VIP #1: Boat Captain, Jody Minnoch
See him up there in the Bridge? Don't bother him. He is busy making sure we don't run into an iceberg.
Main Job: monitor everything on the ship. He drives about 8 hours a day.
How he became a cruise ship captain: Jody started working on boats when he was 22. He was a deckhand. He loved being on the water and soon knew he wanted to work his way up to the captain position.
Advice for kids who may want to be a ship captain: Work hard in school and learn math. You need to know math in order to nagivate a ship. Get a summer job on a ship to see if it is something you are interested in.
Curious Fact about Alaskan Cruise ship captains: We follow summer! On the Sea Lion we work in Alaska in the summer and in Baja California in the winter.
Favorite Food: homemade mac ‘n cheese and ‘authentic’ Mexican food.
Captain Minnoch wanted to say hi to you.
VIP #2: Naturalist, Gretchen Pederson
There is Gretchen. She is taking people closer to Dawes Glacier on a zodiac.
Main Job: Share interesting and amazing information about the wild and natural world the boat guests see.
How she became a naturalist: Gretchen has always enjoyed being outside and being with animals. She picked a job that allowed her to share her passions with others.
Advice for kids who may wnat to be a naturalist: Be curious. Learn everything you can both in and outside of school. Study animals, plants and rocks.
Curious Facts about Alaskan naturalists: We get dirty! We get wet! We get to catch frogs!
Favorite Food: Fresh berries.
Naturalist Gretchen wants to say hi to you.
VIP #3: Chief Engineer, Matt Foster
Matt is wearing ear protection. It can be loud around some of those engines.
Main Job: Takes care and fixes anything mechanical on the ship
How he became a boat engineer: Matt started out as a really good truck mechanic. He wanted a change and answered an advertisement to work on boats. He found almost all of his skills were the same on a ship.
Advice for kids who may want to be a ship mechanic: Study math and science. Also, you need to be able to communicate with people very well.
Curious Fact about Alaskan cruise ship mechanics: If something goes wrong in the middle of the night, the crew wakes me up!
Favorite Food: Mexican
Engineer Foster wanted to say hi to you too, but it was TOO LOUD!
