Watch: Uncaged with Giants (Beqa Shark Dive)
Fairly experienced seaman looking to explore.
The ocean is peace. While she can be a fickle mistress, she is consistent in her beauty and allure.
Hi, my wife and I just joined Crewbay and are looking forward to sharing some adventure with new people.
I've spent a lifetime on the ocean and the last 33 years working in and around the ocean. Growing up I spent more time on the water than I did on land along the Texas Gulf coast. I worked on charter fishing vessels (a 52 foot custom built crew boat and a 42 foot Hatteras) in high school. In 1990, at age 18, I joined the US Navy, which took me around the world on the USS California. I left the Navy In 1996, and received a B.S. degree in 2000 followed in 2003 by a J.D. with a certificate in Natural Resource Policy and Environmental Law.
After law school, I was hired by the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service in Alaska where I spent a lot more recreational time on fishing and research vessels. I later joined the World Wide Fund for Nature’s (WWF's) Arctic Programme and worked across the Bering Sea from the Russian Far East to Alaska's remote indigenous communities. In 2010, my wife and I joined the U.S. Peace Corps and served in Fiji, getting out on the water for kayaking, fishing, and scuba diving when possible. Since 2014, I have worked for WWF out of Wellington, New Zealand, where I travel throughout the Western and Central Pacific Ocean to assist conservation efforts across several small island states, so I'm reasonably familiar with the culture and customs across the Pacific Islands.
I'm a bit of a jack of all trades, but a master of none. I'm a modest musician, capable of carrying a tune while playing the guitar, which I enjoy. I also am a semi-skilled carpenter familiar with virtually any woodworking tool. I'm a half-assed shade tree mechanic when I have to be and have done field repairs on small outboards in a pinch, although all the new electronics and tight tolerances on modern engines intimidate me. I'm a trained electrician from my time in the Navy, but would be reluctant to take on anything but the smallest and most minor marine electrical jobs. I'm a reasonably good cook as well, capable of being creative with available ingredients where necessary.
As a lifelong outdoorsman, I'm a knowledgeable fisherman and can read the water and weather reasonably well. As such, I can catch, prepare, and cook just about anything that comes out of the ocean. I'm familiar with marine navigation and electronics, having started with compass headings and LORAN-C before GPS came along. I'm also competent with reading a navigational chart as well as actually driving a boat (I'm amazed how many people don't realise that boats don't have brakes), but am not proficient with celestial navigation (although I'd like to learn!). Most of all, I'm comfortable at sea and generally not shaken during a crisis having experienced rough seas in vessels of various sizes (largest at estimated 40 foot swells in the North Pacific) as well as having been trained in emergency medicine, firefighting/damage control, and survival at sea. I fully understand that the lack of a healthy respect for the ocean can lead to tragedy.
Lastly, I know when to work and when to play. On a vessel, everyone has a role and is expected to do their job. I like to have fun and consider myself a generally easygoing and fun person, but realise there is a time and place for it. I'm happy to kick back with a vodka tonic with a twist of bush lime in port or on the beach at the end of the day or relax playing the guitar and singing around a bonfire.
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