Questions about working while cruising Bahamas

[JPA Cate]

Phil from Moondancer wrote, in part,

"When we cruised we traded skills with other cruisers, there was very little cash transfer. As a doctor I organized three medical evacuations from the Caribbean and I even helped pay the airfare of one ill cruiser…not work as a doctor just helping a fellow cruiser!

In another case I helped organize the local care of a sick cruiser, the next morning her husband was rewiring my ‘top of the mast’ instruments. He just came on the boat and asked, “what needs fixing?” "
__________________


This kind of interchange is what we experienced out on the "milk run" from US to Australia. It didn't feel right to ask for pay for time spent helping friends. Once you leave the States, there's no Boat US. Cruisers are inter-dependent.

Not to rain on your parade, but I'm thinking you have the cart before the horse, in that you are not yet a sailor. You don't know the basics (which are fairly easy to acquire), but more importantly, you lack seamanship, which is a lot of what you learn about how to avoid situations that are likely to go pear-shaped. You can teach yourself to sail, or take classes, or some combination of both. Some sailing clubs have sail training programs. It is a way to meet other sailors, and useful to broaden your outlook. Sailing on other people's boats teaches you about various layouts, and you will develop preferences.

I'd suggest you first find out if you even enjoy sailing. Not everybody does. If you want to be a cruiser, spending time, lots of time on your boat, it will be way, way better if you like it.

Boats vary in how sturdily they are constructed. Even portable welding gear is heavy and you will need to secure it so it doesn't come loose and tear up the boat. Welding is power-hungry. You will need to figure out how to provide adequate power to do whatever jobs you'd be doing, along with meeting your daily power needs.

We knew a low-budget cruiser who was a licensed diesel mechanic from the US. How he worked things was if you came to his boat for a conference about an engine job, it was free. If he took tools to your boat, he was "on the clock." To my knowledge, he and his wife had no problem staying beneath the radar that way.

Good luck with it.

Ann (very long term cruiser, you can check my profile if it matters)

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by edventuredad

It's illegal and exactly the same thing that so many Americans are upset about with people from Central America entering the US. It takes jobs and income away from locals who could be providing the services.

Right. Don't see too many Americans lining up to pick lettuce or clean toilets.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by mvweebles

Last month, I had a 4 page legal document translated from English to Spanish. I have used Fiverr.com and Freelancer.com in the past, though this one was Fiverr.

I ended up paying $20 for the translation, and I paid extra for someone from Canada with equivalent of masters degree in Spanish. I could have paid $10 for someone from India but wanted someone with at least English or Spanish as native language. Translation was very

Translation worked out well
Best I can tell,, work isn't difficult for someone with requisite skills, but a time consuming way to earn $20.

Peter

Yeah I'm not talking about the couple pages pick up work some bilingual high school kid, secretary, or paralegal will do for beer money.

I'm talking about contracting with software companies, equipment manufacturers, publishing houses and so on to do large and potentially on-going pieces of work that require more commitment then 30 minutes after dinner while watching telly.

Text books, user-facing manuals and documentation, that sort of thing. Have already done some English-Mandarin children's books.

[flightlead404]

Originally Posted by KateMid

And what languages are you planning to involve in future?

We have good friends (all MBAs from US University) who are native Korean, Japanese, Arabic, and ofc the probably not that lucrative French and Spanish. Prob a couple others I'm forgetting.

Would depend on demand. We will see, its a new biz need to see where the market takes us.

I speak both American and English