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Gabriela Diaz: How did you get interested in working at sea?
Joe: Well, I broke up with my girlfriend and was trying to escape from all that stuff, so I talked to a friend and mentioned my situation. He had a job at the academy on the Great Lakes, so he invited me to the University of Washington. He encouraged me to go to the Coast Guard and get my credentials. I got my credentials, and I started at the University of Washington. With more experience, I moved to Scripps.
GD: What was your best experience on the ship?
J: It is hard to say, but I think that I had the best view when we went to the ice shelf. I went to the Antarctic and was surrounded by ice. It was like in Star Wars because it was a greenish-blue, panoramic view. I looked down and there was a tiny seal that was looking at us, and the seal started to make noise, maybe trying to say to us: “go away it was quiet here!” Also, on another trip we were trying to find penguins. We looked everywhere but we didn’t see any penguins. But one day, we saw a huge iceberg and at the top there was these 3 lonely penguins. I have no clue how they get there. It was one of the best experiences.
GD: What was your worst experience?
J: Maybe sea sickness. There were a couple of times that I got sea sick. One time I was on the bridge wings and embarrassed myself in a projectile way. Another time, I was in the galley and I threw up in a bag in front of people that I didn’t know. And that was my first impression! I didn’t know it was coming. I clearly needed to recover quickly, but at least I threw up in a bag, a clean way.
GD: Do you have any goals that you want to share with us?
J: I didn’t finish my college degree, so I am doing one semester at sea and one semester at college, back and forth between the two. When I am done with this, I don’t have any idea what I am going to do.
GD: What do you think about research cruises?
J: I think it’s cool, I kind of like how people are younger and have a good background. A lot of the research is the same, but there is a different range of people joining in on the studies. I think that is important and the millennials are going to keep it going. The science needs to be all inclusive.
GD: Do you have any advice for students?
J: I have given this advice to others on here before. Make yourself as useful as you can on a ship because the more useful you are, others watching might like your work ethic and might invite you on other trips that you would not even think about. That is one more thing you can write down and it can help you get a better job later on.
