GULF SHORES, Ala. – Capt. Mike Esser has luxury at his fingertips, and she’s a lady.

In fact, her name is She’s My Lady II, an 88-foot yacht recently pulled out at Saunders Yachtworks on the Intracoastal Waterway in Gulf Shores for some repairs and refitting. Esser is living on the boat during the work.

From the stately pilot house he has seen vistas from Chicago to a month-long anchor off of Caribbean islands and everything in between.

The beautiful yacht is full of dark stained wood, has a fore masters quarters on the main deck and about 1,600 square feet of living space including three state rooms below. The state rooms are accessed by a spiral staircase.

When at sea, Esser is not only the captain, he’s also the engineer. He can work on any system the boat has and has been called upon to make repairs many times.

“I can turn wrenches. I can do just about anything up to a certain point as tooling, and special tools,” he said. “We pride ourselves on that. We are computer experts at some point. Electronics guy, a mechanic, gosh the list goes on and on.”

It’s not only his job to keep the boat fit and running, he must also keep the boat owner and family and guests happy. 

“I do heads and beds,” he added. “We clean the heads, the bathrooms, and we make the beds. We get compensated quite well. When we ask for a little bit more and we produce more, it’s easier to ask for it.”

For power he has two 1,400-horsepower motors at his disposal, each pushing a four-foot propeller he can work in tandem to place the boat in just about any tight spot he encounters.

“It’s got bow thrusters up front and that helps,” Esser said. “And I’ve got two 48-inch propellers back there and when you do differential power - one forward, one backwards - it moves it anyway you want it to. 

“Literally you can walk this boat sideways right up to a dock.”

And there are some other walking duties in his job as well.

“They have a dog and I take the dog out for a walk,” Esser said. “There’s another hat. I’m a dog walker. I’m out here picking up poop in a paper bag.

“I’m hands on,” he said, breaking up with laughter.

During his captain days, Esser has worked for a variety of owners, and he says getting a good fit between owner and captain is crucial.

“It’s as important for the captain to interview the owner as it is for the owner to interview the captain,” he said. “You’re coming into a family that trusts you with their safety, that you’re going to become friends with.”

His current owner is a retired business owner who cultivated a bustling enterprise, built it up and sold it to enjoy his golden years. Some owners require crew to wear the uniform all the time, but Esser says his current owner is more laid back. 

On occasion, when there are guests on the boat, the crew will wear the hats, epaulets and crisp pants.

“Some owners are very compulsive and some of them are wonderful,” he said. “The one I work for now is wonderful. One thing I’ve recognized about this industry is the younger the owner you have that’s still into business, the tougher they are.

“The older ones, 70, 75, 80 and kind of mellowed out and out of the business, they’re so mellow that nothing really bothers them. I have one of those.”

And they are like family.

“I get up before they do --  coffee’s made,” he said. “I usually straighten up the salon. They wake up and we have breakfast together.”

Esser spent 10 years in the Air Force, opting out in 1987. After a few years in general aviation, he then spent seven years in flooring business with his wife’s family. 

During another stint working for his brother in marketing and advertising for another four years, one of the customers he recruited was Sea Ray Boats.

“They apparently liked me and I supervised their customer service and warranty department for the yacht division,” he said. “I did that for three years.”

He mentioned to a friend in passing he might like to be a yacht captain. A few months later that friend called back with a lead on a job. He went to work as a captain in 1999 and he’s been doing it ever since.

His wife also worked with him on boats from 1999 to 2007, but went back into the family flooring business in Melbourne, Fla. They have been married for 36 years.

“It was an economic move,” he said of his first captain assignment. “It was a 22 percent increase across the board.”

Besides the two 1,400 horsepower-motors, the yacht also has two 40 kilowatt generators “to run the whole house when we’re on the water.” It holds 8,400 gallons of diesel, now at about $3 a gallon, and Esser guesses if she were on the market today the yacht would list for about $2.5 million. It was built by Broward Marine in 2001.

Operating the boat can run from $200,000 to $450,000 a year, Esser said, and a refitting usually runs up about a $150,000 tab.

He carries a boatload of memories, but his favorite places are in the Caribbean islands.

“Los Roques is about 10 islands and it’s a bonefish paradise,” he said, “We were there for a month by ourselves except for when we went in and out. It was wonderful. San Lucia, St. Martin, they’re all nice.”

The boat has a complete compliment of scuba gear, eight air tanks and a compressor to fill them. It tows behind it for shore and fishing excursions a 27-foot center console boat.

He takes advantage of the perks, but at the same time he has to be ready to go if something goes awry.

“There are times when I’m on the tender, I’ve got a cocktail and life’s good,” he said. “But two hours later that could all turn to hell if a bilge pump goes out or the air conditioning doesn’t work.”

Or the dog needs to take a walk.