Whatever Happened To Rocky Dakota From Below Deck?
The hit reality series "Below Deck" revolves around the lives of attractive young people who work closely aboard luxurious yachts for weeks at a time. The crew members, or "yachties," change from time to time, with many faces returning nearly every season. But it's a different case with Raquel "Rocky" Dakota, who only appeared in Season 3. Still, it didn't stop her from making a huge splash on the show.
Avid "Below Deck" viewers are aware that Dakota's tenure on the show was brief. She served on Eros as a third stew for a single season, but she got entangled in some drama that made her stint memorable. For starters, she had beef with chief stew Kate Chastain, after blaming her for firing her friend. She also got involved in a fling with bosun Eddie Lucas.
It's safe to say that Dakota made significant contributions to the show's storyline, but after she left, barely anyone heard a peep from the reality star. In fact, there were rumors that she left the yachting industry for good and kept herself busy with other things.
Rocky Dakota partied her way around the world
With Rocky Dakota's colorful personality, it's not at all surprising that she ended up traveling the world and partying as much as she could. After she left "Below Deck," she revealed that she went on a no holds barred vacation with her best friends.
"I went on a big blow out vacation trip, with no rules and no regulations! I linked up with my hot model girlfriends in Paris and just crushed Europe!" she told Bravo. "One night we had a $50,000 budget that a friend of ours paid for, it was a wild night ... We had 14 bottles of Dom Perignon."
But after she had her fair share of fun and chaos, she went completely zen and lived in Europe to teach yoga. "I pulled a complete 180 and lived at an Ashram in the Netherlands for a month. I became vegan and I just meditated every day. I am happy to say that I have earned my Yoga teacher training certification!" she continued. "Yoga has really been my savor and has guided me into a really healthy and an even more positive direction."
The funny thing is she brought the opposite of zen to the "Below Deck" reunion. After former rival Kate Chastain complimented her for being talented despite not being the best yachtie, Dakota took it to heart and questioned her. "And how come you say I'm not the best yachtie?" she asked. "You just said I was really talented but then you just said that I was not a good yachtie." Awks!
Rocky Dakota still takes on stew jobs from time to time
Unlike what most people assumed, Rocky Dakota didn't leave the yachting industry. In fact, even said that she envisioned herself living and working around water for the rest of her life.
"After Europe, I moved back to Hawaii because I realized how much I missed living right next to our mother ocean," she shared with Bravo. She even thought of kickstarting her own business, but she decided against it because she wanted to have a bit more fun. "While there, I was exploring the option of opening my own food truck. I had a vision of me cooking in my bikini and just surfing every day," she divulged. "I realized that I wasn't actually ready to settle down."
And so instead of running her own venture, she went back to what seemed like her calling: working on yachts. "I switched gears and started doing freelance yacht work again," she revealed. "I also started working for this photographer and I go on trips with him as a model/camera assistant to help make yacht brochures to sell private charters. It's great!"
She doesn't get in touch with her fellow "Below Deck" stars, though. "Connie NEVER calls me & I DONT hang w Capt. Lee!!" she wrote in a tweet. "... Kate, Connie, & Lee hate me!"