Hugo Ortega, an American, had a well-paying job as an engineer and a long-term girlfriend.
But he wasn’t happy, he said.
“I didn’t like the job that I had. I didn’t like the degree that I had just finished doing,” he said. “I was starting to feel kind of weighed down by a lot of the stuff that I had in my life.”
So, he said, he left it all — his job, his relationship, even his country — to backpack around the world.
Eight months into his journey, Ortega said a chance encounter with a South African yacht deckhand in a Myanmar hostel changed his life.
“I was looking at, you know, working in a bar or … backpacking some more, or teaching English in China,” he said. “None of that was as sexy as his job.”
The two traveled together for three months, he said.
“I met more and more of his friends that were also yachties,” he said. “Even though I had no boating experience, [I knew] I could do this.”
Ortega on board the St. David yacht while filming the reality television show “Below Deck.”
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Ortega has now worked in the yachting industry for more than a decade, first as a deckhand and today as a superyacht captain, he said. The job also led to a stint on Bravo’s reality TV series “Below Deck” which offers a glimpse into life aboard luxury yachts.
Common misperceptions
People who are interested in working on yachts don’t need to be expert mariners or have boating experience, Ortega said.
“The main thing is being really willing to learn,” he said, along with having “a customer service or hospitality type of personality.”
Nearly every worker on a yacht works with guests, he said, so being friendly and agreeable are critical traits. “Some people just don’t have that in them,” he said.
Ortega started out in the yachting industry making $36,000 a year, plus tips, as a deckhand, he said. As a captain, he makes $10,000 per month, plus tips.
Source: Hugo Ortega
Ortega said being open-minded and humble are key too.
“If you’re not someone that is willing to learn, or kind of start from the bottom, or feel stupid again, then that’s going to be hard,” he said.
He also cautioned that, contrary to popular belief, jobs that stray from the classic “9 to 5” aren’t easy.
“There’s a lot of crew, but there’s not a lot of good crew,” he said.
He also said that while physical appearances matter in the industry, things are changing. Young, good-looking people find jobs faster, he said, but crews are becoming more diverse with time.
“Sometimes people get this idea from looking at the magazines and the brochures that, oh, everyone’s this one mold,” he said. “It’s continuing to change.”
Ortega opened up about another difficulty of the job: being away from family, especially on holiday, birthdays and special occasions.
“I’ve got family in the States, I’ve got a best friend in Singapore, I’ve got a brother that lives in Australia, and I’ve got a lot of extended family in the Caribbean,” he said.
Ortega said he’s often torn between spending his free time with loved ones…
Read More: Below Deck’s Hugo Ortego on quitting his job and working on yachts
