I received my college degree from a landlocked forestry school called SUNY-ESF (Environmental Science and Forestry) in upstate New York, and I graduated wanting to sail on oceangoing ships. My major was in Environmental Science and my minor was in Oceanography, which I obtained by studying aboard a research vessel at Sea Semester WHOI (Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution), located at the southern tip of Cape Cod, Massachusetts. This was where I fell in love with the sea.
The program consisted of about 2 months of classes and about 1 month of sailing on the SSV Robert C. Seamans. While I was studying on the ship we sailed from Hawaii to Tahiti, passing Kiribati along the way. Helm steering through squalls, navigating by the stars, eating on nimble tables, conducting our science research projects in the tiny lab, and hoisting lines was an adventure to say the least. The SSV Seamans is a brigantine sailing ship that housed 5 crew and about 20 students who grew up from pollywogs to shellbacks as they crossed the equator.
A month after college I was hired by NOAA as a survey technician aboard the RV Ronald H. Brown. I was excited and ready for the challenge! The RV Brown was my home for the next year with what turned out to be only a 2 week vacation. I was in charge of oceanographic data acquisition systems, and deck deployments of moorings and ROVs. At times the ship was filled to its maximum capacity of 30 crew and 30 scientists sailing around the world to countries such as Iceland, Portugal, Brazil and Chile. We encountered weather of every kind, from 80-knot winds and icebergs to glassy seas; but staring at a computer all day on a research ship on the ocean was leaving me restlessly homesick.
After I signed off of the Ronald Brown, I hopped over to Seattle to work as a marine technician for the University of Washington, sailing on the sister ship to the RV Brown: the RV Thomas G. Thompson. This new adventure led me from the Aleutian Islands to Mexico and ultimately to the U.S. West Coast, working with Scripps Institute San Diego, Canada, and Oregon State University, to name a few. Although I had more time off compared to previous voyages, I was once again sailing in front of a computer, this time monitoring internet feeds on top of data acquisition systems.
So as I write this now, I greet you as a tugboat woman working for a company in the Pacific Northwest and going to school for my 500 GRT Mate license. Truthfully, when I graduated from SUNY-ESF and completed Sea Semester, I wanted to be on the bridge all along. At that time I wasn't aware of the opportunities available at maritime academies, nor did I know about hawsepiping. But now being aware, I am full steam ahead!