LOL!   It is a beautiful and obviously sexy name.....

LMAO!

LucyB wrote:

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I'm most delighted to admit I've had both in the other "realm"
;)

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        Ditto!

To be honest I'd prefer a SCREAMING ORGASM or SEX AGAINST THE WALL then I'd like a c*ocktail!

LucyB wrote:

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Ye Gads!  Too bad we can't classify ourselves as a charitable foundation and request a contribution from Nic in the form of a one week's paid vacation for all currently active members of the Nicky's Vixens site!

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        I second that!

        Come on Nic...how's about a special treat for us girls eh?! Hee hee!
        If only eh ladies!
        I bet a Vixens cruise would be a blast!

A timely discussion, me thinks....BTW.....I think a yacht called KISMET (as mentioned at the end of the article) is a pretty cool name!

Magazines & Books - September

Better start saving those pennies ladies!

I'm sure we'd all be willing to 'work off' some of the bill.......

;)

Hooo-Rah!   Line em' up ladies......and go easy on Captain Nic!  LOL!

I wonder too.....how much it costs to rent the yacht.  Maybe if all the Nicsters tossed in their pennies, we could head out to sea and have a Nicfest together???

I have checked and have found some info on this subject. Apparently, Nic is the owner of the Sarita Si, and has it chartered for others whenever he´s not using it for himself or his guests.

I have no links to submit, since the search tool I´m using does not provide them. The first article I found dates from 2004, the second from 2006. Nic comes across in both pieces as a nice boss to his employees. We also have a glimpse of how the daily routine in a luxury yatch is like. Here you go (sorry for the lenghy copy&paste):

HOW's this for a great mental picture.

Townsville born and bred chef Mick Donnollan sitting back in the media room of a 38m motor launch owned by actor Nicolas Cage, moored somewhere in the Mediterranean.

On the huge screen television in the media room the Cowboys are playing the game of their life and flying proudly from the prow of the luxury launch is a Cowboys flag.

It's not a Cowboys fan's ultimate fantasy -- though it could easily be -- but it is one day in the life of Cluden lad Mick Donnollan, the chef on Cage's launch Sarita Si.

It's a very rare moment of relaxation for Mick who caters for the culinary desires of the rich and famous on the launch -- whether they are there as Cage's guests or independently chartering the boat (for $200,000 a week) -- from dawn till dusk, or any moment in between.

During a quick trip back to Perth and Townsville late last week to see family and friends, Mick and his fiancee Astrid Weinbauer, chief steward on the boat, agreed theirs was a surreal existence.

By this morning the couple should be in Fort Lauderdale to meet the boat which will now cruise through the Caribbean for the northern winter, probably spending some time moored outside Cage's home in the Bahamas, ready to go anywhere the actor desires.

It's a long way from the Commonwealth Hotel in South Townsville where Mick started work washing dishes in his very first job as a kitchen-hand after attending boarding school at All Souls in Charters Towers.

He had tried a job in radio with 4RR but always liked to cook, so when the opportunity arose for a job at the Commonwealth he grabbed it.

Out in the gracious old pub's beer garden last week he was amazed at the changes in the restaurant industry in Townsville and remembered the days when the Commonwealth beer garden would be packed all weekend serving hundreds of meals to locals.

Now the focus is on Palmer St, where Mick moved next after starting his cooking apprenticeship at the Commonwealth.

He went to the Metropole, owned at that stage by Jenny and Gavin Hogg, did a stint at the Bessell Lodge as a third year apprentice then fetched up at the original Pasini's, down at the end of Palmer St next to the Metropole, having decided it was time to try his hand in a restaurant.

Mick was there for nearly two years and credits Virve Pasini, now the chef at MoMo's in Palmer St, with inspiring him and teaching him the ropes.

"It was excellent, it was the best. She would change the menu every day and she'd go shopping every day (for the best produce) and she would let you in a little bit, but she did all the cooking. It was a very small kitchen, like the galley on the boat at the moment."

After Mick finished his apprenticeship at Pasini's he wanted to travel so moved to Cairns where he worked at the Colonial Club resort, then on to Perth, where he worked at Matilda Bay restaurant next to the Royal Perth Yacht Club, a five-star restaurant on the water with a professional kitchen -- about 15 chefs -- where everybody had their own section. Mick had the fish and seafood section which he thoroughly enjoyed.

He moved on to a number of other Perth restaurants before the travel bug bit hard and he took off to Canada for a spot of snowboarding then some backpacking around Europe.

He returned to Perth, about 24 at this stage, and began work at the Driftwood restaurant that was attached to a winery in the Margaret River region. It was there he met Astrid, "my beauty" he calls her, who ended up managing the restaurant.

It was certainly a top spot for anybody interested in fine food and wine, but Astrid had a friend who had gone to Antibes in France to work the luxury charter boat circuit and so the couple decided to give it a try.

"We really didn't know what we were in for," Mick says.

They had no boating experience which was a problem, and the fact they wanted to stay together also proved to be a difficulty.

"To save money we spent three months in a caravan park 4km outside Antibes, looking for work," Mick said. "We'd go to see agents every day, we'd do interviews every day . . . we'd walk to town in our jogging gear then Astrid would have to get changed in the bushes for her interviews."

The young couple were determined to get a job together but finally they were so desperate for boating experience Mick accepted a position on a privately-owned 40m yacht travelling through the Greek islands.

It sounds idyllic, but imagine preparing three meals a day for eight crew, then the same again for 12 guests. Everything from eggs benedict for breakfast to a big buffet lunch and lavish dinners to pizza at 4.30am if requested.

"It's the hardest work I've ever done," Mick says. "You're on your own in the kitchen and it's from 6am to 1am in the morning. You're on call. It's like a floating five-star resort."

Astrid then found work on a French yacht for a season before the couple met up again in Antibes, the main Mediterranean centre where charter boat staffing agents are located.

Then came the pay-off for their perseverance. After spending winter in a flat in Antibes watching DVDs to pass the time, they were both offered a position on the Sarita Si, the luxury launch owned by Hollywood star, Nick Cage.

"It was like, `Oh, reeeally'," Mick says of their reaction when they found out who the owner was.

"You think you'll never see them," he says, "but he came on twice this year so that's good. He's very easygoing, he's a really nice guy," Mick says.

"I think it's easier because all the people associated with him make sure he's happy so they give you as much information as possible," Astrid says.

"When he walked on the first time we were all lined up there in our epaulettes and all looking nice," Mick says, "and then he comes on board and says, `Hi, I'm Nick' and we've all looked at each other and gone `hi'. He's such a nice guy. He'll come in and chat about world issues or whatever, because he has to be quite close to the chef. At the end of the night we'll have a chat. I'll come out and ask how dinner was and find out if there's anything special they want for tomorrow. There's lots of surprises (food wise) but you can never say no to the boss."

While Mick and Astrid agree that the boat's guests are generally very nice people, "a lot of actors and actresses talk to you like you're nothing, but we've been very lucky," Mick says.

Mick's food costs are usually around 4000 euros, that's about $A8000 a week and he often has to contact food agents across the world to source certain exotic ingredients such as the finest Iranian caviar.

"You buy the best, there's no budget really," he says.

"In Greece it's a bit different. You have to go to the supermarket and fill about 10 trolleys with food -- there'd be a special aisle for these boats. Putting away the food on the boat can take half a day."

Although surrounded by the most fabulous ingredients, Mick says his dinner break usually involves shovelling down a bowl of steamed rice in the small galley. That's all he has time for anyway, but after cooking for everybody else he finds he rarely has an appetite.

The couple have so far lived in Canne, Nice, Toulon and Genoa in Italy and hope to stay on the charter circuit for a few more years before having a family.

They want their children to have European passports so they can be citizens of the world but dream of coming back to Australia one day, perhaps to open a bed and breakfast "somewhere we love."

Definitely not a restaurant Mick says, blanching at the thought of working those hours and rarely seeing his family.

They've learnt that money means nothing -- family and contentment is everything -- and the odd trip to the Bahamas isn't too bad either.

SECOND ARTICLE:

The Southland Times

"I haven't seen him (Nicolas Cage) in over a year.

(He's) a nice guy. Very polite. He seems like a genuine person as well. Graeme Brown FORMER Invercargill man Graeme Brown has a lifestyle many can only dream about.

For the past two years, Mr Brown has been employed as the captain of Hollywood actor Nicholas Cage's motor yacht Sarita Si.

Mr Brown, who grew up in Scotts Gap, is the only Kiwi member of the nine-strong crew that work and live on the motor yacht. His fiance, Kirsty Smith, also works on the yacht.

Since April last year, the crew of Sarita Si have been sailing through the Caribbean and the Bahamas, with Johnny Depp, star of the film Pirates of the Caribbean, who used the motor yacht as his home during the filming of the second and third instalment of the movie.

For the filming, Walt Disney chartered the motor yacht through owner Nicholas Cage's management team.

The motor yacht, which is 40m long, cost about US$4 million, Mr Brown said.

The film crew finished filming in March this year, so for now the boat is at port in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, which has given Mr Brown and his fiance time to travel to England and Thailand.

At the moment Mr Brown is in Southland for three days, visiting his mother who lives in Invercargill.

Although he was employed by famous people, Mr Brown said he was not star struck.

"I treat everybody the same," he said. Mr Brown said Depp was a "down-to-earth guy" . He's normal.

You might say he's not star stuck.

He is a sound family man." And as for Cage: "I haven't seen him in over a year. (He's) a nice guy. Very polite. He seems like a genuine person, as well.

As an employer he looks after us very well," Mr Brown said.

Mr Brown's experience in the boating industry has stretched "on and off" during the past 10 years.

During that time he has captained boats for Dutch and French people.

At one point he was part of the crew on a boat worth $US70 million ($NZ111.23 million).

From 2000 to 2003, he worked on a boat called Odalisque.

Guests on board included United States President George Bush's family.Mr Brown has also met Pearl Jam's lead singer Eddie Vedder.

Mr Brown said his job was a good one but it was not always smooth sailing.

"It's not easy either. It's like any job. You've got the glamour side but also the repetition and mundane jobs," he said.

OOps!  I'm sorry.  They must have been posted during those 2 weeks I was away from the computer.