Capturing the Moment

  Waking up excited about work is a reality for me. I lead expeditions around the world onboard adventure cruise ships and privately to destinations like Hawaii, Alaska, Antarctica, and Africa. Sharing these wild places with excited guests is an extremely rewarding experience. I constantly see the locations, wildlife, and adventures through their eye....like I'm seeing it for the first time. I feel very lucky to be in this position and I do not take any of it for granted. I've worked many different jobs that have culminated in being able to excel in this career.... teacher, marine biologist, boat captain, naturalist, whale researcher, photographer, lifeguard, guide. Something I heard once as a young man and took to heart was, "If you do something you love long enough, someone will start to pay you for it."   It makes the 14 hour days, the bad weather, the unruly guests, and the last minute contingency plans all worth it. Here are a few pictures from the last couple of...

Quiet nook from a kayak Morning Office View   For the past two weeks I have been leading expedition guiding trips around the San Juan Islands, Deception Pass, and Olympic National Park. The trips are seven days, round trip from Seattle. My base is the beautiful Safari Quest. I like to think of it as the flagship for the UnCruise fleet. She can carry 22 passengers and 10 crew. The crew includes a pastry chef, bartender, steward, hotel manager, executive chef, captain, chief mate, deckhand, engineer, and an expedition leader (that's me). It is an amazing crew and to make things even better we most often have pretty amazing guests.  Rough skinned newt!   We only run the Pacific Northwest trips during the shoulder season. The bulk of the summer sailing season is in Southeast Alaska. Due to the pandemic it had been a couple of years since we've run these PNW trips, but we jumped right back into it. The itinerary is very active, with big hikes almost every day. One comment I of...