Travel with Liberty: from social media side hustle to a new kind of maritime career

The perks of working on a superyacht – global travel, generous pay and tax-free earnings – attract thousands of young seafarers from all corners of the globe every year. But there are plenty of pitfalls for the unwary dockwalker. Liberty Nogueira, aka Travel With Liberty, tells Helen Kelly how she navigated a successful career change from London to Antibes, and is now helping other aspiring yacht professionals to do the same

Helen Kelly (HK): Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into yachting?

Liberty Nogueira (LN): Sure. I grew up in England and moved to Portugal when I was about 14 and spent lots of summers on the water, sailing and water skiing.

Then I did what I thought I had to do: university in England; a job in London working in recruitment…. By the age of 26, I started thinking: 'What am I doing in my life?'

I knew that I wanted to travel and make money, and at the time a good friend was working as a chef on a superyacht. She told me all about it, and I knew that was it! I wanted to work in superyachts.

So, whilst I was still working in my job in London, I took a holiday and did my STCW basic safety training, then I did my ENG1 medical, and I flew out to Antibes and started the job hunt with the all-important dockwalking.

HK: Do you have any good tips for dockwalking?

LN: I think people are often in a position where they're wanting to get their first job in the industry so much that they're kind of blind to the pitfalls and jump headfirst into their first job.

Dockwalking can be scary but try to keep a cool head and listen to your gut. You've got to have a good relationship from the beginning in the interview with the captain, or with whomever your boss is going to be, and you can kind of get a feel for the crew. That's very important.

You must read the small print of the employment contract. Everything about your repatriation, your salary, your holiday allowance, is in there. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Ask the captain if there's something in the contract you're not sure of. They should be more than happy to go through it with you. If there's something that you're not happy with, don't be afraid to voice it.

 

 

You must read the small print of the employment contract. Don't be afraid to ask questions, and if there's something that you're not happy with, don't be afraid to voice it

HK: What attracted you to the deckhand role?

LN: Working on deck includes the maintenance of the vessel, operation of jet skis, and water sports, among other responsibilities. There is a lot of variety, which suits my personality. I've always been an outdoorsy person, very sporty, and knew it was a great fit.

I also received a good bit of advice from a friend who was a chief officer at the time. She said: 'Don't apply for any dual roles such as deck/stew. Stick to deck if that's what you want to do'. So, I was quite fixed on that avenue from the beginning, which was great.

HK: What are the reasons for not taking on that dual role? Surely it doubles your experience and therefore opens more opportunities?

LN: Some people think a dual role is a great way to expand their chances of landing their first job. In my opinion, I don't think it does, because every vessel is different.

Most deck/stew jobs are on smaller boats – and it's never a 50/50 split. Naturally you'll start to favour one or the other, and you'll always want to do one more and enjoy one more, and it can be quite frustrating. So, although you think you're maximising your chances with a Deck/Stew job, I think it's better to have a hard think about what you actually want to do in the long term and stick to that.

HK: Any tips for progressing from deckhand to bosun, managing the deck crew?

LN: It depends what size vessel you're on, but minimum you need your Yacht Master qualification. For larger vessels, you need Officer of the Watch (OOW) qualifications, and that would also enable you to work as a second officer.

The vessel that I worked on was 55 metres, (180 ft), and I did my Yacht Masters about two years into my deckhand career. Then I thought that I wanted to become a chief officer, so I started some of my chief officer modules, which actually helped me in my role as bosun. But then I decided it wasn't the route that I wanted to take after all.

HK: What was your most memorable trip, and why?

LN: Antarctica. It was one of the most incredible places I've ever been to. So serene, so beautiful, and I never thought that I would even go there until I worked on a superyacht. One of the highlights of that trip was my morning shifts from 05:00 hrs when no one else was awake. I've never been anywhere as silent. Just taking it all in.

HK: You've got over 71,000 followers on TikTok and your content's been seen by millions of people. What got you into it?

LN: I bought a drone a few years ago at about the same time I started on TikTok and it just kind of evolved. I realised that people were actually quite interested in the superyacht industry.

Then I started managing the yacht's Instagram account and did that in my spare time, which was a great way to learn more about digital marketing and social media. I did a lot of the social media and photography and drone stuff for the guests during the Antarctica trip, which was a good excuse for me to go on the excursions. So I managed to go ashore quite a fair bit, and I also got some incredible drone footage of all the epic places that we went to.

Now I tell yacht crew seeking career advice to be constantly upskilling yourself. Learn how to fly a drone, learn how to video edit. If you're interested in doing Pilates, do a Pilates course. You've got a month off; upskill yourself. It will enhance your CV.

HK: In 2024 you announced your retirement from working at sea and talked about removing the 'golden handcuffs', what did you mean by that?

LN: The 'golden handcuffs' is quite a common term in yachting that refers to the many perks of working in the industry, like travelling the world and making a great salary compared with most people your age. Your laundry gets done; your meals are cooked for you every day; it's the golden handcuffs that make it very hard to leave.

Most people say that you haven't really left yachting unless you leave, rejoin and then leave again.

HK: How do you advise people to break free from the golden handcuffs?

LN: It's completely dependent on your journey. Some people see yachting as a career; they live and breathe yachting and want to be a captain. Other people want to do it for a year to see the world.

But there are some people that get stuck in the middle and don't really know what they want to do. So that's why upskilling yourself is great – because when you leave, it will help you build a life outside of yachting.

My advice, if you're looking to leave yachting, is don't make it a sudden decision. You need to plan for it, save up for it and get the feelers out before you leave. Start a side hustle. Build up your side hustle in your last year of yachting. You might not have time for it, but it is so much easier to build a network while you're still onboard.

HK: So, what's next for Travel with Liberty?

LN: Yachting is an amazing industry to be in. I've loved the travel, the people that I've met. I said I was going to do it for a year and ended up doing it for six years. But it's not my forever job. I got to a point that I wanted to have a base in Portugal and come back to land life.

I like to think that I've built the start of a community on Instagram and TikTok where people who want to crack into the industry or people who are already in the industry can pick my brains or ask me any questions. I think there's enough people out there that could use my help. So I'm in the early stages of creating my new business is called OnDeck.

On Deck helps aspiring superyacht deckhands navigate the industry with confidence, providing practical advice and insider tips gained from many years of experience. Through practical advice, I provide the knowledge, skills, and insider tips required to secure their first position and fully embrace the incredible opportunities this industry offers - a resource I wish I'd had when I started many moons ago.

This is an edited version of a Nautilus podcast interview with Liberty Nogueira. To watch and listen to the podcast go to:

www.youtube.com/@nautilusint

soundcloud.com/nautilusinternational