yeah i wish i had offers thrown at me!..im barely getting from day to day, praying i can make the right moves to put dinner on the plate…
Nemo and MICcrew.
No, I’m not at the point where I will take the first job I am offered. I am looking for a career. I am still able to provide for my family and I am not receiving government assistance. Am I rich? No. Did I have the forsesight to set aside money for a prolonged period of unemployment? Yes. By posting the job at C&G I was hoping to help another mariner find a career – or a job to put food on the plate. Statements like “you obviously don’t need a job bad enough” and “yeah, I wish I had offers thrown at me!” show the worst side of this industry: the antisocial ass holes you are often forced to share living quarters with. If I have mischaracterized your personalities (or the intent of your posts) my sincere apologies. If not, good luck with that.
seattlemariner,
You are wise to put aside money for periods of unemployement as such periods are on average the norm in the maritime industry. Sure, the money is decent and demand there right now but that can change practically overnight as anyone who has been in the business long will tell you. I believe it was John that said never be afraid to walk away from a job and that is very true. If you are financially not able to do so you can easily be put in a position which would jeopordize your license, livelihood and even your freeedom. I see this on a regular basis in my current work. Good knowledgable engineers and captains take risks to satisfy the ‘office’ in order to not jeopordize their jobs. Usually by the time I get involved the ‘office’ has disowned the engineer or captain in order to reduce their liability.
Anyone in the maritime industry should have at a minimum one years salary set aside for the inevitable rainy day.
Seattlemariner,
My sincerest apologies. When I said “You obviously don’t need a job bad enough” that’s exactly what I meant… Good for you to have the foresight to put enough money in the bank to pick and choose for an “extended period” of unemployment.
I was unaware that C&G isn’t a “career” employer. Thanks for the info.
And I think if you and I had a burger and a beer you’d change your opinion of me as being the antisocial ass hole you are often forced to share living quarters with. I’m not asking you out…you’re not my type: a little too defensive.
I’ve needed …and had to take… jobs that weren’t exactly what I wanted, but I took them to tide me over until the right one came along. They did, and it did. And the ones in the interim didn’t do anything except pay the bills and give me a greater appreciation for the one I was looking for. I’m none the worse for it. Maybe a little better.
I won’t call you what you called me. I’m not looking you in the eye right now.
Best of luck to you and the antisocial ass holes you are often forced to share living quarters with.
Nemo
Seattlemariner,
I Live in a small fishing village just south of myrtle beach SC. As most know, Myrtle Beach is a resort town. It thrives only on tourism , nothing else! There are no industrial plants or large business headquarters here. We rely souly on the service industry.
All oh my life i’ve worked at the same marina. Starting as dock boy and now finally working up to charter captain. Everyone here lived the same way. Make your money in the summer. when you make 500 a day (includeing tips) for only three months out of the year you quickly learn to spread it out!
Last year My boat ran 162 trips which calculates to around 40,000 before income tax. This year Ive ran a total of 79 trip. EXACTLY HALF! not including the drop in tipping because no one whats to spend the extra money. That leaves me with 20,000 before taxes. thats not a lot of money these days, and how do you plan for that. Had to terminate my lease on my place. Move bad in with the parents. cut all extra spending to nill. and now i find my self standing at the dock everyday trying to find a way to make money. wether its commercial fishing, catching and selling bait, or even just picking oysters for dinner to cut out the cost of one meal for my family.
i do appologize if my comments affended you, but i am one of those guys that needs the work, BAD! The past few weeks ive been working my A$$ off the make the right phone calls or send my resume to the right person for even the possibility of getting a deck job. ive put my time in, ive done my schooling, and i have the motivation to get up and do something better than anyone i know. (which by the way is quite a few ppl, so antisocial i think not). so where are my breaks?
Yes a career is a great thing, but i Qoute NEMO
"I’ve needed …and had to take… jobs that weren’t exactly what I wanted, but I took them to tide me over until the right one came along."
and hopefully if someone upstairs sees it fit that i’ve worked hard enough and payed my dues. the career for me will come around when it should. until them, for me beggers are not chooses.
Please dont take what i say or have said as a direct attack on you. its merely an attempt for myself to releive a little frustation and let you understand where i sit. And by all means, if you’re ever on the east coast drop me a line. i would be more than happy to rub a couple of pennies together and get ,me and you, a beer.
MICREW
MICREW, I’m feeling your pain, well maybe not, Im feeling my pain. Nemo is my father and thanks for understanding what he said. I had a job last month with ECO in the gulf and did’nt take it on the count of the conditions that i was put in when I showed up for work. If you look back in the posts here you will see that I thought I had hit a “home run”-title of the post_, but at the time I showed up I didnt think I had. But now I am in the same shoes as you, Im building docks for $100 a day when the weather is fit. My best advice to anyone that reads this is, if you get a job in the gulf or else where, take it, it may not be what you want but it’s a start, a foot in the door. From there, well, the sky is the limit…Good Luck Crew… If I find a lead I will be sure to let you know!
Splash I sure am sorry to hear that things didn’t work out for you at ECO.
Me too splash…i hate to hear that…but at least you have a back up plan. the weather has screwed with me too. it wouldnt be so bad if i could put in a couple multi day commercial fishing trips. that would bring in 300-400 a week… but here the weather has been so bad…that today was the only good day to fish…the last good one was a week and ahalf ago…and the next ones arent looking to be here for another week…and then everyones going to be inchin so bad to go…itll be tough finding a boat to get on…
But im with you my friend if i find a hot tip ill put it up here…
For the record, I was out of line and it appears that neither MICrew or Nemo deserved my. . .defensive generalization. Enough on that.
Have either of you (MICrew or Splash) looked at the small cruise ship industry. They almost always seem to be hiring and it’s not a bad gig. The pay stinks (even the captains top out at around $300/day) but the work is fun and the large crew usually make life interesting. You can advance quickly. I went from 3rd to Chief Mate in three months with a 100 ton license – which speaks more to the turnover than my abilities at the time.
http://www.smallshipcruises.com/destinations/alaska.shtml has a list of some of the major operators on the West Coast. Cruise West, Lindblad, Safari, The Boat CO. and The Alaskan Marine Highway are notables. I am less familiar with the East Coast companies but American Caribbean Cruise Line is one of presumably many. It’s an industry usually ignored by most professional mariners in the job quest, but it deserves a look by someone looking to gain experience quickly and advance to the wheelhouse in less than a year. Oh, and there are girls, lots of girls.
I hope this helps.
No hard feling my friend.
i just recently startin looking at those. and i appreciate the link. ill let ya’ll know what i find.
Seattlemariner have you thought about going to work for Argosy?
CA, how many times do you think you could make that loop in the sound whilst listening to that damn tour guide? I’d jump over the side the first time they got close to Shilshole.
You think? I’ll fess up and admit that I actually did that in a past life, when I first moved to the Northwest. At the time there was no mariner shortage, and I got laughed out of every tug boat company’s office, every coastal freighter company office, even fish boats. I returned to my roots and went to work running small passenger vessels. T’was a humbling experience professionally, and as it turned out it was actually fun and the food was great. But, $11.65/hr wages for Master, and having to clean the heads once we tied up is the name of the game in that <100 ton world. I’m glad I’m not doing that anymore. I had some troubles with the office, like the night in dense fog on Lake Washington when I called a bartender/deckhand to the pilothouse as my lookout. That left her bar unattended, closed down, and generating zero dollars in revenue. The bar manager threw a hissy fit when we got back in. I just laughed at him, it turned into a sit-down with the owner of the company. Seems they had never had one of their Captains post a lookout, and were somewhat bewildered by the whole concept. Oh, and the day I took a boat out with just crew aboard and conducted DRILLS?! That blew some minds… Oh, and the day the bride on a wedding charter barged into my pilothouse and said “DJ, put on a different CD!”. DJ? Out of my wheelhouse, lady! Oh, and the time I stopped that boat in the middle of Lake Washington on Christmas Eve because a woman passenger came up to the wheelhouse in tears, becuase someone had stolen her purse which contained her grandfather’s wedding ring and pocket watch. I pulled 'em back and made an announcement saying we werent moving until the purse re-appeared with it’s contents intact. Forty-five minutes later, it magically appeared in the women’s head. The victim was so grateful, and relieved to get her priceless items back. But boy, the other passengers threw a shit fit. I nearly got fired over that one.
Gotta love the passenger industry. Never again!!
haha…i know how all that feels…running charter boats and head boats…you get no shortage of dumb people…best couple i had were: Gulfstream trip off of SC-2hours to the stream-1 1/2 hours in to the trip-i was on deck mate at the wheel…passenger leans overto me and asks …“when do we get to the ocean?”…Or…Ride home after a gulfstream trip…a guy desides to jump off the back…we do a man overboard get him back on…sit him down ask him what happened…he says “i forgot my meds” and hes sry…not 2 mins after getting back under way…he runs to the rail and over he goes again…once we get him on the second time…you better beleif i had the duck tape ready…he wasnt moving from that bench til we hit the hill…a lot of people laugh at it but…any means necessary right…
i bet we could go on for days…is there a post of just random funny stories?
CA, your tale reminds me of a time I was riding one of our tugs for the Sea Fair tug boat races in Elliot Bay. First of all, I was called up by the office on my time off to assist the Engineer on board. Apparently, there was someone in the office that thought going from zero to balls out on two EMD 20-710s may increase the likelyhood of mechanical issues. (contrary to the folks in Argosy’s office we actually had ex-mariners in our ops dept) So, the morning of the race the crew took the tug out to play a little to see if there was anything we could do to gain an advantage (figure clutch delay times ect…). When we returned to the dock there were 200 people waiting to board for the race. With a little (not so gentle) prodding from the Captain I quickly digressed from Ch-Eng to Waiter, tour guide and at time guidance councilor. Adding 200 civilians to the 7 crew on the tug started out as comical but quickly escalated to panic when during a round in the basement I discovered a teenager (whose dad was an electrician) that had removed the cover to my switchboard to explain the equipment to a large group of onlookers. My response was typical of what you would expect from any engineer and using a colorful choice of explatives I escorted the crowd out of the engine room. After weaving my way through a crowd that would make Oprah proud to tell the captain to keep “HIS” guests out of my E/R I arrived in time to hear our Captain explain to a well dressed passenger that, “no this boat is not the Washington State Ferry, no he could not take him back to the dock until after the race and no he would not make the meeting that he had flown across the country for”. I couldn’t help but laugh and when the guy shrugged his shoulders and asked what he could do to help. All in all it was a good day but I wouldn’t do it again. I think times would have to get tough for me to find myself on an Argosy type vessel but, you never know…
I got my start on charter boats on Maui, late 70s. A couple of my favorite interactions with passengers:
Christmas morning, we’re on our way out to Molokini. Kona winds, 25 knots out of the south. Really rough. Guy comes up, says he wants me to turn the boat around 'cause his wife is scared. I say nope, Molo is in the lee and that’s the best place for us to be. He leaves, comes back five minutes later with his checkbook in hand. “How much for the boat?” says he.
Another day on Ma’alaea Bay, nice, beautiful, lots of whales. Lady comes up to me and asks: “Where do they house you people?”.
True story: One day I’m running an Argosy boat on Opening Day. Heading to Lake Washington, through the Montlake Cut. All of a sudden: “MAN OVERBOARD!!!” I stop up the boat in the midst of hundreds of pleasure craft. I look over and see the guy is in thw water, and already has a PFD. A small boat brings him back to us. I go to my “deckhand” and complilment her on her quick action. She says “Huh?”. I say, “nice job with the PFD, getting it over and to him so fast.” “Oh no”, she says, “He asked if he could go for a swim and I said, you’d better take one of these with you.”
MICREW843, which boat are you running now? Did the NCB go to the islands like I heard?
Don;t forget about the people who ask if they will have an opportunity to collect any of the “blue” water!
no the NCB went to charleston…whos this?
1st off just wanted to say Hello! I recently made the transition from commercial fishing(15 years on deck on a Bering Sea crab boat) to the merchant marine industry. I was recently employed by Chouest to work as an AB(M/V Dove-Cali,Hawaii,Alaska,Washington 60 days on and 30 days off).
Tip for people who are looking for employment esp w/ Chouest. They usually hire later in the week. They have the 2 physicals/drug test scheduled on Monday and safety classes if you need them after that. I used the method of email them w/ my cover letter/resume and a catchy email intro.Once you get a email back you will get the contact numbers you need. Don’t wait to for them to call you back so call them!
Thanks for all the great info that is on this site!