area, and even creating a float plan for an upcoming voyaging--all if it, right through your Internet browser.

Oh yeah -- and even better -- the service is FREE to use. (That's right: browse, download, and print NOAA charts for free.)

Try it. (Under the Trip Planning tab)...

First input the features of your boat (type of vessel, fuel consumption, average speed, etc)...

What it allows you to do is pick point A and B (say, Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Key West), by making your selections, the site even offers you the nearest marina/yacht club as an optional starting point.

Once you've submitted the data, it gives you a trip ticket (see the tab), shows you the satellite view, and then the regular map shows you your route for the journey, including all of the waypoints.

Hover over waypoint, or the start and end points, and you can click to see the weather, tides, the nearest buoy observation station, AND nearby services (and notice how the drop down menus on the left allow you to choose which POIs in their marine directory you want to see--and within how many miles of that point). And the map will show you the locations of these services.

You can then save this as a pdx. forward it on, print it off, export it to EasyGPS format, NavQuest.com makes NOAA Marine Charts available for download onto SmartPhones, PDA, and Mobile Devices

If you want to go a step further, you can then create a float plan navquest.com/floatplan.asp [navquest.com/floatplan.asp] ) on the site and attach the route to that so you can send both to the recipients of your float plan.

AH, and later, you can do a trip check by inputting your saved plan back in and getting updates or changing certain aspects (or send it to a friend and let them input your plan, but then take a look at it for different boat settings)

And they're about to release maps of reefs-divers will love it. Too, they're working to get fishing points.

Navquest.com is easy to query and retrieve from virtually anywhere on land, sea and air from a traditional Internet connection or wireless.

Attention all boaters and boating enthusiasts! It's almost time for the 2nd Annual Aquapalooza, put together by Sea Ray and the Sea Ray Owners Club. Planning is underway for the festivities, so mark your calendar for the last two weekends in July. Most of the events are taking place on Saturday, July 21st.

You can check out what Aquapalooza celebrations might be going on in your area by visiting this official website for the event. Or simply call up your local Sea Ray dealer.

Not a Sea Ray owner? It doesn't matter what kind of boat you own, or who made it because everyone is invited to this event, which will most definitely be the biggest on-water party of the year!

How do I know that? Well, it says on the site that in 2006, Aquapalooza made on-water history at their inaugural event. There were 82 events around North America, in 35 different states and provinces, with a registered number of guests surpassing over 20,000 people. And 4,369 boats took part last year.

And this year is already measuring up to be huge. Now you do have to register. And, if you register by July 1st, you get a FREE commemorative Aquapalooza 2007 T-shirt: two of them, per registration.

Sign up here at aquapalooza.com [aquapalooza.com] .

It's worth swinging in there anyway just to check out more photos from last year's festivities.

This is the official site for Surfango PowerBoards. Surfango has two products that I'm totally digging, and they both come in at under $3,000.

First is the Surfango PowerSurf FX. Take a surfboard, add a little wake-board, mix a bit of wind-surfer in there, and sprinkle in a four-stroke, 9.5 horsepower electric start engine that reaches a maximum speed of 25 mph, and you've got the recipe for some serious fun!

It's surfing, water-skiing, and jet skiing combined - I love that!

And the one that I want to get - Surfango's equally as impressive Power Kayak Hawaii. It operates just like a traditional kayak, so you can power out to where you want to go, and paddle from there.

Like it's PowerSurf Cousin, the Power Kayak also has that four-stroke, electric start engine and can reach a maximum speed of 25 mph. It's lightweight, only 128 lbs, and has a centrally located joystick which is easy to use and provides incredible maneuverability.

The engines on these Surfango PowerBoards, by the way, are quiet and clean, AND they meet all EPA emission regulations. They both also come with patented jet-pumps equipped with weed cutters.

I'm getting the PowerKayak!

This is a great site with great demos!

This year's National Safe Boating Week's theme was "wear it"--and that referred to always wearing a life jacket (or PFD, personal floatation device) when out on your boat on the water. This is the offical site for this year's campaign, and there is a lot of great information here. Great for families and boat owners who will be boating with children.