The sea has a funny way of stripping people down — not just to swimwear, but to who they really are.
There’s luxury — and then there’s yacht luxury.
Where champagne is a food group, tan lines are a lifestyle hazard, and the line between reality and reality TV blurs under the Mediterranean sun.
I’ve spent enough time at sea to know that the ocean doesn’t just test your sea legs — it tests your character. Money may float the boat, but it doesn’t always keep the ego from sinking.
Here are five lessons I learned about people from working in the world of superyachts — three scandalous, two soulful — and all undeniably true.
🥂 1. Money Makes People Forget They’re Mortal
There’s something about being surrounded by wealth — marble decks, private chefs, six-figure bottles of rosé — that makes certain people believe gravity no longer applies to them.
Rules? Optional. Reality? Negotiable.
I once watched a guest refuse to wear shoes because “the floor should feel honoured.” Another insisted their pet parrot be served Evian, not “tap.”
Superyachts don’t change people — they reveal them.
For some, money magnifies kindness; for others, it exposes entitlement.
At sea, there’s no backstage — only behaviour under pressure.
💋 2. The Bigger the Yacht, the Smaller the Secrets
Yachts are basically floating glass houses — glamorous, glossy, and impossible to keep anything private.
Gossip moves faster than the tide. Crew romances spark, sink, and resurface between ports. Guests whisper, alliances form, and someone always forgets the cameras (or crew) are listening.
It’s like high school with a uniform made of linen and a background score of champagne corks.
The scandal isn’t always about what happens — it’s about who finds out first.
Because on a yacht, discretion isn’t just etiquette — it’s survival.
🕶 3. Status Games Never Stop — Even at Sea
The ocean might be endless, but the hierarchy onboard is very, very defined.
Who gets the best sunbed. Who boards first. Who gets name-dropped in the captain’s dinner conversation. It’s all a silent, sparkling game of one-upmanship — a regatta of relevance.
The irony? No one really wins.
Because while guests are busy performing wealth, the crew are quietly clocking who tips well, who treats people decently, and who confuses money for manners.
The ocean remembers who you were when no one was watching.
🌊 4. Still Water Runs Deep — And So Do People
Then there are the quiet moments — when the music stops, the lights dim, and the horizon is all you can see.
You start to notice the crew member who sends money home every month. The guest who finally switches off their phone. The stewardess who sits alone on deck, grateful for one minute of stillness.
Yacht life is intense because it’s intimate — everyone’s mask slips eventually. And sometimes the most powerful thing you witness isn’t the luxury, but the vulnerability that sneaks through it.
The ocean doesn’t care about your status; it only reflects your truth.
💭 5. Connection Is the Real Currency
When you strip away the champagne and the chaos, yacht life runs on one thing: people.
The laughter after a 16-hour day. The shared eye-roll when a guest asks if the moon “can be dimmed.” The understanding nod between strangers who become family — even if just for one season.
At sea, the human connection is what keeps you afloat — not the paycheck or the prestige.
You realise how small the world really is when you’re floating between worlds, surrounded by stories, salt, and sincerity.
🥂 Final Reflection
Working on superyachts taught me more about humanity than any office ever could.
I’ve seen arrogance sink and kindness soar, secrets whispered and friendships born in stormy seas.
Because at the end of the day — when the guests disembark and the champagne loses its fizz — we’re all just trying to find our balance, our belonging, and our calm.
The ocean doesn’t judge. It just watches.
And it always, always, tells the truth.
💋
Dylan x
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