Hello dear readers. It has been an unseasonably busy time. I have been at the Monaco Yacht Show. The last time I was here I was a lowly deckhand. Life was simpler.

The reasons for attending are much the same: trying to attract an interested buyer. We arrived on the Monday before the show and secured a berth inside, which was a welcome luxury. Silvi and I took a vague walk up the nearest hill, enjoying the sights and taking pictures. While I find most of Monaco to be a boring eyesore, the older parts still hold a certain attraction.

The backside of the Palace.

Some old church

SilviVision™

The array of yachts was certainly something. Back in the day, yachts over 100m were a rarity and there were several at the show.

One of my well named colleagues Daniel from Sweden took these great photos of the yachts at night.

We had a busy few days of visits from various dignitaries and strangely garbed broker types.

On the Wednesday night I was lucky enough to leave Monaco and attend a private villa party. The views were sumptuous and I was surrounded by my kind of people. Electricians and AVIT specialists. The company hosting started as a Husband and Wife team who were all about making and keeping relationships. It was inspirational stuff and I will do my best to include them in future projects. For all of the technology and shiny things. Yachting remains a hospitality industry and it is the people that you remember as it should be.

Villa view

The boat show presented some technical challenges for me. For example, it would be odd for us to have over 40 televisions running simultaneously or to have the cinema playing with the deck sliding doors open. These challenges were addressed, which kept things interesting. That said, I didn’t feel entirely comfortable attending the show until the very last day—Saturday.

After modifying my show pass, it was time to take a look around.

The last two are my favourites. Drive fast; no gas.

I did have an official reason for leaving the vessel. I needed to purchase an iPad. I managed to walk 7.5 kilometers on my sojourn.

You can still find parts of French culture in the relative slums of Monaco.

I had a delightful exchange queuing at FNAC. I let a little old French lady in front of me. She was so happy for this small heroic action. I carefully said Noveau Zealande as to not confuse me for a brit and she let me pat her toy dog in her handbag. The dog really was a handbag accessory.

The only distressing part of my trip was encountering this in front of the Casino.

This is why locals hate insta Tourism. I felt ashamed. Note to self. If I see this sort of behaviour in the future I shall stroll through the photographers shot, slowly and as annoyingly as possible.

I got to see a few more interesting things.

The show is now over. We had a night at anchor last night and this morning I was lucky enough to see this beauty.

MY Tatoosh. One from my heyday and she still looks pretty cool :-).

With single digit days left on this contract. I am looking forward to a side quest in Malta before attending the finals of the America’s cup in Barcelona. More boats…..