Dockwalking, Properly: How Day Work Turns Into a Contract
A realistic, marina-by-marina guide to finding day work in Antibes and Palma — the hours that work, what to carry, what to say, and the mistakes that get you remembered badly.
Dockwalking is still how a large share of green crew get their first paid day on a yacht. It is also the part of the process people do worst, because nobody teaches it.
The season decides everything
- Mediterranean: arrive March to early May. Yards are finishing refits, boats are provisioning, and crew are hiring day workers before guests arrive. Arriving in late July is arriving after the hiring.
- Caribbean: arrive late October to November, ahead of the Antigua and St Maarten season.
Turning up out of season costs you rent and morale for nothing.
Where to actually stand
Antibes — Port Vauban and the IYCA area; the chandleries and crew houses on Boulevard d''Aguillon; the notice boards at the crew agencies on the port side.
Palma de Mallorca — Club de Mar, STP Shipyard Palma, and the Moll Vell / Paseo Marítimo stretch. STP in refit season is the single densest concentration of yachts needing hands in Europe.
Access is controlled at most of these. You are not scaling a fence; you are being visible where crew walk to coffee.
The hours
07:30 to 09:00. That is the window. Crew are on deck, chamois in hand, before the heat. By 10:00 the work for that day has been allocated. Afternoon dockwalking is for dropping CVs, not getting hired.
What to carry
- 20 printed CVs, one page, photograph top right, certificates listed clearly.
- Your ENG1 and STCW certificate numbers on the CV itself.
- Plain white or navy polo, tailored shorts, deck shoes. No logos of other yachts.
- A phone charged, and a WhatsApp number with your country code correct.
What to say
Short, and about them:
"Morning — I''m looking for day work, I''ve got STCW and ENG1, I''m available today and tomorrow. Would it help if I left a CV?"
That is the whole script. Do not tell your story. Do not ask about permanent roles on the first contact. Do not ask for the captain by name.
What gets you remembered badly
- Boarding without being invited, or stepping on the passerelle.
- Photographing yachts. Guest privacy is the industry''s religion.
- Dockwalking hungover, in flip flops, or in a group of four.
- Turning up on a charter day. If there are flowers going aboard and the crew are sprinting, walk on.
What day work is worth
Typical day rates in the Med run roughly €120 to €170 per day, cash or invoiced, often with lunch. It is not the money that matters — it is that every day worked is a reference, and the industry hires almost entirely on references.
Turning day work into a contract
- Work the day like it is an interview, because it is.
- Ask at the end: "If anything comes up, may I stay on your day-work list?"
- Message the bosun 24 hours later, once, thanking them.
- Keep a spreadsheet: yacht, length, bosun''s name, date, what you did. When a job appears in six weeks, that spreadsheet is your network.
Budget honestly
Plan for six to eight weeks of rent, food and transport with no income. Crew house beds in Antibes and Palma typically run €25 to €40 a night. People who fail at dockwalking usually did not fail at dockwalking — they ran out of runway in week three.
What we do with this
Our Career Roadmap fixes your arrival window, marina shortlist, budget runway and CV format to the season you are actually targeting, so you land in the right port in the right month with the right paperwork already valid.