Captain Jason Chambers Opens Up About Being a Dad: “All I Care About Is My Daughter”
The Below Deck Down Under captain says being away from his 7-year-old daughter is the “hardest thing” about his job.
As it turns out, Below Deck Down Under’s Captain Jason Chambers isn’t the only “cutie” in the family. Father to a 7-year-old daughter named Saskia, he recently explained to The Daily Dish how leaving his girl behind while working at sea is the “hardest thing” about his profession.
At the moment, she primarily lives in the Philippines with her mother, whom the Australia-born captain gratefully credits for the “happy environment” in which their daughter is being raised. “Hopefully things will change, and I can be with her more and more,” he added in an interview earlier this year, sharing that he had previously been seeing his daughter about every other month. “We’re all striving to spend more time with our family… All I care about is my daughter.”
That, of course, made it all the more difficult when the COVID-19 pandemic kept them apart on different continents for two long years. While Captain Jason was “stuck in Australia” due to travel restrictions, his daughter and her mother “couldn’t leave” the Philippines either.
Now he’s making up for lost time whenever he gets the chance, having just recently spent two weeks with Saskia in the Philippines. The Below Deck Down Under captain had another two-week visit planned, and also hopes his daughter will be able to visit him in Australia sometime soon, as of the time of the interview. “I’m just grateful that she’s happy and she’s healthy,” he said.
One thing she’s not, though, is aware of her dad’s impressive captain job. “She’s 7. All she’s doing is climbing trees and running along the beach and going to school with Mom,” he shared, noting that his girl “has a happy little life at the moment.” One day, “when she’s old enough,” Captain Jason added, “she can look back and see her father on TV.”
He joked, “She can see the PC bits.”
Watch Below Deck Down Under Thursdays on Peacock and on the Bravo app.
— With reporting by Laura Rosenfeld
