How Marina Poppins began …

Back in May I got the call from my agency that I’d been placed on a dual nanny role on a 100

meter yacht in the South Of France, as every nanny knows a dual nanny role comes with its

own set of unique challenges. What if I don’t get on with this nanny I’m going to be sharing a

3x3 meter cabin with for the next 7 days? What if she has a different nannying style than me?

Or the worst possibility of them all… What if she’s just useless? But like any good nanny also

knows, none of that matters, you have a job to do and an experience to create. I was given a

briefing on the job and India’s number to connect before the trip and work together to create

bespoke provisions lists of everything ten children would need on a seven day charter.

On the first call with India I realised none of my worries were at all founded and this was indeed

going to be an easy and smooth trip, we worked together seamlessly from across borders to

make multiple provision lists, covering everything from toys and toiletries and having it sent

straight to the boat. Little did we know this was going to be anything but smooth sailing.

I travelled down to Manchester to catch the same flight as India and get a few hours to set a

game plan for the week. Things started to go wrong when our flight was delayed and then our

bags took over an hour to come out. When we finally got to the marina it was a quarter to

midnight and we still had a few hours of work ahead of us to unpack all the provisions and set

up the boat for a 9 am guest arrival. We were both tired and in desperate need of a shower but

we pushed through, joking with each other that it could only get better.

With only five hours of sleep we welcomed the guests and children on board with smiles on our

faces and activities set up and ready to entertain the children of all ages to ensure the parents

got a moment to breathe and take it all in. They’d made it, on board the holiday they had been

dreaming about all year, and better yet, they knew their pride and joys were safe

and happy.

The yacht we were on was a beautiful snapshot of history and one of the most historically

important yachts on the water, something the adults and history majors marvelled at, the

children, well… not so much. Working in the childcare side of the yachting industry for five years

and being on board countless yachts you learn that some boats are made for children (think

softplays onboard, cinema rooms with child-sized seats and shallow, kid friendly pools) and

some boats are, unfortunately, not. After quickly realising there were some major safety

concerns with the children we worked together with the crew, parents and our agency to make

sure the children were kept safe in, on and around the water.

I knew India was going to be a life long friend on the evening of the third day, we were

babysitting a few of the children that had stayed behind while the other guests went out for

dinner. After being in the water all day, India kindly sent me off for a quick shower. Mid hair

wash, the water, like my motivation mid workout, suddenly ran dry. Frantic and with shampoo

quickly running down my face I called India half laughing and half crying after a 12 hour day.

India worked as quickly as can be expected, gathering up four children calmly playing

magnatiles, and asking them to follow her as she kept my predicament quiet to go and find the

chief stew. Five minutes after the phone call she knocked on the bathroom door yelling through

laughter “the engineers had a water problem, they’re working on it now. But i’ve got six bottles of 1L

Fiji water for you!” and so with most of my dignity lost, I had the most expensive shower I will

hopefully ever have.

The last scrap of my dignity was lost on another particularly long day, a stew was lovely enough

to save us some tiramisu from the dinner service, after we got the kids to sleep and were able to

take a moment to decompress the dessert was presented to us and I pounced like a child

whose parents' back was turned. But wait, this wasn't the delicious creamy, coffee flavour we

know and love? We gave each other a side eye and turned to look at each other “why’s it

yellow?” India questioned. I took a slower, more cautious bite and realised that it was in fact a

banana flavoured tiramisu, with not a hint of coffee in sight. I wish I could type that I had a very

measured and reasonable response to this but alas, I started to cry. It was the banana flavoured

cherry on top of the day.

On the last day of the trip we said our goodbye to the families, making sure to get lots of

cuddles off the children. India and I departed the yacht shortly after the family and made our

way to the less than glamorous easy jet departure gate, where in keeping with the trip theme,

nothing went to plan. With a three hour delay we went and had dinner with a cheeky bottle of

(very well deserved) wine on the side. We then started talking about our own pathways into the

industry and the lack of available information there is for established nannies wanting to get into

the world of UHNW travel and yacht nannying. I’d only met India for a little over a week before

but in that moment I think we both knew that we were about to create something special. India

took out her notebook and we started brainstorming, something that seemed so scary and out of

reach to do individually became completely plausible and realistic with India at my side. I would

like to apologise to the man sitting next to us on the flight home who had to listen to us for two

and a half hours talking about our ideas and where it could take us. Back in Manchester we said

our goodbyes with a date already in the diary to meet up and start our adventure…

… we can’t wait to see where this journey leads us and hope you’ll follow along.

Safe travels & see you soon,

Hayley