October 24, 2024 • 54 mins
Step aboard a yacht for an intimate conversation with Captain Spencer and Erica Gallagher, as they share their remarkable journey from young maritime enthusiasts to respected leaders in luxury yachting.
In this unique episode, filmed in the stunning Exumas, the Gallaghers discuss:
- Building a successful career in yachting from age 17
- Navigating the challenges of working together as a married couple
- Creating exceptional experiences through passionate leadership
- Managing crew dynamics and building effective teams
- The importance of family support in unconventional careers
- Real stories from their years serving diverse clientele
- Insights on maintaining relationships while living at sea
From Spencer's early start as one of the youngest captains of a 100-foot vessel to their current role managing luxury charters, the Gallaghers offer authentic perspectives on leadership, relationship building, and pursuing your passion with purpose.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Well, hey everyone, welcome to the Uncommon Freedom
Show.
Today is the most uniquesetting we've ever had and well,
hopefully not I'll ever have,because I hope to be back.
But today we are aboard theChanson, so if you get seasick
and you're watching, you mightwant to switch to the audible
version or audio version.
We are aboard, we're in the skylounge of the Chanson yacht and
(00:28):
with Captain Spencer Gallagherand his lovely wife Erica hey
guys, welcome to the show.
It's a pleasure to be here,it's awesome to have you both,
and of course, we're not mic'dup, so you're going to have to
turn up the volume a little bit.
But I wanted to first of alljust kind of interview this
amazing couple because we've hadthis is our second epic
vacation.
They're absolutely amazing andlearn a little bit about how you
(01:01):
got into yachting, what it'slike, what it's like working as
a couple aboard very tightquarters.
I'm sure that's quite aninteresting experience.
And then we also have some coolstuff to talk about.
I'll just tease it For those ofyou who have ever heard of Fyre
Fest.
You're looking at the couplethat actually was in charge of
the yacht where they did all thepromotional videos.
So it's just a crazycoincidence.
(01:22):
Quite an adventure that was.
Yeah, quite an adventure.
So Cat Spence.
First of all, how did you getinto yachting?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, I must say I was very fortunate being raised
in a water-loving family.
Multiple generations,grandfathers, uncles, my parents
, everyone I knew pretty muchhad a boat on the Great Lakes.
Certainly we tried to get everylittle bit we could out of
those Michigan summers, whichare not long.
As you know, being from Ohio,we can try what we can to get
(01:49):
what we can out of a season.
But we certainly did enjoy thatand I found a passion in
sailing and being on the water.
We were very fortunate also tobe going down to Florida and
traveling down there and seeingall these big yachts in Harvard.
And when it came time to make adecision on what to do after
high school, my old man pulledout the Chapman School of Seamen
book and said hey, you know,this is a great opportunity for
(02:09):
you to go to school and reallyhone in your talent that you
naturally have.
And boy, fast forward a handfulof years and I met Erica
cruising along and we started areally unique charter program
where we tried to bring on boardguests like yourselves, show
them, their family, theirfriends, a pretty amazing
adventure out in these beautifulwaters.
(02:30):
Yeah, so behind us if you cansee, it is the Bahamian Sea.
That's right, and we're in theExumas portion of the Bahamas,
which is probably the mostbeautiful part of the Bahamas,
at least in my personal opinion,as you can see the turquoise
blue waters with the emerald, Iwould say, of the world.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, we've been to some other pretty places, but
this length of gorgeous clearwater is tough to come by.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, I hesitate.
I don't want too many people toknow how beautiful it is.
You can't give away.
Where exactly?
It is Exactly, but it is.
I mean, becca and I have beenblessed.
You guys have traveled theworld, we've traveled the world
and there's some incrediblelandscapes, but there's no place
where the water looks like, ifthat's here.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It's a very unique spot to be.
Certainly, most of my timespent in Yachting has been out
here.
It's a very challenging part ofthe ocean to transit.
It's very shallow, it'streacherous waters, filled with
reefs and sandbars, and not toomuch knowledge as far as data,
as far as chart input.
A lot of it's local knowledge.
(03:31):
What's changed?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
from storms.
It's a pretty unique spot totravel around in, yeah, and real
quick.
Rewinding back to how you gotinto actually yachting and being
a captain, you went toessentially a trade school, yes,
and you were what?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
what was it?
17?
Yes, for Estrella High School.
Pretty much, and definitely theyoungest in the class, I think
by a couple decades, maybe evenWow, but a very unique
experience.
I had a lot of support from myfamily.
Basically, moving across countryfrom Michigan to Florida was a
unique thing and I had fullsupport of my family and friends
and still do today to keep thatadventure going, which is a bit
(04:06):
of a struggle being away from anormal home environment.
But being a castaway in SouthFlorida wasn't too bad of an
option to have coming fromMichigan.
So in doing that it was afairly smooth transition because
it was a passion of mine, Ijust really loved to do it.
So it wasn't like I was forcedto do anything or, you know,
coerced into this terrible, youknow educational environment for
(04:29):
year in, year out.
But it was a pretty quicklittle run about a year or so
and come out with about roughlya hundred ton captain's license.
If you have the sea time,they're pretty much ready to get
you started as a first mate orsomething like that.
And boy, I think I was 18 whenI got my first captain mace job
excuse me on the motor yacht,absolutely.
How big was that?
100 foot Broward, wow, yeah,and it was a pretty unique
(04:53):
experience and the captain backthen I owe a lot to because, boy
, I was pretty green behind theears.
Even though I had some prettygood sailing experience, I knew
nothing about being on a yacht.
Yeah, and I think day number twowe were thrown into a charter
similar to something like thisand hit the ground running,
shall we say, and to this dayactually, eric and I still do
business with that yacht owner.
(05:14):
Wow, that is how kind ofinterconnected and tight-knit
our industry is and we're veryfortunate to make great
relationships even from daynumber one and still be in
contact with those guys todayand still operate their boats
and drive around and have fundinners with them sometimes.
Yeah, well, from all the wayback in 2005.
(05:34):
So probably a great lesson.
There is just the kind of thepower of relationships wow, very
much wow.
I think in this industry, evenmore than ever, a lot of these
yacht owners are prettyinterconnected.
They run in the same circles.
So I think if you do a reallygood job and show your passion
and show that you really careabout showing these families and
(05:56):
friends a great time you canreally exceed and certainly make
a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And just, you're having a great time on the high
seas with people who love thesame thing as you.
It's a pretty fun circle ofrunning.
Yeah, erica, how'd you get intoyachting?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I met Spence, I had no idea it existed at all.
I'm from small town, northCarolina, wrightsville Beach.
I was out there working freshout of college.
I think I was 22 years old whenI met him and I was bartending.
So I was in the transitionalperiod where you're out of
college, you're trying to figureout your career and I had these
(06:32):
big plans to go be a food andbeverage director at a golf
course or assistant at firstwork my way up, met him randomly
and didn't speak for monthsafter we met and then he gave me
a call and it was back andforth for six months and then,
about, I think, eight monthsinto knowing each other, I moved
(06:53):
to Florida and we startedworking, and that was 12 years
ago.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, did you end up working on one of the ships that
he was a captain of, iso?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I had never worked with any other captain, wow.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Any other captain.
It's always been with him.
We've always ran a programtogether.
At first it was just him and I.
He was a sole crew member Onthe boat, so he was all
positions.
It was a 90 footer and hetaught me the basics.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Wait a minute.
You were running a 90 foot boat.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Pretty much yeah.
So we did the cooking, thecleaning, the captain and all
that kind of stuff.
All together it's a fairlysmall boat at that point.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It was a different type of program.
Everybody's involved Lots ofgoing out to eat, cabin service
when they leave.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Certainly not the cowboy chef you have down there
Right.
I can whoop up some pretty goodstuff.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
He taught me all my early skills.
He got a job offer on a 120 andI had been working with him for
about a year at that point andhe asked the boss that was
interviewing him for the job ifhe could bring me.
And then we did a dualinterview together and went to
Cat Key for the day.
For a job interview on acigarette boat.
(08:09):
Took it all the way from Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, it was our second round in the unofficial
NASCAR Yacht Club.
And boy, those boys know how tohave a lot of fun with their
toys, that's for sure.
So our job interview wasblasting from Miami to Cat Key
and looked at each other andsaid I think this is the job
that we could take.
This seems like a pretty funcircle it's just fast forward.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, and, and that boat that we interviewed on that
we're speaking up was the boatthat actually ended up hosting
the fire fest on okay, all right, very cool, we'll talk about
that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You may were very fortunate in that some crew
members they don't get thelongevity and the wonderful
connection with some owners thatwe have, but we have had the
great fortune of making greatconnections and able to really
establish a long-termrelationship with some of these
owners.
But we've been on now.
We've been on board for sevenyears now and it's just
(09:04):
wonderful to look back on allthose years with one particular
family and a vessel and all thefond memories that we have made.
It's pretty special.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So you were how old when you had your first yacht
captain job.
So I was.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think just turning 22.
It was a 100-foot Broward, itwas called Just Right.
It was a 100-foot Broward, itwas called Just Right.
I remember the owner fondly.
He took another big risk inbringing me on as a captain.
I remember it was such a bigrisk.
The insurance companies had tohave a couple of my friend
captains go out and prove andwrite to the insurance company
(09:39):
and say yes, yes he may be veryyoung, but he can drive a boat.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Describe to people who maybe don't have much
experience with boats orcertainly nothing with like a
yacht Like it is an overwhelmingamount of responsibility.
I did.
I told you I did a CaptainCatamaran class at Fort
Lauderdale, I don't know five,six years ago.
I had a great time and what Ilearned from that?
The biggest thing I learned isI will never be the captain of a
(10:06):
catamaran like.
The amount of responsibility,especially if you're talking
about taking your family, isjust overwhelming.
And here you're, 22 years old.
I look like a child.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I I look like a child .
I I hope I wasn't acting likeone.
I think I was thrust into theright environment, but uh,
certainly it was very unique.
It was a challenge I was readyto accept, but a challenge
nonetheless.
But as I said, I think at avery young age I was just kind
of under the discipline of beingready and groomed to operate a
(10:37):
boat and be able to guide peopleinto great adventures.
Certainly, the honed inleadership and organizational
skills are still coming along,but being able to naturally
guide people on a vessel andnaturally have a knack for
safety and operation, I thinkcame at a very young age, so
that wasn't too much of anundertaking.
(10:58):
Certainly, the looks of theguests and the owners when they
came on and I said, hi, I'mCaptain Spence, yeah, those were
the unique things to get over.
They came on and I said, hi,I'm Captain Spence, yeah, those
were the unique things to getover.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
They looked at me cross-eyed at times I thought,
um, I look back at our firstpicture together as a couple was
a captain and a chief student.
I think how do these peopleland in the airport and say, yes
, I'm coming with you guys for aweek, like with their family?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
it was pretty um, um, certainly our, our friends in
the outing industry joke about.
You know I was probably one ofthe younger ones on that size
vessel.
It was certainly a big boat.
You're talking a crew of fouror five at that point, somewhere
around the 100, 120-ton mark,20 feet wide.
You know, two big monsterpropellers down there Certainly
(11:44):
a lot of vessel to bemaneuvering around and that's
kind of the easy part of it aswell, as the operation of the
boat is where it really comesinto play.
It has to be fluid, managingthe crew and all the systems.
How did you develop?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
the leadership skills as a 22-year-old.
Obviously, the crew you'reworking with is probably, some
of them, quite a bit older thanyou, maybe a couple decades.
Yes, yes, generally that can bea challenging situation.
How do you learn the leadershipit takes?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know it's funny enough.
There's, of course, many greatpodcasts we could talk about
that but one of the yes Time isnumber one.
One of the positions I got putinto was being in a charter boat
captain.
I got to be face-to-face withsome very unique people in very
large leadership roles A weekout at sea.
(12:32):
You get pretty intimate withthese people or at least
sometimes we do.
I started to ask the rightquestions.
I'm sitting here with some ofthese titans of industry
sometimes titans of great familymen, with some of these titans
of industry, sometimes titans ofgreat family men, picking up
all these examples from life,from these wonderful clients
that I've had, whether it beowners or charter clients, and
being able to listen to thempick up their traits.
(12:55):
One of the unique ones wasCoach Ron Rivera.
At the time he was from theCarolina Panthers.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, he's a very good leader, and he's a very
good leader.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And boy, we would just spitball hour after hour
about leadership skills.
He would listen to my radiocalls and listen to the response
of other crew members and askme you know how I digested that?
And then give his playback onhow he interpreted from coach
(13:24):
and player on the field.
And those examples from thattrip in particular lent a lot of
examples, for, you know,calmness under pressure.
The gridiron brings a lot ofpressure, a lot of anxiety, a
lot of emotions and so canyawning at times.
So those are very good examplesand I was very fortunate from
that and many others to kind ofpick and pull each one of these
(13:44):
unique characters out of eachone of my owners and or charter
guests.
It was very helpful.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, well, first of all, for anyone who's owned a
boat you know they have thoset-shirts, honey, I'm sorry for
everything I said when we wereboating, like I mean, we had a
boat for about two years and Ican totally relate.
And then you, you know, youmultiply that times four and
crew and passengers and yourwife is on board.
Yes, yes, exactly, and you're,you know, in charge of her.
(14:10):
You know as far as, like, thechain of command goes.
So I can only imagine.
And then the other thing youmentioned, and I want to talk
more about this, but, like in mybook, I talk about running with
lions and because of the nicheof people that own yachts and,
as a general rule, arechartering yachts like your
(14:31):
entire career has been withpeople that are lions, I mean,
maybe their relationships aren'tas good.
You know, they might not all belions when it comes to family,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But, when you're talking about leadership and
business.
That's all.
You've been around pretty much,yeah.
So that's an interesting likeit's been a great, it's been a
great fortune of us.
Um, we have got to see sometimesthe the backside of some of
these great fortunes.
Um, we, we may see a headlineor two about some of our guests
and then you see them in reallife and you know who they are
and you, you get to see that.
You know, sometimes a businessheadline maybe isn't a
personality, sometimes it mightbe vice versa, but we have been
(15:11):
very fortunate to see, you know,the true characters of our
clients and our owners and tosee that sometimes, behind a
very strong business titan is avery strong businessman, a very
passionate man, a veryfaith-driven man.
A lot of times we see thoseconnections.
Sometimes, when we don't seethose connections, we see the
friend that's maybe the tagalong that hasn't quite hit that
(15:33):
echelon yet, and we see some ofthose missing links in their
personality.
But when you see that thefamily, the compassion, the
faith all combined, you start tosee the titans of industry.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Lots of opportunity for powerful conversation yeah,
lots of opportunity yeah, Ibelieve it.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Um, one of the things that character traits that I
see in both of you is passion,um, and it's something that I've
kind of really, uh, honed in onin my own life recently.
But just talk like I mean your,this is the the fourth trip
we've taken, it's the third crewthat we've been with and by far
you two and your crew have themost passion.
(16:11):
Just talk about how that playsa role in what you do and really
the quality of service you guysjust deliver to your clients.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, I think that number one.
I'm very fortunate to have sucha great partner that brings out
, you know, a better side andfills in the blanks as well here
and there.
And also to the other crewmembers.
I'm very fortunate to have thecrew I have around me as well.
As you know, from a gueststandpoint, the crew is the most
important part really of theoperation of the vessel and how
(16:43):
your trip goes and, from acaptain's standpoint, how my
week goes.
So if we have a crew that'sclicking, we're firing all eight
, we're enthusiastic, we'reenergized.
You really see that in the tripwhen you have just that one
missing link, you feel that onemissing link.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
It ruins it right away.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So I must say I've been very lucky.
So I must say I've been verylucky.
And Erica also has really comea long way in her crew
leadership and helping guidethem in the yeah, I totally see
that.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Well said, how do you find people with passion?
Because one of the things I'velearned is that people can
present passion in an interview,but then you know, then you see
their three months is theexpression.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
To the teeth okay, to the teeth it's trial and error.
We've we've been with a lot ofreally good crew in our career,
really good people that havegrown and we still communicate
with.
We've been around a lot ofdifferent individuals.
We get the opportunity to seeall types of personalities, from
(17:48):
top to bottom, and you'reforced to live together and me
being the mom of the boat, Iabsorb a lot of it before it
gets filtered to him.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Let's face it, happy captain is a happy boat.
We just it's taken time tobuild what we've built.
We're pretty happy with what wehave right now.
You say passion.
In your book you say surroundyourself around people that push
you forward upstream, notdownstream.
(18:16):
So I feel like our passion,even if we have a crew member
that lacks a little bit, wespill enough over that by time.
Certain amount of time with us,they grow in their passion,
start ripping off on where theydidn't like it.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It's contagious.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
If it doesn't happen, like I said, roughly that three
month mark then we just carryon and try and plug in another
piece and see if it fits.
Yeah, and that's where we're atnow.
We've been together for 12years running this program and
we are finally at a space wheremost of our crew is completely
(18:55):
cohesive, a family on the samepage.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We're very lucky.
Yeah, yeah, talk about.
What are some of the?
How do I put this?
What are the types of peoplewho own a yacht?
Like?
What do they do?
Oh it ranges.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We have seen all types.
We have seen the guy that makesthe toilet paper rolls, the
little cardboard inserts.
He has a pretty nice littleyacht.
If you think about how many ofthose are produced on a daily
basis that's quite a few of them.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
We had a guy that created a seed that grows lumber
straight and fast throughagricultural program and because
of that he is one of thelargest suppliers of lumber on
the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Wow, those trees go faster and a little bit
straighter, and so it's morehighly valued wood.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
We've had sports players.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sports players.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
We've had people that are Rap artists Yep, yep, Charu
, Ashanti models.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We've had everything.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
CEOs of companies.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And sometimes we have had families, such as the
charter guests, who have savedup.
You know, maybe they've, youknow, dreamed about this for a
couple decades.
And you know, the, the two orthree brothers got together, the
two or three friends gottogether, they saved and saved,
and boy, when they, when theyget off the boat and we show
them their charter video, thereare tears streaming down their
(20:20):
face.
They are just blown away,expectations met and exceeded.
You know, and you can just seeit, they're overjoyed and we we
know for a fact that that joywill spill over for generations
for them.
They're going to tell theirgrandkids about it.
They're going to show thatvideo to their, you know, their
kids and it's.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
It's really special memories for people.
Yeah like imagine how you wantyour core memory right right
that's how you deliver it toyour guests, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And that being said, you know you can find those
memories.
People want those memories.
So you see all walks of lifetrying to get out here and do it
and we have seen people makefortunes from the most unique
things, Even some of our closefriends.
They are, you know, very largeearth movers.
You know it's amazing whatdifferent industries make
(21:04):
certain types.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I think I remember you guys telling me about the
toilet paper roll guy last tripand what.
What that just reminds me isthat there are so many different
ways to make a living and toreally make a fortune that the
American dream is absolutelystill alive.
Yes, 100%.
You don't have to come up with.
(21:27):
Like it doesn't have to betechnology, it could be
something like all you have todo is solve people's problems
Purposeful, Exactly, you canmake a fortune and be invested
in your product, be involved.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Even these Titans that we see, these are their
vacation moments, these aretheir moments away from the job,
but you still see, every oncein a while they pop on the
computer, maybe send an email ortwo.
We try our best not to let themdo it, but hey, let's face it,
these guys are still in business.
So they are still kind of inmind and in gear.
(22:00):
And even when we're talkingabout fun conversations about
this, that or different islands,you may say a little something
and in gear.
And even when we're talkingabout fun conversations about
this, that are different islands, you may say a little something
.
You see their ears perking.
I'm gonna say oh, what's thatover there?
You said what?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
and they're always thinking about the next
investment or the next littlething they can pull out of their
sleeve people that are notproduct creators.
Uh, a good guess that we hadwas uh, captain sully the plane,
yeah, and we had a passengerfrom that plane and it changed
his whole life.
He quit his nine to five afterthat, adopted two teenage
(22:31):
children and became amotivational speaker Very
successful, wow, interestingyeah.
Interesting and so products, notalways you know, sometimes life
experiences or just opinions orthings you've gone through in
your own life, and sharing thatstory creates so much for other
people.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's great.
And you talked about familiessaving up.
I can tell you that, like, ifwe could only take, if we could
take a vacation a year, doanything else or save up and do
one of these every 10 years, wewould pick this.
Like we wouldn't have to talkto the kids, like, without a
doubt, yeah, everyone would belike, oh, we'll, we'll take, uh,
a yacht trip once every 10years.
(23:08):
I mean, hold off on this.
That.
Yeah, it is like it combinesand especially you guys do an
unbelievable job of combiningeverything.
I mean mean you're capturingphotos, you're capturing video,
you're creating theseunbelievable experiences.
We have access to jet skis, toboats.
I mean we're on private islands, like literally every island or
every beach we were on, we wereon the water, on the water, the
(23:28):
hulkous yeah, I mean it's justabsolutely unbelievable.
Like, you compare this toreally the best resort in the
world.
It's a resort or any type ofyou know cruise ship or anything
there's no comparison, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We are really fortunate to show families such
an amazing time and we feel itand it brings out the best in us
too.
When we see the energized looksin the family, when we see the
love between the father anddaughter and the special moments
, it amps us up, it gets usgoing to the next level.
It's like, oh you know, whatcan we do next to make that very
(24:04):
next special moment?
It brings up the best in us andI think that's a great
characteristic also of a truecruising yachtsman is feeling
the compassion of those familymoments or friends moments and
making them even special, evenmore special than they could be
the next day, which can be achallenge Spence.
How can you get better thantoday?
(24:24):
It's like, well, we've got fivemore days to go.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I would say one of Spencer's top qualities, other
than being hands down, the bestboat driver hands down is
adventure, and it doesn't stopthe adventure.
Doesn't matter how tired he is.
He'd be missing half of his legand he's still going to create
something great for the next day.
It's never going to slow down.
Yeah, that's a key factor abouta captain.
You hear so many captains.
(24:48):
They just sit in the helm.
They call helm captain, yeah,coffee captains, um, and they
just sit and they get thedemands on the radio.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That's two each day, um, but spence is always going
to be hands-on till he's 70years old and getting great I
love being out there in thewater no, you I mean, that was
one of the things that we allnoticed is that with you, like,
you take a personal pleasure increating experiences for your
(25:17):
guests, and you're out theremost of the time.
I mean, obviously sometimesyou've got work to do and you
send the crew, but the crew youknow, carries on.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I'm so lucky.
They fill in the void.
And that's a great thing abouta crew is, if you know, hey, if
I can rely on those guys to dothe job, and then some, then I'm
a lucky guy.
It's big shoes to fill Fill inmy shoes, of course, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
What are for?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
both of you either the one or two most challenging
or biggest downsides to thecareer field you're in.
You want to go first, all right.
Well, I would think that thebiggest challenge or downside,
or probably combined, is tryingto find that time for your
personal family.
As I said earlier, you know mypassion is for yachting and that
becomes almost a lifestyle.
This couldn't, this can be ajob, but you see the people who
(26:08):
make it a job and you see thepeople who make it a lifestyle
and making a lifestyle you seethe you know, full-on attitude
that you get from us and withthat, takes a little sacrifice
on the home front and and thatis one of the biggest sacrifice
we have to make and be on thehigh seas, much like any kind of
military lifestyle that youlike to back in your day when
you served, um, it is.
(26:29):
It is very hard to be away fromhome, um, you like to.
We like family time.
I'm a family guy.
I I wouldn't be here todaywithout the love and support of
my family.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
We have a very involved family.
As a matter of fact, my sideand his side are friends.
They hang out, they communicate.
My dad and his dad communicatealmost every day.
So our immediate family is very, very close.
So it's tough for us to be awayand miss those special moments.
(26:58):
But it is a sacrifice that wedo have to make and I have had
the full support of my family tomake that sacrifice from day
one.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Even as a teenager leaving home at a young age and
moving out of Florida, I had thefull support to do that.
Love, care, they're alwaysthere for me and I know that and
that's what keeps me able to goon.
I think, care, you know they'realways there for me, I know
that and that's what keeps meable to go on.
I think if, maybe, if thefamily member was a bit jaded or
something like that, it wouldbe tough to be out here, you
would feel even more homesick tobe back with your family if
they were not so supportive.
(27:26):
So I I'm so blessed in thatthat I have great support both
from family and friends and andthe in-laws as well, we have a
lot of of in-laws, a lot.
It's special.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It makes it easier.
You guys are in a unique spotbecause you're on the same boat
the rest of the crew, they havespouses and significant others
that they see what once a month.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Once a month, I would say.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And sometimes you get lucky at that.
Sometimes it might be once aseason, once every three months.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
If you're on a busy boat.
There's positives and negatives.
I mean, as you see, we weretogether.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Yeah.
All the time yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Every day, every day together, which is something we
remind each other constantly.
We're beyond blessed.
There's not very many couplesWe've gone to a marriage
counselor, which everybodyshould take their time to do
that for their relationship tomake it healthy.
And we have a healthyrelationship.
We went just to keep it thatway.
She looked at us and said yourbiggest problem is you spend too
(28:21):
much time.
Yes, which we are fine with.
We are totally fine with it.
We take a vacation separatefrom each other once a year and
that is it?
We yearn for each other's timeand space together.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
it's yeah, we're very , we're very fortunate lucky um,
if it wasn't that way, being apart and having a wife ashore,
or vice versa, having yourhusband ashore, um, and add on
top of that the pressure of kids, yeah, um, it can be very
taxing on a relationship, then,even more so than a loving
parent.
You need a loving wife toreally understand what you're
(29:00):
going through out here.
And let's face it, sometimesthey might send home a picture
of a really cool sandbar,awesome beach set up, and the
ones at home are really justthinking, oh shucks, you know
you're having such a blast outthere, but it is a job we are
working, um, it is paradise.
It's probably the best cubicleout there, for sure, um, but to
have the love and support of ofthe shoreside party is is really
(29:22):
important.
It's not easy, um, and it's noteasy for the people ashore
either.
You know we're taking our lovedones away from home.
Um, I I see firsthand from acrew member when there's a
little home issues going on.
I try to get my best to getthat person back home and I am
very aware of the strain it putson a relationship and a person
(29:44):
to be away from a normal nine tofive relationship at home.
This is a very unique lifestylefor sure.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Uncommon freedom is a game changer, not only for the
focused leader, but also for therudderless sojourner seeking
direction.
When Kevin talks, I listen, Ilean in and always leave a
better man.
As the wisdom of Proverbs 3.13states, happy is the man who
finds wisdom and the man whogains understanding.
(30:12):
I want to warn you in advanceto prepare your spirit for a
heart and mind shift as you readthis book.
I have learned that convictioncomes when the heart is open to
change.
As I read this book, I wasmoved on several occasions to
evaluate my personal life andmake course corrections.
This isn't just a book.
It's a manual for creatinggodly leaders who we desperately
(30:36):
need today and especially asour children walk the earth in,
whatever it looks like 10, 20,30 years from now.
Who knows that?
We need leaders who embodythese things?
Because not only do we needpeople who are healthy and
wealthy and have the right heart, but we need people who know
(30:58):
where the spirit of the Lord is,there is freedom.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
What is the best part of what you do?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Being together.
Oh really, I never saw thiscoming when I first met.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Eric, I actually joke about.
I sat down with her and afterour relationship had gone, I
said honey, I have to admit I'malready married to that.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
And I said either I join you or I'm out.
I come from a military family soI know what it's like to have
the home and then the nine.
Yeah, I always told myself if Imarry a guy, first and foremost
it is not going to be somebodyin the military, because I want
to be in my relationship.
And then I went and married amerchant mariner, which
basically the same go me.
But I feel beyond lucky.
(31:50):
Like he said, our family, ourfriends, each other, we, I hold
very close the relationship wehave.
It's it's rare.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
It's really special to be doing this together.
Um, I, since I was a younglittle boy, one of those little
you know, second grade littlecourt classes you take, write
down what you want to be, andwhen you grow up, I wrote down I
want to find my, my wife, onthe beach and travel the ocean.
And I've executed it and I'mjust so thrilled.
It is really special.
(32:21):
We get to look out and look atthese beautiful sceneries
together, hand in hand.
Yeah, it's so amazing and knowthat our hard work has paid off.
It has not been easy.
We have had our ups and downs.
We have tested each other.
We have been easy.
We have.
We have had our ups and downs.
We have tested each other.
We have, you know, we're stuckin a very small space, together,
working out our differences andand inter marriage conflicts
(32:43):
and job conflicts, all togetherin a space smaller than this
room we're in right now keep itunder wraps you know you're mom
and dad of the ship, so yourcrew is as happy as we are.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
You know, we're not happy, they're not happy.
Same for guests.
It's immediately apparent whensomething is going wrong, or in
between just any other crewmember.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, yeah, we talked about one experience we had
where there was tension amongthe crew and it made it very
awkward for us as the guests.
So, uh, you guys, whether, likeas far as we're concerned,
you're always happy so we are asthe crew.
so you may, you may not be, butas far as we're concerned you
are um.
(33:25):
All right, let's talk aboutfire fest.
So when I heard about fire fest, my brother told me about it
and I was like there's no way,I'd never heard of it.
And he told me and I went up,found the documentary on Netflix
and I was just like my jaw wasdropped the entire time because
I could not believe how thething went down.
And then we're cruising withyou last year and somehow we're
(33:49):
like, oh, firefest.
And you're like, oh yeah, I wasthe captain, we were the crew
for that ship.
Talk about how that came downand what that was like well, we
might do a whole nother episodeon this.
This is go ahead, read thescientist version, that's right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
The, the, the eclipse version.
So it was a very uniquescenario.
As we mentioned the, the firstboat that we kind of worked on
together, 120 foot broward,beautiful boat was a
family-owned boat, multipleowners the two brothers, a
couple wives involved and we hada trip on board.
We were in Miami at theinfamous Art Basel and we were
told hey, get the guests off theboat, it's 10, 11 o'clock
(34:29):
tonight, put them in a hotel.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Put them in a hotel.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
We got to drop lines and beeline it to the Bahamas
(34:59):
no-transcript or Eminem forothers.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
It was very.
They were very popular hip-hopartists.
You were like what?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, and still are, still are, and so we were fired
up.
Fire it up, you're ready to go.
And then there's this thirdelement of this uh, gentleman by
the name of billy who wastrying to do this fire festival,
and he had this fire app andall this unique stuff.
So the box is very intriguing.
(35:26):
I thought this was going to bethe next best thing, maybe the
new, uh, bahama version ofcoachella it.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
It could have been amazing.
It really could have, and thedraw for the owner of the boat
was just like my boat is kind ofthe centerpiece of this right.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
It's publicity.
At the time it was a great idea.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
It was brilliant up until the second festival the
fiasco.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
It was cutting edge, it was moving in a different
direction for music and forconcerts and music festivals.
Like I said, I asked y'all rulewhy bahamas?
And it was to create a safespace for artists that are of
r&b, hip-hop, um, and somethingthat's a little more off the
(36:11):
charts and exotic, and that is agreat idea, but in the Bahamas,
you need lots of time toexecute anything.
Yeah, bahamas, time is aserious right, it's I don't know
.
Yeah, and six months was notenough for conception time.
They thought about it and sixmonths later wanted to execute
(36:33):
it.
You need a two to three years.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Okay, so you're, you're, you're now chartered to
host Ja Rule and Ashanti andthis entire.
For people who've seen at leastthe Netflix video I haven't
seen the Hulu version, but likeso I've seen the book I'm going
to have to go back and watch itagain and be like holy smokes
he's in the Hulu one Basicallylike hosting a film production
yes, he's in the movie.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Basically like hosting a film production.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
They are shooting their marketing material for
this very exclusive high endconcert on a boat, which is
where all the footage for thedocumentary that you watched,
all that footage of him sittingin the dining room making
decisions all that was what wasfilmed that week while we were
on charter.
That's what created thedocumentary.
Without that film andbackground footage, the
(37:18):
documentary would have neverbeen made.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And it also created all the hype for all the
soon-to-be-disappointedattendees.
So that's what we call the realfestival.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, we were at the real festival then, and then,
six months later, we were at thefiasco festival.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
So they did a small version with real music artists.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Yeah, lots of famous celebrities came in all the.
Victoria's Secret models.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
I think even Kardashians were there.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
I think.
I don't know exactly.
I don't want to put anybody'sattendance that wasn't there.
But if you do research therewas quite a few big names and
when they first came into town,ja Rule and Ashanti were
performing at a concert forbenefit.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Yeah, Hurricane Relief Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
For.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Hurricane Relief funds and then after that
concert, because they tookfootage of a concert going on,
to create the promotional video.
Yes, after that concert, theycame to the Outer Islands to
film the experience that you'regoing to have.
They've got footage from aconcert.
You're going to go there.
That's the main purpose, buthere are little clips and
(38:21):
snippets of what your experienceis going to be during that ride
the jet ski.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
So they cut it together.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, the full promotional video Okay, a nice
villa on the beach.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So we did island hopping and anchoring, much like
we do, with you guys Stayingaround Normans for the most part
, because that's where it wasall supposed to go, down Pablo
Mascar's Island all that jazz.
Right and playing, so any boatrelated thing, any jet skiing,
anything with a yacht.
That was us that week.
(38:51):
It was eight guests, 12 to 14film crew and then hair and
makeup for six to eight models,so roughly 40 something people
during the day On a 120 foot.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
This place was crawling.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah, of course, they were on shore as well.
They had accommodations ashore,so during the day they would
come out for a couple hours.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
We would film and we would have just chaos.
It was chaos, controlled chaos,but chaos nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
It was pretty wild.
Sleeping was just Ja Rule andAshanti, which are best friends.
Ja Rule has been married to hiswife.
They've been dating since likefirst grade, second grade, very
lovely person.
Ja Rule and Ashanti are justfriends.
She brought her two cousins andthen there was the manager
Grant Grant is his name, billyMcFarland's manager and one
(39:44):
other production guy and theywere the eight guests in the
cabins.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Okay, when did you see?
Did you see any red flags?
Speaker 3 (39:50):
as far as From day one, when we got the phone call,
we had no preference sheets andno deposit and we were
provisioning for celebrities.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
That was a little bit unique.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And plenty of chat sheets and no deposit, and we
were provisioning forcelebrities a little bit unique.
Okay, the money, the moneyhasn't been brought up front,
but this guy's moving forwardvery fast.
And now, of course, after wesee the documentaries and we
know what happened, now it makessense now it all makes sense.
But at the time there was alsoon on our end, there was a lot
of you know kind of excitementto be part of this.
Yeah, we, we were all kind offooled as well, yeah, and we
were enthralled by his energy,enthralled by his motivation and
(40:24):
how fast things are going.
Like, wow, this guy just makesthings happen.
It is strange, it'll becharismatic yes, um, yeah, um
and and so um.
Fortunately, in the end theexpenses did come in, but yeah,
we were out as well.
We were the ones that got hook,line and sink into the
(40:45):
algorithm of his really uniqueidea.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
At the very end it came to fruition with finances,
but you know how important apreference sheet is.
It's what defines your trip?
Also, a chef.
A chef gets to cook you knowfive-star meals for you and
serve it to you.
None of that existed.
It was buffet the whole time.
They just had us guess.
When we went to the grocerystore, we piled up as much as we
(41:11):
could, but at times we had 30people on board eating and
snacking, so it was just chaosall the time.
And snacking, so it was justchaos all the time.
Information given and changedin like one sentence.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Alright, let's fast forward.
You did the promo and thenyou're on scene again for what's
supposed to be the real event.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
This is now six months later.
Yeah, so we both knew afterthat week, in six months, this
is not gonna be real.
We've been to music festivals.
We know what it entails, evenas a guest.
We know what Bahamas is like.
But we get tickets.
The crew gets free ticketsbecause they spent a whole week
(41:51):
with us.
Yeah, and as we stated earlier,we get connected with our
people.
We were quite connected withthem.
At the end of the week we getto go to the fake festival and
we get there three days earlybecause of weather and all that.
I don't know if you remember onthe documentary it, monsoon
rained the day before, so we hadto get there before that storm
cell was coming in.
(42:12):
So we got there Wednesday.
Everybody was coming in onFriday and being there Wednesday
.
We got to meet up with backwith all the production people
and they're like oh, erica,spence, ocean drive, come on, um
, let us show you what we'redoing and you can't see from the
marina.
It's just outside the gates ofwhere they took everyone and it.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
This is that great, great exuma okay, um so the
location changed In less thansix months.
They went from Norma's Key toGreat Exuma, Great Exuma.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
And we were there because our boss and crew got
tickets.
And one of the packages for aguest is you can have a yacht as
your accommodations for theweek, and that always remained
from the get-go.
Okay, you pay this exorbitantamount for your ticket, you get
a yacht and a crew for the week,and that always remained from
the get-go.
Okay, um, you pay thisexorbitant amount for your
ticket, you get a yacht and acrew for the week as well.
Those people that paid forthose tickets still got that
(43:06):
week.
That week still happened.
The yachts just leaved and hada different itinerary.
Wow, so they still got thoseaccommodations.
Um, our boss never came inbecause we got the boat out.
We relocated it and carried onwith our program.
Yeah, um, but when we werethere in the marina, you can't
see over the hill what has gonedown.
(43:29):
So they load us all in the golfcart.
They're like we can't wait toshow you.
They take us to the front gateand they're like, oh, this is,
this is our crew, let us in.
So we had no passes, nothing.
We never physically got tickets, okay, like other people.
Yeah, um, and then we crossedthe hill in the golf cart and we
see all the fema tents and thestage in the back and spence,
(43:50):
and I look at each other andwe're like oh no, because
monsoon rain is coming tomorrowyeah, so the, the organizers
literally are telling you you'regoing to be blown away when you
see this, and yet you cross thehill and it's set up with FEMA
techs and Port-A-Johns.
When I reflect on the statements, I'm like were they saying
(44:12):
we're going to be blown awaybecause this is a mess, yeah, or
look what we've done.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
It almost sounds like an Emperor's New Clothes type
of scenario where they're like,if they just keep telling you
it's amazing, you're going tothink it's amazing, that's
exactly how Billy works and Ididn't personally get to deal
with him Spence did, thank God Ididn't have to.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
I dealt with his assistant or his manager, grant,
who was a very young guy.
They just feed it to you.
It's the like they try to usethe power of coercion and mind
bending and all that.
They feed it, they feed it theystuff it down your throat.
This is amazing.
It's going to be amazing.
You guys are if they say itenough, you'll believe it yeah
yeah, and that's exactly how Iguess it was for people that
(44:56):
bought tickets.
Social media, you know it wason their scroll, it kept popping
up.
The promotional video turned outvery nice Well of course,
because they had a beautifulweek on our yacht.
But I would have bought ticketsif I wouldn't have known.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
If you didn't have a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yes, and watching it.
It was heartbreaking.
We wanted this for the musicindustry.
Yeah, we wanted this for thebahamas.
There was so much to gain if ithad been delivered or executed
appropriately.
Unfortunately, yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
So for you guys, you're here and you can tell
that it's not going to go well,it's not going well.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Um, we see the fema tents.
So it's not just the FEMA tents, it's everything inside.
Everything was shipped in viaAmazon.
So the boxes that everythingcame in is in a mountain on two
different ends of the property.
The mattresses are ones thatyou get in the mail and they're
all vacuum sealed and you letthem go and they're on a
(45:55):
cardboard pedestal and thenthere is like cardboard side
tables in the FEMA tent to makeit nice, you know oh my goodness
um, but when that storm camethrough the next day, the FEMA
tents are just tarps over frames.
Yeah, it was disaster, it was amass cleanup situation.
(46:16):
How can we make this worsesituation better?
After it just got dumped on byrain like flooded tents, tarp
material all over the place,some tents didn't even have
their turf material on itanymore and guests are coming
tomorrow.
Oh my goodness.
And we're like I don't know howthey're gonna pull this off,
but we're gonna watch it.
(46:37):
Go't know how they're going topull this off, but we're going
to watch it go down.
So Thursday, you know at anypoint that we wanted to go into
the grounds.
We were allowed to.
So we got in there before thefirst bus came and we did a walk
around and went all the way tothe stage, went to the food
tents, saw the cheese sandwichand Spence and I look and we're
like this is about to be reallybad.
There's no water, there's justalcohol.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
And to distract.
Have you ever seen the Junkanoobands that the Bahamas do with
their dress-up and the loud bandthat they always play?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
I've never seen one, but I know what you're talking
about.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
So they have that going near the stage, I guess,
to kind of distract from what'shappening, like flashbang.
And then we see the first buscome in, and when I say bus,
it's not a charter bus with thecomfy seats and the tv, it's not
even a fancy school bus withthe tinted windows.
It's like run down the bus thatyou get out of the junkyard to
turn into an rv kind ofsituation, and they come in and
(47:34):
they're all hanging first groupof people, they're all hanging
out the windows, and then then,in two spots of the property,
they have these containers thatthey are emptying everybody's
luggage out of.
And, mind you, these peoplepaid, like bare minimum, three
grand, five grand for a ticket.
So these luggages are not, youknow, some random bag.
(47:56):
It's Gucci, prada, tumi,people's DJ boards, film gear.
You know people are.
It's a music festival.
People bring a lot of stuff tomusic festivals and they're just
throwing it out of the back ofthe trailer into a pile and the
pile is, like you know, reallytall and I could have just been
like yep that's my bag, oh, thatturntable, yeah, that's fine.
(48:20):
There was nobody there checkinglike driver's license and labels
nothing, wow, referral.
And then it just got worse.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
It was going to get ugly.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Well, actually, vice versa, the boss at the time was
fairly plugged in, younggentleman following the social
media accounts and differentthings of that nature, and he
called me about five or six inthe morning.
I said you got to get up andget out of there.
This fire fest is a bust.
And we had a few signs of thatcoming, but it wasn't really
official, as, as eric and mayhave went to, you know, we were
(48:51):
still hearing it.
We're pushing ahead.
And then the uh, infamousstyrofoam container with the
bread and cheese image came out.
I think it was Good MorningAmerica or something like that
was breaking it.
Oh wow, oh boy, it was over.
And so we were basicallyconcerned that some of these
concert goers may have made thecorrelation between this vessel
(49:13):
and maybe the owner of theconcert and the production
coordinator of the concert.
Maybe they would come to theboat looking for food and water.
I mean, we were talking aboutpeople that are now kind of
needing basic necessities.
Yeah, they forget the luxurystuff.
They're looking for water andjust some basic food and some
shelter.
Um, and so we tried to hide outof there right away.
(49:34):
It's a very unique place to bein, down at emerald key not the
easiest inlet to get in and outof, so we basically paraded all
the yachts out of there and ranup to Staniel Key, dropped the
hook and had our own littleimpromptu, little fun fest.
It was an absolute disaster onall accounts and you guys may
(49:55):
have touched on.
The hardest hit was the workingclass people out there, the
Bahamian people down at GreatExuma.
And even up here in Staniel Keyand in Norman's Key.
You know one of our greatadventure guides here, brad Boy
and Wade Nixon.
They also got suckered into it.
They helped supply boats anddifferent things and those are
(50:17):
the people that really need it.
You know, extra 20, 100 buckscan go a long way and when
they're, when they're out there,gasoline of their boat or
whatever it may be for the nextday or so, that herd service.
So it was, uh, it was reallyterrible.
You know the fact that we gotpaid was, you know, a small
pittance compared to but reallythe the grander scheme of things
.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yeah, it's definitely a very, very sad, yeah Kind of
a Ponzi scheme, I guess Totally.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
And he's starting another one in the Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
Yeah, so you guys are signing up for that, right,
yeah, I thought we'd put ourboat forward right away.
Yeah, we're just going todonate Right Our time, forget
the money we're just going tosend it right down All right it.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
In fact.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
Boss if you're seeing this.
We're headed down to Firefest.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
I think it was a great life experience.
It's a fun story.
I know there's lots of loss andsadness connected, even for us.
Like I said, we wanted this sobad to be successful for the
Bahamas.
But on the bright side, maybeit's a blessing in disguise
Because, like you said, thisplace is coveted, it's special
(51:19):
and that would have just openedthe door for everybody.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
Yeah, Sure, A little quieter for the rest of us.
We really appreciate it.
Yes, we sure do.
Awesome.
Well, hey guys, thank you foryour time.
This was fun.
Thank you for an amazing weekAgain.
Um, we, I mean this trip.
If we don't think about itevery day, we at least talk
about it every week.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
I know, I know that's a whole different conversation.
So we really believe thatEpisode two yeah, I mean the
fact that we're here is anabsolute miracle.
I mean it took so much to makeit happen.
But we do appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
We are so happy but we do appreciate you.
We are so happy, as we talkedabout the uniqueness of our
lifestyle, things can change andownership of a vessel can
change and that can changereally the whole deal, and I'm
so happy we got to put thattogether in reading your book
and in reading about youruncommon path and your
(52:16):
leadership and all that.
It really goes a long way forus and and you're one of- our
people.
Speaker 3 (52:22):
That has taught us big conversations and great
guidance and leadership.
You're an excellent father, oh,excellent a great wife.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Yes, so yeah, very, very lucky if there could be an
example that we look for inclients, as you say, to pick
things from.
Those are things that we takefrom you and your group.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
Are is your very special bond to your family and
and to be a part of it is justso special.
That's cool, awesome, I think.
I think we're just as fortunate.
Well, hey guys, thanks forwatching.
I hope you're inspired,encouraged, and if people want
to do a trip, what's the bestway for?
Speaker 2 (52:56):
them to.
Well, you can email captainspence.
We'll put the link in there foryou guys to come check us out.
Our adventures are numerous andunknown in the future, but
please come, follow us and ouradventures.
We'd love to send out a littleblast.
Let you know where you can findus on our next adventure yeah,
I'll put that contact info inthe show notes.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
Thanks for watching, guys, and have a great day.
All right, friends, pleasesubscribe to the podcast for
more insights on blendingentrepreneurship and the
entrepreneurial mindset withintentional living.
You can follow us on socialmedia.
We are on Instagram, primarily,and Facebook, and you're going
(53:41):
to find daily tips andinspiration from us there.
You'll also find us on YouTubelots of shorts as well as our
video podcast.
And then please, if you enjoythis podcast, please leave us a
five-star review and share us,and remember to subscribe on
YouTube as well as whateverpodcast platform you're
listening to us on.
Well, hey everyone, welcome to the Uncommon Freedom
Show.
Today is the most uniquesetting we've ever had and well,
hopefully not I'll ever have,because I hope to be back.
But today we are aboard theChanson, so if you get seasick
and you're watching, you mightwant to switch to the audible
version or audio version.
We are aboard, we're in the skylounge of the Chanson yacht and
(00:28):
with Captain Spencer Gallagherand his lovely wife Erica hey
guys, welcome to the show.
It's a pleasure to be here,it's awesome to have you both,
and of course, we're not mic'dup, so you're going to have to
turn up the volume a little bit.
But I wanted to first of alljust kind of interview this
amazing couple because we've hadthis is our second epic
vacation.
They're absolutely amazing andlearn a little bit about how you
(01:01):
got into yachting, what it'slike, what it's like working as
a couple aboard very tightquarters.
I'm sure that's quite aninteresting experience.
And then we also have some coolstuff to talk about.
I'll just tease it For those ofyou who have ever heard of Fyre
Fest.
You're looking at the couplethat actually was in charge of
the yacht where they did all thepromotional videos.
So it's just a crazycoincidence.
(01:22):
Quite an adventure that was.
Yeah, quite an adventure.
So Cat Spence.
First of all, how did you getinto yachting?
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Well, I must say I was very fortunate being raised
in a water-loving family.
Multiple generations,grandfathers, uncles, my parents
, everyone I knew pretty muchhad a boat on the Great Lakes.
Certainly we tried to get everylittle bit we could out of
those Michigan summers, whichare not long.
As you know, being from Ohio,we can try what we can to get
(01:49):
what we can out of a season.
But we certainly did enjoy thatand I found a passion in
sailing and being on the water.
We were very fortunate also tobe going down to Florida and
traveling down there and seeingall these big yachts in Harvard.
And when it came time to make adecision on what to do after
high school, my old man pulledout the Chapman School of Seamen
book and said hey, you know,this is a great opportunity for
(02:09):
you to go to school and reallyhone in your talent that you
naturally have.
And boy, fast forward a handfulof years and I met Erica
cruising along and we started areally unique charter program
where we tried to bring on boardguests like yourselves, show
them, their family, theirfriends, a pretty amazing
adventure out in these beautifulwaters.
(02:30):
Yeah, so behind us if you cansee, it is the Bahamian Sea.
That's right, and we're in theExumas portion of the Bahamas,
which is probably the mostbeautiful part of the Bahamas,
at least in my personal opinion,as you can see the turquoise
blue waters with the emerald, Iwould say, of the world.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Yeah, we've been to some other pretty places, but
this length of gorgeous clearwater is tough to come by.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Yeah, I hesitate.
I don't want too many people toknow how beautiful it is.
You can't give away.
Where exactly?
It is Exactly, but it is.
I mean, becca and I have beenblessed.
You guys have traveled theworld, we've traveled the world
and there's some incrediblelandscapes, but there's no place
where the water looks like, ifthat's here.
Speaker 2 (03:11):
It's a very unique spot to be.
Certainly, most of my timespent in Yachting has been out
here.
It's a very challenging part ofthe ocean to transit.
It's very shallow, it'streacherous waters, filled with
reefs and sandbars, and not toomuch knowledge as far as data,
as far as chart input.
A lot of it's local knowledge.
(03:31):
What's changed?
Speaker 1 (03:32):
from storms.
It's a pretty unique spot totravel around in, yeah, and real
quick.
Rewinding back to how you gotinto actually yachting and being
a captain, you went toessentially a trade school, yes,
and you were what?
Speaker 2 (03:44):
what was it?
17?
Yes, for Estrella High School.
Pretty much, and definitely theyoungest in the class, I think
by a couple decades, maybe evenWow, but a very unique
experience.
I had a lot of support from myfamily.
Basically, moving across countryfrom Michigan to Florida was a
unique thing and I had fullsupport of my family and friends
and still do today to keep thatadventure going, which is a bit
(04:06):
of a struggle being away from anormal home environment.
But being a castaway in SouthFlorida wasn't too bad of an
option to have coming fromMichigan.
So in doing that it was afairly smooth transition because
it was a passion of mine, Ijust really loved to do it.
So it wasn't like I was forcedto do anything or, you know,
coerced into this terrible, youknow educational environment for
(04:29):
year in, year out.
But it was a pretty quicklittle run about a year or so
and come out with about roughlya hundred ton captain's license.
If you have the sea time,they're pretty much ready to get
you started as a first mate orsomething like that.
And boy, I think I was 18 whenI got my first captain mace job
excuse me on the motor yacht,absolutely.
How big was that?
100 foot Broward, wow, yeah,and it was a pretty unique
(04:53):
experience and the captain backthen I owe a lot to because, boy
, I was pretty green behind theears.
Even though I had some prettygood sailing experience, I knew
nothing about being on a yacht.
Yeah, and I think day number twowe were thrown into a charter
similar to something like thisand hit the ground running,
shall we say, and to this dayactually, eric and I still do
business with that yacht owner.
(05:14):
Wow, that is how kind ofinterconnected and tight-knit
our industry is and we're veryfortunate to make great
relationships even from daynumber one and still be in
contact with those guys todayand still operate their boats
and drive around and have fundinners with them sometimes.
Yeah, well, from all the wayback in 2005.
(05:34):
So probably a great lesson.
There is just the kind of thepower of relationships wow, very
much wow.
I think in this industry, evenmore than ever, a lot of these
yacht owners are prettyinterconnected.
They run in the same circles.
So I think if you do a reallygood job and show your passion
and show that you really careabout showing these families and
(05:56):
friends a great time you canreally exceed and certainly make
a lot of fun.
Speaker 1 (06:00):
And just, you're having a great time on the high
seas with people who love thesame thing as you.
It's a pretty fun circle ofrunning.
Yeah, erica, how'd you get intoyachting?
Speaker 3 (06:09):
I met Spence, I had no idea it existed at all.
I'm from small town, northCarolina, wrightsville Beach.
I was out there working freshout of college.
I think I was 22 years old whenI met him and I was bartending.
So I was in the transitionalperiod where you're out of
college, you're trying to figureout your career and I had these
(06:32):
big plans to go be a food andbeverage director at a golf
course or assistant at firstwork my way up, met him randomly
and didn't speak for monthsafter we met and then he gave me
a call and it was back andforth for six months and then,
about, I think, eight monthsinto knowing each other, I moved
(06:53):
to Florida and we startedworking, and that was 12 years
ago.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Okay, did you end up working on one of the ships that
he was a captain of, iso?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
I had never worked with any other captain, wow.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Any other captain.
It's always been with him.
We've always ran a programtogether.
At first it was just him and I.
He was a sole crew member Onthe boat, so he was all
positions.
It was a 90 footer and hetaught me the basics.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Wait a minute.
You were running a 90 foot boat.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
Pretty much yeah.
So we did the cooking, thecleaning, the captain and all
that kind of stuff.
All together it's a fairlysmall boat at that point.
Speaker 3 (07:29):
It was a different type of program.
Everybody's involved Lots ofgoing out to eat, cabin service
when they leave.
Speaker 2 (07:39):
Certainly not the cowboy chef you have down there
Right.
I can whoop up some pretty goodstuff.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
He taught me all my early skills.
He got a job offer on a 120 andI had been working with him for
about a year at that point andhe asked the boss that was
interviewing him for the job ifhe could bring me.
And then we did a dualinterview together and went to
Cat Key for the day.
For a job interview on acigarette boat.
(08:09):
Took it all the way from Miami.
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yeah, it was our second round in the unofficial
NASCAR Yacht Club.
And boy, those boys know how tohave a lot of fun with their
toys, that's for sure.
So our job interview wasblasting from Miami to Cat Key
and looked at each other andsaid I think this is the job
that we could take.
This seems like a pretty funcircle it's just fast forward.
Speaker 3 (08:32):
Yeah, and, and that boat that we interviewed on that
we're speaking up was the boatthat actually ended up hosting
the fire fest on okay, all right, very cool, we'll talk about
that.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
You may were very fortunate in that some crew
members they don't get thelongevity and the wonderful
connection with some owners thatwe have, but we have had the
great fortune of making greatconnections and able to really
establish a long-termrelationship with some of these
owners.
But we've been on now.
We've been on board for sevenyears now and it's just
(09:04):
wonderful to look back on allthose years with one particular
family and a vessel and all thefond memories that we have made.
It's pretty special.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
So you were how old when you had your first yacht
captain job.
So I was.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
I think just turning 22.
It was a 100-foot Broward, itwas called Just Right.
It was a 100-foot Broward, itwas called Just Right.
I remember the owner fondly.
He took another big risk inbringing me on as a captain.
I remember it was such a bigrisk.
The insurance companies had tohave a couple of my friend
captains go out and prove andwrite to the insurance company
(09:39):
and say yes, yes he may be veryyoung, but he can drive a boat.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
Describe to people who maybe don't have much
experience with boats orcertainly nothing with like a
yacht Like it is an overwhelmingamount of responsibility.
I did.
I told you I did a CaptainCatamaran class at Fort
Lauderdale, I don't know five,six years ago.
I had a great time and what Ilearned from that?
The biggest thing I learned isI will never be the captain of a
(10:06):
catamaran like.
The amount of responsibility,especially if you're talking
about taking your family, isjust overwhelming.
And here you're, 22 years old.
I look like a child.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
I I look like a child .
I I hope I wasn't acting likeone.
I think I was thrust into theright environment, but uh,
certainly it was very unique.
It was a challenge I was readyto accept, but a challenge
nonetheless.
But as I said, I think at avery young age I was just kind
of under the discipline of beingready and groomed to operate a
(10:37):
boat and be able to guide peopleinto great adventures.
Certainly, the honed inleadership and organizational
skills are still coming along,but being able to naturally
guide people on a vessel andnaturally have a knack for
safety and operation, I thinkcame at a very young age, so
that wasn't too much of anundertaking.
(10:58):
Certainly, the looks of theguests and the owners when they
came on and I said, hi, I'mCaptain Spence, yeah, those were
the unique things to get over.
They came on and I said, hi,I'm Captain Spence, yeah, those
were the unique things to getover.
Speaker 3 (11:06):
They looked at me cross-eyed at times I thought,
um, I look back at our firstpicture together as a couple was
a captain and a chief student.
I think how do these peopleland in the airport and say, yes
, I'm coming with you guys for aweek, like with their family?
Speaker 2 (11:21):
it was pretty um, um, certainly our, our friends in
the outing industry joke about.
You know I was probably one ofthe younger ones on that size
vessel.
It was certainly a big boat.
You're talking a crew of fouror five at that point, somewhere
around the 100, 120-ton mark,20 feet wide.
You know, two big monsterpropellers down there Certainly
(11:44):
a lot of vessel to bemaneuvering around and that's
kind of the easy part of it aswell, as the operation of the
boat is where it really comesinto play.
It has to be fluid, managingthe crew and all the systems.
How did you develop?
Speaker 1 (11:57):
the leadership skills as a 22-year-old.
Obviously, the crew you'reworking with is probably, some
of them, quite a bit older thanyou, maybe a couple decades.
Yes, yes, generally that can bea challenging situation.
How do you learn the leadershipit takes?
Speaker 2 (12:10):
You know it's funny enough.
There's, of course, many greatpodcasts we could talk about
that but one of the yes Time isnumber one.
One of the positions I got putinto was being in a charter boat
captain.
I got to be face-to-face withsome very unique people in very
large leadership roles A weekout at sea.
(12:32):
You get pretty intimate withthese people or at least
sometimes we do.
I started to ask the rightquestions.
I'm sitting here with some ofthese titans of industry
sometimes titans of great familymen, with some of these titans
of industry, sometimes titans ofgreat family men, picking up
all these examples from life,from these wonderful clients
that I've had, whether it beowners or charter clients, and
being able to listen to thempick up their traits.
(12:55):
One of the unique ones wasCoach Ron Rivera.
At the time he was from theCarolina Panthers.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Yeah, he's a very good leader, and he's a very
good leader.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
And boy, we would just spitball hour after hour
about leadership skills.
He would listen to my radiocalls and listen to the response
of other crew members and askme you know how I digested that?
And then give his playback onhow he interpreted from coach
(13:24):
and player on the field.
And those examples from thattrip in particular lent a lot of
examples, for, you know,calmness under pressure.
The gridiron brings a lot ofpressure, a lot of anxiety, a
lot of emotions and so canyawning at times.
So those are very good examplesand I was very fortunate from
that and many others to kind ofpick and pull each one of these
(13:44):
unique characters out of eachone of my owners and or charter
guests.
It was very helpful.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, well, first of all, for anyone who's owned a
boat you know they have thoset-shirts, honey, I'm sorry for
everything I said when we wereboating, like I mean, we had a
boat for about two years and Ican totally relate.
And then you, you know, youmultiply that times four and
crew and passengers and yourwife is on board.
Yes, yes, exactly, and you're,you know, in charge of her.
(14:10):
You know as far as, like, thechain of command goes.
So I can only imagine.
And then the other thing youmentioned, and I want to talk
more about this, but, like in mybook, I talk about running with
lions and because of the nicheof people that own yachts and,
as a general rule, arechartering yachts like your
(14:31):
entire career has been withpeople that are lions, I mean,
maybe their relationships aren'tas good.
You know, they might not all belions when it comes to family,
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
But, when you're talking about leadership and
business.
That's all.
You've been around pretty much,yeah.
So that's an interesting likeit's been a great, it's been a
great fortune of us.
Um, we have got to see sometimesthe the backside of some of
these great fortunes.
Um, we, we may see a headlineor two about some of our guests
and then you see them in reallife and you know who they are
and you, you get to see that.
You know, sometimes a businessheadline maybe isn't a
personality, sometimes it mightbe vice versa, but we have been
(15:11):
very fortunate to see, you know,the true characters of our
clients and our owners and tosee that sometimes, behind a
very strong business titan is avery strong businessman, a very
passionate man, a veryfaith-driven man.
A lot of times we see thoseconnections.
Sometimes, when we don't seethose connections, we see the
friend that's maybe the tagalong that hasn't quite hit that
(15:33):
echelon yet, and we see some ofthose missing links in their
personality.
But when you see that thefamily, the compassion, the
faith all combined, you start tosee the titans of industry.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
Lots of opportunity for powerful conversation yeah,
lots of opportunity yeah, Ibelieve it.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Um, one of the things that character traits that I
see in both of you is passion,um, and it's something that I've
kind of really, uh, honed in onin my own life recently.
But just talk like I mean your,this is the the fourth trip
we've taken, it's the third crewthat we've been with and by far
you two and your crew have themost passion.
(16:11):
Just talk about how that playsa role in what you do and really
the quality of service you guysjust deliver to your clients.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Well, I think that number one.
I'm very fortunate to have sucha great partner that brings out
, you know, a better side andfills in the blanks as well here
and there.
And also to the other crewmembers.
I'm very fortunate to have thecrew I have around me as well.
As you know, from a gueststandpoint, the crew is the most
important part really of theoperation of the vessel and how
(16:43):
your trip goes and, from acaptain's standpoint, how my
week goes.
So if we have a crew that'sclicking, we're firing all eight
, we're enthusiastic, we'reenergized.
You really see that in the tripwhen you have just that one
missing link, you feel that onemissing link.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
It ruins it right away.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
So I must say I've been very lucky.
So I must say I've been verylucky.
And Erica also has really comea long way in her crew
leadership and helping guidethem in the yeah, I totally see
that.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Well said, how do you find people with passion?
Because one of the things I'velearned is that people can
present passion in an interview,but then you know, then you see
their three months is theexpression.
Speaker 3 (17:26):
To the teeth okay, to the teeth it's trial and error.
We've we've been with a lot ofreally good crew in our career,
really good people that havegrown and we still communicate
with.
We've been around a lot ofdifferent individuals.
We get the opportunity to seeall types of personalities, from
(17:48):
top to bottom, and you'reforced to live together and me
being the mom of the boat, Iabsorb a lot of it before it
gets filtered to him.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
Yes.
Speaker 3 (17:56):
Let's face it, happy captain is a happy boat.
We just it's taken time tobuild what we've built.
We're pretty happy with what wehave right now.
You say passion.
In your book you say surroundyourself around people that push
you forward upstream, notdownstream.
(18:16):
So I feel like our passion,even if we have a crew member
that lacks a little bit, wespill enough over that by time.
Certain amount of time with us,they grow in their passion,
start ripping off on where theydidn't like it.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
It's contagious.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
If it doesn't happen, like I said, roughly that three
month mark then we just carryon and try and plug in another
piece and see if it fits.
Yeah, and that's where we're atnow.
We've been together for 12years running this program and
we are finally at a space wheremost of our crew is completely
(18:55):
cohesive, a family on the samepage.
Speaker 1 (18:57):
We're very lucky.
Yeah, yeah, talk about.
What are some of the?
How do I put this?
What are the types of peoplewho own a yacht?
Like?
What do they do?
Oh it ranges.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
We have seen all types.
We have seen the guy that makesthe toilet paper rolls, the
little cardboard inserts.
He has a pretty nice littleyacht.
If you think about how many ofthose are produced on a daily
basis that's quite a few of them.
Speaker 3 (19:27):
We had a guy that created a seed that grows lumber
straight and fast throughagricultural program and because
of that he is one of thelargest suppliers of lumber on
the East Coast.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Wow, those trees go faster and a little bit
straighter, and so it's morehighly valued wood.
Speaker 3 (19:46):
We've had sports players.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Sports players.
Speaker 3 (19:48):
We've had people that are Rap artists Yep, yep, Charu
, Ashanti models.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
We've had everything.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
CEOs of companies.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
And sometimes we have had families, such as the
charter guests, who have savedup.
You know, maybe they've, youknow, dreamed about this for a
couple decades.
And you know, the, the two orthree brothers got together, the
two or three friends gottogether, they saved and saved,
and boy, when they, when theyget off the boat and we show
them their charter video, thereare tears streaming down their
(20:20):
face.
They are just blown away,expectations met and exceeded.
You know, and you can just seeit, they're overjoyed and we we
know for a fact that that joywill spill over for generations
for them.
They're going to tell theirgrandkids about it.
They're going to show thatvideo to their, you know, their
kids and it's.
Speaker 3 (20:37):
It's really special memories for people.
Yeah like imagine how you wantyour core memory right right
that's how you deliver it toyour guests, yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And that being said, you know you can find those
memories.
People want those memories.
So you see all walks of lifetrying to get out here and do it
and we have seen people makefortunes from the most unique
things, Even some of our closefriends.
They are, you know, very largeearth movers.
You know it's amazing whatdifferent industries make
(21:04):
certain types.
Speaker 1 (21:06):
I think I remember you guys telling me about the
toilet paper roll guy last tripand what.
What that just reminds me isthat there are so many different
ways to make a living and toreally make a fortune that the
American dream is absolutelystill alive.
Yes, 100%.
You don't have to come up with.
(21:27):
Like it doesn't have to betechnology, it could be
something like all you have todo is solve people's problems
Purposeful, Exactly, you canmake a fortune and be invested
in your product, be involved.
Speaker 2 (21:39):
Even these Titans that we see, these are their
vacation moments, these aretheir moments away from the job,
but you still see, every oncein a while they pop on the
computer, maybe send an email ortwo.
We try our best not to let themdo it, but hey, let's face it,
these guys are still in business.
So they are still kind of inmind and in gear.
(22:00):
And even when we're talkingabout fun conversations about
this, that or different islands,you may say a little something
and in gear.
And even when we're talkingabout fun conversations about
this, that are different islands, you may say a little something
.
You see their ears perking.
I'm gonna say oh, what's thatover there?
You said what?
Speaker 3 (22:10):
and they're always thinking about the next
investment or the next littlething they can pull out of their
sleeve people that are notproduct creators.
Uh, a good guess that we hadwas uh, captain sully the plane,
yeah, and we had a passengerfrom that plane and it changed
his whole life.
He quit his nine to five afterthat, adopted two teenage
(22:31):
children and became amotivational speaker Very
successful, wow, interestingyeah.
Interesting and so products, notalways you know, sometimes life
experiences or just opinions orthings you've gone through in
your own life, and sharing thatstory creates so much for other
people.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
That's great.
And you talked about familiessaving up.
I can tell you that, like, ifwe could only take, if we could
take a vacation a year, doanything else or save up and do
one of these every 10 years, wewould pick this.
Like we wouldn't have to talkto the kids, like, without a
doubt, yeah, everyone would belike, oh, we'll, we'll take, uh,
a yacht trip once every 10years.
(23:08):
I mean, hold off on this.
That.
Yeah, it is like it combinesand especially you guys do an
unbelievable job of combiningeverything.
I mean mean you're capturingphotos, you're capturing video,
you're creating theseunbelievable experiences.
We have access to jet skis, toboats.
I mean we're on private islands, like literally every island or
every beach we were on, we wereon the water, on the water, the
(23:28):
hulkous yeah, I mean it's justabsolutely unbelievable.
Like, you compare this toreally the best resort in the
world.
It's a resort or any type ofyou know cruise ship or anything
there's no comparison, thankyou.
Speaker 2 (23:44):
We are really fortunate to show families such
an amazing time and we feel itand it brings out the best in us
too.
When we see the energized looksin the family, when we see the
love between the father anddaughter and the special moments
, it amps us up, it gets usgoing to the next level.
It's like, oh you know, whatcan we do next to make that very
(24:04):
next special moment?
It brings up the best in us andI think that's a great
characteristic also of a truecruising yachtsman is feeling
the compassion of those familymoments or friends moments and
making them even special, evenmore special than they could be
the next day, which can be achallenge Spence.
How can you get better thantoday?
(24:24):
It's like, well, we've got fivemore days to go.
Speaker 3 (24:26):
I would say one of Spencer's top qualities, other
than being hands down, the bestboat driver hands down is
adventure, and it doesn't stopthe adventure.
Doesn't matter how tired he is.
He'd be missing half of his legand he's still going to create
something great for the next day.
It's never going to slow down.
Yeah, that's a key factor abouta captain.
You hear so many captains.
(24:48):
They just sit in the helm.
They call helm captain, yeah,coffee captains, um, and they
just sit and they get thedemands on the radio.
Speaker 1 (24:54):
That's two each day, um, but spence is always going
to be hands-on till he's 70years old and getting great I
love being out there in thewater no, you I mean, that was
one of the things that we allnoticed is that with you, like,
you take a personal pleasure increating experiences for your
(25:17):
guests, and you're out theremost of the time.
I mean, obviously sometimesyou've got work to do and you
send the crew, but the crew youknow, carries on.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
I'm so lucky.
They fill in the void.
And that's a great thing abouta crew is, if you know, hey, if
I can rely on those guys to dothe job, and then some, then I'm
a lucky guy.
It's big shoes to fill Fill inmy shoes, of course, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (25:43):
What are for?
Speaker 2 (25:44):
both of you either the one or two most challenging
or biggest downsides to thecareer field you're in.
You want to go first, all right.
Well, I would think that thebiggest challenge or downside,
or probably combined, is tryingto find that time for your
personal family.
As I said earlier, you know mypassion is for yachting and that
becomes almost a lifestyle.
This couldn't, this can be ajob, but you see the people who
(26:08):
make it a job and you see thepeople who make it a lifestyle
and making a lifestyle you seethe you know, full-on attitude
that you get from us and withthat, takes a little sacrifice
on the home front and and thatis one of the biggest sacrifice
we have to make and be on thehigh seas, much like any kind of
military lifestyle that youlike to back in your day when
you served, um, it is.
(26:29):
It is very hard to be away fromhome, um, you like to.
We like family time.
I'm a family guy.
I I wouldn't be here todaywithout the love and support of
my family.
Speaker 3 (26:37):
We have a very involved family.
As a matter of fact, my sideand his side are friends.
They hang out, they communicate.
My dad and his dad communicatealmost every day.
So our immediate family is very, very close.
So it's tough for us to be awayand miss those special moments.
(26:58):
But it is a sacrifice that wedo have to make and I have had
the full support of my family tomake that sacrifice from day
one.
Speaker 2 (27:05):
Even as a teenager leaving home at a young age and
moving out of Florida, I had thefull support to do that.
Love, care, they're alwaysthere for me and I know that and
that's what keeps me able to goon.
I think, care, you know they'realways there for me, I know
that and that's what keeps meable to go on.
I think if, maybe, if thefamily member was a bit jaded or
something like that, it wouldbe tough to be out here, you
would feel even more homesick tobe back with your family if
they were not so supportive.
(27:26):
So I I'm so blessed in thatthat I have great support both
from family and friends and andthe in-laws as well, we have a
lot of of in-laws, a lot.
It's special.
Speaker 1 (27:36):
It makes it easier.
You guys are in a unique spotbecause you're on the same boat
the rest of the crew, they havespouses and significant others
that they see what once a month.
Speaker 3 (27:46):
Once a month, I would say.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
And sometimes you get lucky at that.
Sometimes it might be once aseason, once every three months.
Speaker 3 (27:53):
If you're on a busy boat.
There's positives and negatives.
I mean, as you see, we weretogether.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
Yeah.
All the time yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Every day, every day together, which is something we
remind each other constantly.
We're beyond blessed.
There's not very many couplesWe've gone to a marriage
counselor, which everybodyshould take their time to do
that for their relationship tomake it healthy.
And we have a healthyrelationship.
We went just to keep it thatway.
She looked at us and said yourbiggest problem is you spend too
(28:21):
much time.
Yes, which we are fine with.
We are totally fine with it.
We take a vacation separatefrom each other once a year and
that is it?
We yearn for each other's timeand space together.
Speaker 2 (28:38):
it's yeah, we're very , we're very fortunate lucky um,
if it wasn't that way, being apart and having a wife ashore,
or vice versa, having yourhusband ashore, um, and add on
top of that the pressure of kids, yeah, um, it can be very
taxing on a relationship, then,even more so than a loving
parent.
You need a loving wife toreally understand what you're
(29:00):
going through out here.
And let's face it, sometimesthey might send home a picture
of a really cool sandbar,awesome beach set up, and the
ones at home are really justthinking, oh shucks, you know
you're having such a blast outthere, but it is a job we are
working, um, it is paradise.
It's probably the best cubicleout there, for sure, um, but to
have the love and support of ofthe shoreside party is is really
(29:22):
important.
It's not easy, um, and it's noteasy for the people ashore
either.
You know we're taking our lovedones away from home.
Um, I I see firsthand from acrew member when there's a
little home issues going on.
I try to get my best to getthat person back home and I am
very aware of the strain it putson a relationship and a person
(29:44):
to be away from a normal nine tofive relationship at home.
This is a very unique lifestylefor sure.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
Uncommon freedom is a game changer, not only for the
focused leader, but also for therudderless sojourner seeking
direction.
When Kevin talks, I listen, Ilean in and always leave a
better man.
As the wisdom of Proverbs 3.13states, happy is the man who
finds wisdom and the man whogains understanding.
(30:12):
I want to warn you in advanceto prepare your spirit for a
heart and mind shift as you readthis book.
I have learned that convictioncomes when the heart is open to
change.
As I read this book, I wasmoved on several occasions to
evaluate my personal life andmake course corrections.
This isn't just a book.
It's a manual for creatinggodly leaders who we desperately
(30:36):
need today and especially asour children walk the earth in,
whatever it looks like 10, 20,30 years from now.
Who knows that?
We need leaders who embodythese things?
Because not only do we needpeople who are healthy and
wealthy and have the right heart, but we need people who know
(30:58):
where the spirit of the Lord is,there is freedom.
Speaker 1 (31:07):
What is the best part of what you do?
Speaker 3 (31:13):
Being together.
Oh really, I never saw thiscoming when I first met.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
Eric, I actually joke about.
I sat down with her and afterour relationship had gone, I
said honey, I have to admit I'malready married to that.
Speaker 3 (31:27):
And I said either I join you or I'm out.
I come from a military family soI know what it's like to have
the home and then the nine.
Yeah, I always told myself if Imarry a guy, first and foremost
it is not going to be somebodyin the military, because I want
to be in my relationship.
And then I went and married amerchant mariner, which
basically the same go me.
But I feel beyond lucky.
(31:50):
Like he said, our family, ourfriends, each other, we, I hold
very close the relationship wehave.
It's it's rare.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
It's really special to be doing this together.
Um, I, since I was a younglittle boy, one of those little
you know, second grade littlecourt classes you take, write
down what you want to be, andwhen you grow up, I wrote down I
want to find my, my wife, onthe beach and travel the ocean.
And I've executed it and I'mjust so thrilled.
It is really special.
(32:21):
We get to look out and look atthese beautiful sceneries
together, hand in hand.
Yeah, it's so amazing and knowthat our hard work has paid off.
It has not been easy.
We have had our ups and downs.
We have tested each other.
We have been easy.
We have.
We have had our ups and downs.
We have tested each other.
We have, you know, we're stuckin a very small space, together,
working out our differences andand inter marriage conflicts
(32:43):
and job conflicts, all togetherin a space smaller than this
room we're in right now keep itunder wraps you know you're mom
and dad of the ship, so yourcrew is as happy as we are.
Speaker 3 (32:55):
You know, we're not happy, they're not happy.
Same for guests.
It's immediately apparent whensomething is going wrong, or in
between just any other crewmember.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Yeah, yeah, we talked about one experience we had
where there was tension amongthe crew and it made it very
awkward for us as the guests.
So, uh, you guys, whether, likeas far as we're concerned,
you're always happy so we are asthe crew.
so you may, you may not be, butas far as we're concerned you
are um.
(33:25):
All right, let's talk aboutfire fest.
So when I heard about fire fest, my brother told me about it
and I was like there's no way,I'd never heard of it.
And he told me and I went up,found the documentary on Netflix
and I was just like my jaw wasdropped the entire time because
I could not believe how thething went down.
And then we're cruising withyou last year and somehow we're
(33:49):
like, oh, firefest.
And you're like, oh yeah, I wasthe captain, we were the crew
for that ship.
Talk about how that came downand what that was like well, we
might do a whole nother episodeon this.
This is go ahead, read thescientist version, that's right,
that's right.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
The, the, the eclipse version.
So it was a very uniquescenario.
As we mentioned the, the firstboat that we kind of worked on
together, 120 foot broward,beautiful boat was a
family-owned boat, multipleowners the two brothers, a
couple wives involved and we hada trip on board.
We were in Miami at theinfamous Art Basel and we were
told hey, get the guests off theboat, it's 10, 11 o'clock
(34:29):
tonight, put them in a hotel.
Speaker 3 (34:29):
Put them in a hotel.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
We got to drop lines and beeline it to the Bahamas
(34:59):
no-transcript or Eminem forothers.
Speaker 1 (35:02):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:03):
It was very.
They were very popular hip-hopartists.
You were like what?
Speaker 2 (35:06):
Yeah, and still are, still are, and so we were fired
up.
Fire it up, you're ready to go.
And then there's this thirdelement of this uh, gentleman by
the name of billy who wastrying to do this fire festival,
and he had this fire app andall this unique stuff.
So the box is very intriguing.
(35:26):
I thought this was going to bethe next best thing, maybe the
new, uh, bahama version ofcoachella it.
Speaker 3 (35:33):
It could have been amazing.
It really could have, and thedraw for the owner of the boat
was just like my boat is kind ofthe centerpiece of this right.
Speaker 1 (35:41):
It's publicity.
At the time it was a great idea.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
It was brilliant up until the second festival the
fiasco.
Speaker 1 (35:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (35:50):
It was cutting edge, it was moving in a different
direction for music and forconcerts and music festivals.
Like I said, I asked y'all rulewhy bahamas?
And it was to create a safespace for artists that are of
r&b, hip-hop, um, and somethingthat's a little more off the
(36:11):
charts and exotic, and that is agreat idea, but in the Bahamas,
you need lots of time toexecute anything.
Yeah, bahamas, time is aserious right, it's I don't know
.
Yeah, and six months was notenough for conception time.
They thought about it and sixmonths later wanted to execute
(36:33):
it.
You need a two to three years.
Speaker 1 (36:35):
Okay, so you're, you're, you're now chartered to
host Ja Rule and Ashanti andthis entire.
For people who've seen at leastthe Netflix video I haven't
seen the Hulu version, but likeso I've seen the book I'm going
to have to go back and watch itagain and be like holy smokes
he's in the Hulu one Basicallylike hosting a film production
yes, he's in the movie.
Speaker 2 (36:54):
Basically like hosting a film production.
Speaker 3 (36:57):
They are shooting their marketing material for
this very exclusive high endconcert on a boat, which is
where all the footage for thedocumentary that you watched,
all that footage of him sittingin the dining room making
decisions all that was what wasfilmed that week while we were
on charter.
That's what created thedocumentary.
Without that film andbackground footage, the
(37:18):
documentary would have neverbeen made.
Speaker 1 (37:19):
And it also created all the hype for all the
soon-to-be-disappointedattendees.
So that's what we call the realfestival.
Speaker 3 (37:26):
Yeah, we were at the real festival then, and then,
six months later, we were at thefiasco festival.
Speaker 1 (37:32):
So they did a small version with real music artists.
Is that correct?
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Yeah, lots of famous celebrities came in all the.
Victoria's Secret models.
Speaker 2 (37:42):
I think even Kardashians were there.
Speaker 3 (37:44):
I think.
I don't know exactly.
I don't want to put anybody'sattendance that wasn't there.
But if you do research therewas quite a few big names and
when they first came into town,ja Rule and Ashanti were
performing at a concert forbenefit.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
Yeah, Hurricane Relief Okay.
Speaker 1 (38:00):
For.
Speaker 3 (38:00):
Hurricane Relief funds and then after that
concert, because they tookfootage of a concert going on,
to create the promotional video.
Yes, after that concert, theycame to the Outer Islands to
film the experience that you'regoing to have.
They've got footage from aconcert.
You're going to go there.
That's the main purpose, buthere are little clips and
(38:21):
snippets of what your experienceis going to be during that ride
the jet ski.
Speaker 4 (38:26):
So they cut it together.
Speaker 2 (38:27):
Yeah, the full promotional video Okay, a nice
villa on the beach.
Speaker 3 (38:31):
So we did island hopping and anchoring, much like
we do, with you guys Stayingaround Normans for the most part
, because that's where it wasall supposed to go, down Pablo
Mascar's Island all that jazz.
Right and playing, so any boatrelated thing, any jet skiing,
anything with a yacht.
That was us that week.
(38:51):
It was eight guests, 12 to 14film crew and then hair and
makeup for six to eight models,so roughly 40 something people
during the day On a 120 foot.
Speaker 2 (39:07):
This place was crawling.
Speaker 3 (39:07):
Yeah, of course, they were on shore as well.
They had accommodations ashore,so during the day they would
come out for a couple hours.
Speaker 2 (39:13):
We would film and we would have just chaos.
It was chaos, controlled chaos,but chaos nonetheless.
Speaker 3 (39:20):
It was pretty wild.
Sleeping was just Ja Rule andAshanti, which are best friends.
Ja Rule has been married to hiswife.
They've been dating since likefirst grade, second grade, very
lovely person.
Ja Rule and Ashanti are justfriends.
She brought her two cousins andthen there was the manager
Grant Grant is his name, billyMcFarland's manager and one
(39:44):
other production guy and theywere the eight guests in the
cabins.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
Okay, when did you see?
Did you see any red flags?
Speaker 3 (39:50):
as far as From day one, when we got the phone call,
we had no preference sheets andno deposit and we were
provisioning for celebrities.
Speaker 2 (39:57):
That was a little bit unique.
Speaker 3 (40:00):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
And plenty of chat sheets and no deposit, and we
were provisioning forcelebrities a little bit unique.
Okay, the money, the moneyhasn't been brought up front,
but this guy's moving forwardvery fast.
And now, of course, after wesee the documentaries and we
know what happened, now it makessense now it all makes sense.
But at the time there was alsoon on our end, there was a lot
of you know kind of excitementto be part of this.
Yeah, we, we were all kind offooled as well, yeah, and we
were enthralled by his energy,enthralled by his motivation and
(40:24):
how fast things are going.
Like, wow, this guy just makesthings happen.
It is strange, it'll becharismatic yes, um, yeah, um
and and so um.
Fortunately, in the end theexpenses did come in, but yeah,
we were out as well.
We were the ones that got hook,line and sink into the
(40:45):
algorithm of his really uniqueidea.
Speaker 3 (40:48):
At the very end it came to fruition with finances,
but you know how important apreference sheet is.
It's what defines your trip?
Also, a chef.
A chef gets to cook you knowfive-star meals for you and
serve it to you.
None of that existed.
It was buffet the whole time.
They just had us guess.
When we went to the grocerystore, we piled up as much as we
(41:11):
could, but at times we had 30people on board eating and
snacking, so it was just chaosall the time.
And snacking, so it was justchaos all the time.
Information given and changedin like one sentence.
Speaker 1 (41:23):
Alright, let's fast forward.
You did the promo and thenyou're on scene again for what's
supposed to be the real event.
Speaker 3 (41:30):
This is now six months later.
Yeah, so we both knew afterthat week, in six months, this
is not gonna be real.
We've been to music festivals.
We know what it entails, evenas a guest.
We know what Bahamas is like.
But we get tickets.
The crew gets free ticketsbecause they spent a whole week
(41:51):
with us.
Yeah, and as we stated earlier,we get connected with our
people.
We were quite connected withthem.
At the end of the week we getto go to the fake festival and
we get there three days earlybecause of weather and all that.
I don't know if you remember onthe documentary it, monsoon
rained the day before, so we hadto get there before that storm
cell was coming in.
(42:12):
So we got there Wednesday.
Everybody was coming in onFriday and being there Wednesday
.
We got to meet up with backwith all the production people
and they're like oh, erica,spence, ocean drive, come on, um
, let us show you what we'redoing and you can't see from the
marina.
It's just outside the gates ofwhere they took everyone and it.
Speaker 1 (42:32):
This is that great, great exuma okay, um so the
location changed In less thansix months.
They went from Norma's Key toGreat Exuma, Great Exuma.
Speaker 3 (42:42):
And we were there because our boss and crew got
tickets.
And one of the packages for aguest is you can have a yacht as
your accommodations for theweek, and that always remained
from the get-go.
Okay, you pay this exorbitantamount for your ticket, you get
a yacht and a crew for the week,and that always remained from
the get-go.
Okay, um, you pay thisexorbitant amount for your
ticket, you get a yacht and acrew for the week as well.
Those people that paid forthose tickets still got that
(43:06):
week.
That week still happened.
The yachts just leaved and hada different itinerary.
Wow, so they still got thoseaccommodations.
Um, our boss never came inbecause we got the boat out.
We relocated it and carried onwith our program.
Yeah, um, but when we werethere in the marina, you can't
see over the hill what has gonedown.
(43:29):
So they load us all in the golfcart.
They're like we can't wait toshow you.
They take us to the front gateand they're like, oh, this is,
this is our crew, let us in.
So we had no passes, nothing.
We never physically got tickets, okay, like other people.
Yeah, um, and then we crossedthe hill in the golf cart and we
see all the fema tents and thestage in the back and spence,
(43:50):
and I look at each other andwe're like oh no, because
monsoon rain is coming tomorrowyeah, so the, the organizers
literally are telling you you'regoing to be blown away when you
see this, and yet you cross thehill and it's set up with FEMA
techs and Port-A-Johns.
When I reflect on the statements, I'm like were they saying
(44:12):
we're going to be blown awaybecause this is a mess, yeah, or
look what we've done.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (44:20):
It almost sounds like an Emperor's New Clothes type
of scenario where they're like,if they just keep telling you
it's amazing, you're going tothink it's amazing, that's
exactly how Billy works and Ididn't personally get to deal
with him Spence did, thank God Ididn't have to.
Speaker 3 (44:32):
I dealt with his assistant or his manager, grant,
who was a very young guy.
They just feed it to you.
It's the like they try to usethe power of coercion and mind
bending and all that.
They feed it, they feed it theystuff it down your throat.
This is amazing.
It's going to be amazing.
You guys are if they say itenough, you'll believe it yeah
yeah, and that's exactly how Iguess it was for people that
(44:56):
bought tickets.
Social media, you know it wason their scroll, it kept popping
up.
The promotional video turned outvery nice Well of course,
because they had a beautifulweek on our yacht.
But I would have bought ticketsif I wouldn't have known.
Speaker 1 (45:10):
If you didn't have a peek behind the curtain.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yes, and watching it.
It was heartbreaking.
We wanted this for the musicindustry.
Yeah, we wanted this for thebahamas.
There was so much to gain if ithad been delivered or executed
appropriately.
Unfortunately, yeah.
Speaker 1 (45:29):
So for you guys, you're here and you can tell
that it's not going to go well,it's not going well.
Speaker 3 (45:35):
Um, we see the fema tents.
So it's not just the FEMA tents, it's everything inside.
Everything was shipped in viaAmazon.
So the boxes that everythingcame in is in a mountain on two
different ends of the property.
The mattresses are ones thatyou get in the mail and they're
all vacuum sealed and you letthem go and they're on a
(45:55):
cardboard pedestal and thenthere is like cardboard side
tables in the FEMA tent to makeit nice, you know oh my goodness
um, but when that storm camethrough the next day, the FEMA
tents are just tarps over frames.
Yeah, it was disaster, it was amass cleanup situation.
(46:16):
How can we make this worsesituation better?
After it just got dumped on byrain like flooded tents, tarp
material all over the place,some tents didn't even have
their turf material on itanymore and guests are coming
tomorrow.
Oh my goodness.
And we're like I don't know howthey're gonna pull this off,
but we're gonna watch it.
(46:37):
Go't know how they're going topull this off, but we're going
to watch it go down.
So Thursday, you know at anypoint that we wanted to go into
the grounds.
We were allowed to.
So we got in there before thefirst bus came and we did a walk
around and went all the way tothe stage, went to the food
tents, saw the cheese sandwichand Spence and I look and we're
like this is about to be reallybad.
There's no water, there's justalcohol.
Speaker 1 (46:59):
Oh, my goodness.
Speaker 3 (47:00):
And to distract.
Have you ever seen the Junkanoobands that the Bahamas do with
their dress-up and the loud bandthat they always play?
Speaker 1 (47:09):
I've never seen one, but I know what you're talking
about.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
So they have that going near the stage, I guess,
to kind of distract from what'shappening, like flashbang.
And then we see the first buscome in, and when I say bus,
it's not a charter bus with thecomfy seats and the tv, it's not
even a fancy school bus withthe tinted windows.
It's like run down the bus thatyou get out of the junkyard to
turn into an rv kind ofsituation, and they come in and
(47:34):
they're all hanging first groupof people, they're all hanging
out the windows, and then then,in two spots of the property,
they have these containers thatthey are emptying everybody's
luggage out of.
And, mind you, these peoplepaid, like bare minimum, three
grand, five grand for a ticket.
So these luggages are not, youknow, some random bag.
(47:56):
It's Gucci, prada, tumi,people's DJ boards, film gear.
You know people are.
It's a music festival.
People bring a lot of stuff tomusic festivals and they're just
throwing it out of the back ofthe trailer into a pile and the
pile is, like you know, reallytall and I could have just been
like yep that's my bag, oh, thatturntable, yeah, that's fine.
(48:20):
There was nobody there checkinglike driver's license and labels
nothing, wow, referral.
And then it just got worse.
Speaker 1 (48:29):
It was going to get ugly.
Speaker 2 (48:30):
Well, actually, vice versa, the boss at the time was
fairly plugged in, younggentleman following the social
media accounts and differentthings of that nature, and he
called me about five or six inthe morning.
I said you got to get up andget out of there.
This fire fest is a bust.
And we had a few signs of thatcoming, but it wasn't really
official, as, as eric and mayhave went to, you know, we were
(48:51):
still hearing it.
We're pushing ahead.
And then the uh, infamousstyrofoam container with the
bread and cheese image came out.
I think it was Good MorningAmerica or something like that
was breaking it.
Oh wow, oh boy, it was over.
And so we were basicallyconcerned that some of these
concert goers may have made thecorrelation between this vessel
(49:13):
and maybe the owner of theconcert and the production
coordinator of the concert.
Maybe they would come to theboat looking for food and water.
I mean, we were talking aboutpeople that are now kind of
needing basic necessities.
Yeah, they forget the luxurystuff.
They're looking for water andjust some basic food and some
shelter.
Um, and so we tried to hide outof there right away.
(49:34):
It's a very unique place to bein, down at emerald key not the
easiest inlet to get in and outof, so we basically paraded all
the yachts out of there and ranup to Staniel Key, dropped the
hook and had our own littleimpromptu, little fun fest.
It was an absolute disaster onall accounts and you guys may
(49:55):
have touched on.
The hardest hit was the workingclass people out there, the
Bahamian people down at GreatExuma.
And even up here in Staniel Keyand in Norman's Key.
You know one of our greatadventure guides here, brad Boy
and Wade Nixon.
They also got suckered into it.
They helped supply boats anddifferent things and those are
(50:17):
the people that really need it.
You know, extra 20, 100 buckscan go a long way and when
they're, when they're out there,gasoline of their boat or
whatever it may be for the nextday or so, that herd service.
So it was, uh, it was reallyterrible.
You know the fact that we gotpaid was, you know, a small
pittance compared to but reallythe the grander scheme of things
.
Speaker 1 (50:36):
Yeah, it's definitely a very, very sad, yeah Kind of
a Ponzi scheme, I guess Totally.
Speaker 3 (50:41):
And he's starting another one in the Caribbean.
Speaker 1 (50:44):
Yeah, so you guys are signing up for that, right,
yeah, I thought we'd put ourboat forward right away.
Yeah, we're just going todonate Right Our time, forget
the money we're just going tosend it right down All right it.
Speaker 3 (50:54):
In fact.
Speaker 2 (50:54):
Boss if you're seeing this.
We're headed down to Firefest.
Speaker 3 (50:58):
I think it was a great life experience.
It's a fun story.
I know there's lots of loss andsadness connected, even for us.
Like I said, we wanted this sobad to be successful for the
Bahamas.
But on the bright side, maybeit's a blessing in disguise
Because, like you said, thisplace is coveted, it's special
(51:19):
and that would have just openedthe door for everybody.
Speaker 1 (51:24):
Yeah, Sure, A little quieter for the rest of us.
We really appreciate it.
Yes, we sure do.
Awesome.
Well, hey guys, thank you foryour time.
This was fun.
Thank you for an amazing weekAgain.
Um, we, I mean this trip.
If we don't think about itevery day, we at least talk
about it every week.
Speaker 3 (51:41):
Almost didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (51:42):
I know, I know that's a whole different conversation.
So we really believe thatEpisode two yeah, I mean the
fact that we're here is anabsolute miracle.
I mean it took so much to makeit happen.
But we do appreciate you.
Speaker 2 (51:55):
We are so happy but we do appreciate you.
We are so happy, as we talkedabout the uniqueness of our
lifestyle, things can change andownership of a vessel can
change and that can changereally the whole deal, and I'm
so happy we got to put thattogether in reading your book
and in reading about youruncommon path and your
(52:16):
leadership and all that.
It really goes a long way forus and and you're one of- our
people.
Speaker 3 (52:22):
That has taught us big conversations and great
guidance and leadership.
You're an excellent father, oh,excellent a great wife.
Speaker 2 (52:30):
Yes, so yeah, very, very lucky if there could be an
example that we look for inclients, as you say, to pick
things from.
Those are things that we takefrom you and your group.
Speaker 1 (52:40):
Are is your very special bond to your family and
and to be a part of it is justso special.
That's cool, awesome, I think.
I think we're just as fortunate.
Well, hey guys, thanks forwatching.
I hope you're inspired,encouraged, and if people want
to do a trip, what's the bestway for?
Speaker 2 (52:56):
them to.
Well, you can email captainspence.
We'll put the link in there foryou guys to come check us out.
Our adventures are numerous andunknown in the future, but
please come, follow us and ouradventures.
We'd love to send out a littleblast.
Let you know where you can findus on our next adventure yeah,
I'll put that contact info inthe show notes.
Speaker 1 (53:17):
Thanks for watching, guys, and have a great day.
All right, friends, pleasesubscribe to the podcast for
more insights on blendingentrepreneurship and the
entrepreneurial mindset withintentional living.
You can follow us on socialmedia.
We are on Instagram, primarily,and Facebook, and you're going
(53:41):
to find daily tips andinspiration from us there.
You'll also find us on YouTubelots of shorts as well as our
video podcast.
And then please, if you enjoythis podcast, please leave us a
five-star review and share us,and remember to subscribe on
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listening to us on.
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