Alexis 0:00

Hello. Hello everybody and welcome to the Smoko Podcast. My name is Alexis Armstrong, your host. Nice to meet you. The Smoko Podcast is the place to celebrate and highlight women, trans women, and non-binary folk working within stem and trade occupations. So please tune in, take a break, join us. We are on Smoko today. We are extremely lucky to be joined by the lovely lady herself, my salt sea life, Larkin Bond, who has a sailor of over 12 years of experience. She has worked and sailed all around the world. She has worked on previous ocean research vessels, such as the RV Pelican and also the D S SV pressure drop. She's gonna tend to talk about her experience working at sea, traveling around working. As a mate working her way up the house pipe, all things science research and ocean research. And we're gonna also speak about her newest transition into something really exciting into it being a videographer and science communicator and sailing a board vessels as a science communicator. So Larkin, thank you so much for coming onto the show. I am so excited to chat all things maritime industry, life at sea, being a sailor. I can't wait.

Larkin 1:06

Thank you so much for having me, on your show. I'm so excited to spread the good word about life at sea and, women in STEM and just all the possibilities for the future.

Alexis 1:16

Being a sailor myself for now, a retired sailor. I love talking about life at sea. And maybe that's where we start is. Starting from the very beginning is someone like you that is from landlocked Louisville. Yes. And growing up in a landlocked state, how you ended up becoming a sailor? What drew you to becoming a sailor and how did you realize when you first started working, maybe for your region cruise lines that you were like, A sailor's life is a life for me. How did that happen?

Larkin 1:43

I'm from Louisville, Kentucky, but I always liked big cities and the idea of traveling and things. So I moved to Chicago and I was living in Chicago at the time when, I was trying to plan like a vacation for my mom and me. I was trying to get us to Hawaii, right? I was thinking, I wanna see as many islands as possible and she'll her as many eyes as possible. So I was looking at cruise lines on there and. I go on Norwegian cruise lines and in the corner there's a little button that's saying, now hiring. I clicked it and two weeks from that date was an open house in Chicago, like just a few minutes from my house. Oh my goodness. So I thought, this is Kiss me. I'm supposed, there's moments in your life Yeah. Where this is a moment, so I'm supposed to do this thing. Yes, exactly. I knew. So I got my resume together. I went to the open house, got the job. Before I knew it, I'm whisked away off to Hawaii. I love ship life right away. I knew this was for me. I'm meeting people from all over the world. I'm in a different port every day. I'm learning new things every day, every hour even. I loved it however I was in the jewelry store. I'm a really hands-on person. I like being out outdoors. Sitting behind a glass case is just wasn't for you. Not ma jam. No, not ma jam. But I saw these sailors walking. I would see like the deckhands walking by with all these tools, or they were driving the little boats, taking the guests to and from the shoreline. They were up in the wheelhouse with the captain. They were doing busy all the cool stuff. They're out there like doing the thing on the open sea. And it was something that before that had never even been on my radar. But when I started talking to them, I realized that this life is actually possible for me. I've already got a job on the boat. Yeah. So what's the difference? I can do this. So I started networking with the different, deckhands and captains and mates, and they were all very, generous with their knowledge. And I ended up getting the job with the company. So because I didn't go to academy, I'm working my way with the house pipe, I didn't have any, deckhand experience, but that's where you start as an unlicensed deckhand. My first task was to find a job that would hire an unlicensed, deckhand. It's one of those catch 20 twos where you can't get that first job unless you have a little bit of experience. Can't get the experience, but the first job. So I was lucky enough to come across a company called Un Cruise, and they hire unlicensed deckhands. They gave your girl a shot and, and the rest is history. Once I stepped on board as a deckhand and started working with those tools and learning how the skiffs run it, like learning about navigation, all of these fascinating things, it was like, a dream life. I finally had that adventure that I've been seeking all these years, so that was beautiful. That's how I ended up on boats. And it's just progressed from there, from the cruise ships. My heart has always been in science and wanting to be, on the science vessels. And so like eventually worked my way up and ended up on one of those research vessels.

Alexis 4:08

It's such a beautiful story and I love kind of moments like that, that you think are faded, that they just happen and that you're like, this was like really meant to be. I love that kind of moment that everything aligned like a domino that you were like, this is made for me. You mentioned a term that I think if someone's maybe not in, in maritime They might not understand and that's the ho pipe. Yes. And I was wondering if you could kinda talk to that, because I know that there's two ways that you can get into maritime and like you said, that classic kind of catch 22 Of how do you present to this system. You either go into a maritime academy,. Or you work your way up the house pipe. What is the house pipe? And could you speak to that experience? What was the most fulfilling part of it? What was the most challenging, how did that work?

Larkin 4:47

Absolutely. I knew that there was two different ways. There's the academy and there's a house pipe. The Academy, while appealing, I was ready to work. I I wasn't in the mindset of okay, I wanna go back to school for a few years. I wanna get out there on the water. I've had a taste of the good stuff and I wanna keep this going, you know? The house pipe is the pipe that the anchor chain comes out of. And so you're basically working your way up the chain of command. That's what it's, oh, yeah. That's a cute little metaphor. So, you know, worked my way up the house pipe. Starting out as an unlicensed deckhand, what I found really rewarding was working and learning at the same time while getting paid in these extremely beautiful environments. There is no better classroom than southeast Alaska, by the glaciers. I would do mundane tasks as an unlicensed deck hand. Scrubbing the deck with a big smile on my face, and the guests are walking by like, why do you look so excited? Why do you look so happy? You're just scrubbing a deck. And I said, I don't know if you turned around, but there's a glacier over there. Yeah. And I'm getting paid right now, so

Alexis 5:42

This is pretty gorgeous for me. This is, yeah, this is it. Yeah.

Larkin 5:44

That was wonderful. One of the challenges I would say, working my way up the house pipe was, And this is just a challenge being, being a female in this industry. At the very beginning, I didn't really have a mentor. It was a little uncomfortable at first. But luckily, there was a wonderful deckhand named Shana Floyd, who came on board a few weeks after I did. And she was my deck partner. She took me under her wing and, made me feel very comfortable about asking questions. It's a very powerful thing to see a woman and a role that you wanna be in, and to give you that helping hand when you need it. That was one of the most rewarding things, the challenging two most rewarding thing?

Alexis 6:18

It is inspiring and it is so funny because you don't really know that's a big chunk that's missing to this kind of like magic recipe until you have a mentor, until you see representation and to see you see another woman in that position or where you would aspire to get to. And then you're like, oh, this is actually extremely powerful and, I didn't know that I needed this. I didn't know that this was missing. Larkin, I have a couple questions, could you explain the steps of like how do you go from unlicensed deckhand? What are the next steps up to me? How do you switch over from being unlicensed to then licensed?

Larkin 6:49

When you're unlicensed, you're basically trying to earn your sea days? And a sea day, you accrue a sea day while you're on the vessel. You might work for ships for a couple years, but you need to get 360 sea days. Yeah, that's hard. To be a licensed deckhand, which you actually have to test out for as well. So it took me a couple of years to accrue those C dates because you're on the vessel for say. Three months at a time and then you're off for three months or you're on the vessel for six weeks off for a few weeks. It's different on every vessel. You know what that looks like. But it does take a little bit of time in order to accrue those 360 days. Once you do, you can test out, get your license, and then you can start driving like that. Going from licensed deck hand moving up, how I did it, like through the house pipe was I would accrue more and more days and then I would take supplemental courses. Amazing. Whenever I was off the ship. Various things like, fast rescue boat, there's so many different little classes you can take. And all of those things are going to add to your credentials, which are gonna make you look really good. To other, companies when they were, when they're hiring sailors. That's what that looks like for me.

Alexis 7:48

I think it's just important for people to know, cuz I think. Maybe an idea to be like, okay, is there either like Maritime Academy or you stuck at unlicensed to be like, no, you can become licensed. This is just one way to do it. It's a different way of bringing in education. You're bringing in education at a later date, but you're also getting all of your experience of practical knowledge right off the get go. And then you're challenging it. It's a different structure. You're working your way up and you're getting all that practical knowledge. And then I love that you started supplementing it with additional skills and kind of practical courses. I think that's so beautiful. It gives you a well-rounded education on the maritime industry.

Larkin 8:23

One thing that I wanna add to that is that it does keep it exciting, right? Because when you go back to work and you're working your job, which you love already, and it's already like very exciting and dynamic. But then you're working towards something because you know that you're gonna go on break and you have this course that you're gonna take. And that course is gonna open up more doors. So then you take that course, you get off the boat, you take the course, and you go back to the vessel. And now more doors, you have more opportunity to do other things on the boat that you couldn't do before. It's just this ongoing thing, this progression that you just go up and it's always have something to look forward to. So it's really beautiful.

Alexis 8:51

It's such a dynamic industry, there's so much to learn. So just having that opportunity to branch out. And I know your role right before you're gonna go into videographer Which we're gonna talk about in a little bit. But as mate on the rv, Pelican was your last vessel. I was wondering if you could speak to the roles of mate. What is the roles and responsibility of that, label, what are your clinical tasks that you have to perform? And then what are tasks as a maritime industry that you never thought in a million years that you'd be responsible for, that you caught yourself doing, and you're like, what in the world?

Larkin 9:22

So in regards to the question about, times that I've, how did I get here? I never thought that I'd be doing this. Almost like every rotation that I've been on a ship, I've been like, there's been a situation where I'm like, what am, like, how did this happen? I'm just a girl from Kentucky, and I'm here. I am like above the Mariana Trench and a speedboat talking to these scientists who were like 36,000 feet down. What? Yeah. But there it's the face frame. Yeah. Yeah. Every once in a while you just have to catch yourself, yep. This is my life. This is, can I pinch myself? This is what's going on. But some of the responsibilities on the Pelican, it's navigation, driving a big one on the pelican because it's a research vessel, is driving the vessel while you are lowering and or while you're, it's driving the vessel, while you're deploying and retrieving science equipment, which can be tricky Because you've got, because that ocean, you never know what she's gonna do. That's a bit of a learning curve, because specifically the pelican, and this is the first time that I come across this, they have, a dog. The doghouse is where you operate. Equipment from, on a research vessel. Their doghouse was in the back, but you could change it to where you could drive the vessel from the back. Oh, so facing the back? Yes, yes. So to those at home who don't understand Imagine if you're driving your car, and then you could all of a sudden. Go in the back seat and drive your car from looking out like the back of your car, looking out the back of your rear view,? Everything's turned around. So that was a tricky one on the pelican specifically. That was interesting.

Alexis 10:48

Oh, totally. Most vessels can't do that. Most vessels cannot be operated from two sides of the same coin being able to drive it from the back of your car. There's no way. Was it the weird learning curve of learning how to do that? Was there kind of something that's different with navigation on a scientific research vessel? How does that look?

Larkin 11:06

with navigation on a research vessel versus say like a cargo ship or something. These scientists are trying to get something specific, right? Weather dictates, currents dictate if we can get to where they want to go at the time that they want, they wanna get there. So there's always meetings between, made to captains and the science crew of how are we gonna get there. Sometimes like you have a plan to go to point A, B, C, D and that order, but you might have to change it and go, oh no, we're gonna go CD then come back up to AB and do it then because weather has changed since we made that original plan. You have to be really flexible in these environments. And that's with any job on the sea really.

Alexis 11:46

That is like definitely a standard of the maritime industry of working at sea is flexibility that yes, you never know what's gonna happen. It's basically absolutely nonstop fields work. Like you don't know where you're gonna go. You don't know how weather's gonna cooperate. You don't know what's gonna break. But then the other part is also communication and being part of kind of the captains crew and navigation and the control room. You also have to communicate with the entirety of the rest of the staff and the maritime crew How big was your crew that you worked

Larkin 12:13

with? That was one thing that was nice about the pelican was that the crew was a smaller crew. It was almost interchangeable. I would also do like engine rounds and I did. Oh, okay. I think that's really important in any job that you work is knowing, as much as you can about the whole company or the whole organization that you're working with, from like the bottom up. That's why it was seen on that vessel to have that smaller crew so that everybody knew how the other jobs worked so that you could have that better communication and, knowing what was possible and what wasn't. How we could make things possible if we were

Alexis 12:40

questioning them. Yeah, no, that's wonderful. That's really cool that you also did like engine rounds and that you, it was such a small crew.

Larkin 12:47

That was the smallest vessel I had ever I'd ever been on. Wow. Very dynamic vessel a lot going on, always changing and lots of different scientists coming on board, collecting different types of data. Plus it was the first time that I'd worked in my own backyard, cuz it was down in Louisiana. I'm used to being over in Japan or Norway or something like that. So you've gotta fly there. I remember talking to the guy on the phone and him saying, so if you wanna bring your car, and I was like, bring my car.

Alexis 13:13

Excuse me. What? That never happens in maritime. There's no way. You're used to like two days and you're like, I'm gonna be stuck at Doha and then I'm gonna be like, that never happens. Yeah. Never in my

Larkin 13:22

life's crazy. Exactly.

Alexis 13:23

Crazy. Going into life at sea. One thing that we've talked about already, is like how dynamic, how flexible you gotta be. How you have no idea weather is gonna be weather. It's gonna be A complete mess. Haven worked on chips. I know every single person who's ever worked in the maritime industry, have multiple ship stories. And I was wondering if you could talk about a couple of yours, if you don't mind sharing about maybe a favorite memory of a ship, and then maybe what's one that's maybe a little bit scary, a little bit spooky, A least favorite one from working at sea.

Larkin 13:54

I'm gonna say my favorite. They're both, could be a little spooky. But, that's just the life, right? Like the little things get a little dangerous out there, but that's okay. The first story begins, while I was doing I

Alexis 14:06

once upon

Larkin 14:07

a time, first. Yeah. Once upon a time in southeast Alaska, we were repositioning the vessel. This is when I was working for UNC Cruise. We were re repositioning the vessel from, Alaska down to Baja, Mexico. Because that boat, it, it summers in Alaska and winters in Baja. So glamorous. I know. It's to hard life. So we're doing the repositioning, and before the repositioning, we have to put big metal plates over the windows and secure everything on the vessel because it gets really choppy out there. The weather gets bad and the conditions get very rough and the boats, oh, gross teeter tottering. So we were prepared. Everything was very secure. Now, we come into some really bad weather, right? And I'm up in the wheelhouse with the captain who's driving at the time. It's tense. It's tense moment, and then all of a sudden we start hearing this, the done, done, done, done. Dun dun. And I thought, oh man. Cause it's coming from above us, which means it's up on the top deck and I'm the only deckhand that's gonna go up there,? So I know it's gonna be made the chain of command. Yeah, yeah. Gotta go check it out. Put your game face on. And I go up there and on the top deck, because it was a cruise ship There were chairs and exercise equipment and stuff that we had tied down. Weather and the ocean. It had loosened a few things. So I had to go over there like tar that stuff up and the rain's coming down and I'm holding onto when something's holding my hand's, holding onto something at all times. You gotta have three points of contact, but I'm like, percent, yeah. Safety fairs. So I'm out there and it's, it's just like this really, it's very, I don't even know the words. As I'm tying this stuff down, it was like that moment, have you seen the movie Forrest Gump where he looks up at the weather and he's on the shrimp boat, and he's yeah, God, gimme your worst. It was like, that's what it felt like out there. That's what the weather felt like? So as I'm starting this stuff down, I like have a moment where, I look up and I was looking at the sea and the rain coming down and it was just like the clouds and the lightning. And I look over and as I look over at the water, a humpback whale just breaches with this little No, it doesn't get outta Yes, it did. It was like a movie. Like it was like 30 feet from the boat. I was like, are you kidding,

Alexis 16:11

Mary? That's insane. Yeah. That's crazy. Also one of those moments too, like as soon as you see an animal, you can't tell anybody. Everyone's proof where it didn't happen. And you're like, it took five seconds, man. Like it was there, but you feel like almost like you saw a mermaid, right? To be like, totally. It

Larkin 16:25

was magical. The other story that I have was, it was scary because we were, we were, this is while I was also, while I was at UNC Cruise and, we have 70 guests on board. Wow. And one of the guests was having a medical problem. Oh. And we weren't sure how severe this medical problem was, but we knew that we had to get this person off the boat as quickly as possible to seek medical attention. In this situation, it was like, pressure was on, right? We gotta get this person outta here. It happened all so fast, but it was beautiful to see my crew executing. This task of Yeah. Cause it is something to behold seeing people like, taking a skiff off of, with a crane off of the top deck onto the water. it was just so beautifully done. Like a dance almost. Yeah. And then we got that person to the medical attention they needed in the time Everything worked out. And it was one of those moments, like at the time it was scary, but I felt like I was on, I dunno, like one of those rescue shows Everybody just snapped to action and the training for this our

Alexis 17:19

entire life. And then to actually see it. Yeah, exactly. We got this. We like have those, like those rings, those seven shorts. We're going right now. Exactly.

Larkin 17:31

That was my scary too. Another like rewarding. I honestly feel like that's another, theme with working at sea were things, it may seem really like scary or hard in the beginning, but that's the stuff that becomes so rewarding when you break through to the other side.

Alexis 17:46

I do think that there's also something that you brought up that like dynamic nature of boat Yes. Kind of fuels you. That's what I love the most about it too. Yes, it could be a little bit scary. You're in the middle of nowhere, you have no idea what's gonna happen. I was a smoker at the time when I was working on at. See. So I'd be out on my little smoke break and seeing the oceans and seeing it like come basically as big of the shit. Part of you would be like, wow. But also part of you would be like, am I about to get drifted out to sea to be like, is this my last smoke of my life? What happen? I go out? Yeah. But there was a beauty in it. I'm just like seeing this crazy amount of water scene, what nature can do, like really experiencing nature at it's kinda like raw form and experiencing a sea like that No one else is gonna be out there ratchet, strapping, and then seeing this kind of humpback whale. Like that. You can't make that up. One thing that I think with maritime that has ever freaked me out. It hasn't been weather. Like I worked on an old boat that sounded like it would creak when you would sleep. Like me and my partner would be sleeping. I'd be like, we might die like the old people in Titanic. Cuz it would be like, or like, it was like

Larkin 18:52

it was a 10. Right. Is that normal sound or is that just boat? I that is that bad? Is that a warning sign? I don't know. I don't know.

Alexis 19:00

But that one really freaked me out like that I got used to, what freaked me out was like medical, because you are so remote. I remember when I first got on ships, I was talking to an old sailor and he was like, well, yeah, this boat's a little bit different. That we allow everybody to have their appendix and their wisdom teeth. And I was like, whoa, whoa, whoa. Back up. Like in some maritime boats, they make you take out your appendix and take out your wisdom tooth. That's barbaric. You can't expect people to take that out. Fast forward a year later, we had almost four appendicitis and they were so scary. Thankfully, everyone was okay. Everyone was fine. They got the medical attention they needed. The entire crew kicked into overdrive. I realized, I went to my doctor and I was like, take this ticking time bomb. I'm outta here man. I don't need it. I don't need it. I, the whole 180, like at first to be like, you could never ask us to take this out to them being like, please take all volunteering. Take my teeth. Take everything. Yeah. Take it off. Yes. Cause it's very scary.

Larkin 19:56

Another one that I wanna talk on for people at home that I didn't realize, and I didn't even realize it until I got on board ships. I wasn't thinking about it, but fires. That's a big one. And so you need to have firefighters on board. I'm, certified as a firefighter training, that's part of it. And that was another one of those moments where on board practicing with my firefighter gear, you know, and it's, how did I get here?

Alexis 20:15

I won't say that I have the same level as you because you're actually maritime crew. Whereas us, we just worked on ships, but we had to be comfortable with being a firefighter as well. And we had to take that training. And I had the same moment of being like, oh my God, am I getting trained right now as a firefighter? How is this happening? But then I also would always go through the moment to be like, man, if they ever, if the crew ever calls up on us to be the firefighter. I think everyone should just get to the lifeboats at that point.

Larkin 20:42

Just go, just skip this step. Let's evacuate now. Exactly.

Alexis 20:45

I was the lowest at the low of the firefighters and I was like, please don't call me in coach. I don't think I'm ready for this. I'm not maritime crew. Yeah. I'm not staff. Please don't. Please don't call me up. I was wondering if you could speak to some of your vessels, because you've had the privilege and the opportunity to work all around the world on so many different cool boats. And one of them is the DSS vp. Could you talk about it? Could you talk about Yes, I can. Is trench me ball. Love to talk about this.

Larkin 21:14

Oh my gosh, yes. This is one of my favorite vessels. The pressure drop. First off, I was the first and only female in the deck department. Wow. For a while on that boat. The crew on board, they were amazing. They were some of the most professional men that I've ever had the opportunity to work with. That boat, the pressure drop carries what's a submersible we'll call the limiting factor. And the limiting factor, is the only submersible of its kind. It's a two-man submersible that has gone down to the Mariana Trench multiple times. Not just once, same, but multiple times. The Philippine trench it. There's also a docuseries on, I believe it's Discovery Channel, where it shows the, pressure drop going to five different locations where it's the five deepest dives in the world. This is amazing. It's extraordinary. To see this be a part of this operation, seeing the submersible getting lowered in? Cause that's 36,000 feet down to get to the bottom. It's my boggling deep. It's insane. So I was, another, one of my moments of like, how did I get here was, my role on that boat I was communications. In addition to that submersible that we would lower in the water, we'd also lower a speedboat into the water, and I would be driving that speedboat. We, myself and an engineer, and we would have a modem in the, in the speedboat. And as the submersible is down on the sea floor, 36,000 feet down, we would be following it on the surface. And every once in a while we would, we, the submersible would stop and we would stop and we'd lower the modem into the water and we could have communication with the submersible down Wow. At the sea floor. And that role, being in that role was such an honor. Seeing the whole operation, just being a part of it. It was so extraordinary. One of my favorite quotes was from one of the submersible team. I was like, I just can't believe we do this. And he goes, I know. It's wild, isn't it? When you can make the extraordinary ordinary, cuz we just do this every day now. Like it's just our thing that we do We're doing world records here. We're like breaking records left and right. It was amazing.

Alexis 23:03

So beautiful. I think too, like if people are listening, what should not be taken lightly is not only are you setting like records of being like deepest dives and going into the Mars trench multiple times, that you're the only one, only submersible that's manned. Most of those submersibles, they go that deep. They're not manned, they're completely Just technology, just instruments. But this is a man submersible. Also remember, we know more about space than we do about the ocean. This is cutting edge science. First time seeing this and getting a full record and bringing all your instruments down. But what should also be not understated is, it's not like Larkin's just putting down a modem and just like talking about coffee or talking chop. There's lives at stake. Exactly. Could you speak to what was the science that you were seeing? Were you able to see the very bottom? Was there live camera footage? Did you guys bring up samples? Is there something that stands out for the Marianne is trench, you're like, oh my goodness. What did that look like?

Larkin 23:58

Visually, the creature, the creatures that were down there. I have a little YouTube channel and I made some little YouTubes about the little creatures that are down there. The little crustaceans, the little jellies. Just learning about these different creatures and, I think what was so rewarding for me was getting to talk to the scientists and going over the footage with the scientist right there. I had the opportunity to work with, the scientists, that deep sea is their specialty. And so it's not like you're just watching something on Discovery Channel or National Geographic, you're watching it with the scientist who's gonna put it on those kinds of shows. You're seeing these discoveries happen in real time. And that was what was so rewarding was, oh, we just discovered the deepest jellyfish. You just never knew what you were gonna see down there. There was cameras on board, on the, on the submersible as well as we had two other, the landers. Landers basically look like big metal boxes, but they have a bunch of equipment on, on the landers we would also have bait. Trays and boxes and things on there that we would draw with this really oily, like mackerel, mackerels, big smelly. That's a smelly fish. These little creatures like come out of the darkness and stuff and just start like eating and then like you could see like a whole. It was like where there was once nothing. All of a sudden there's this whole feeding little ecosystem happening.

Alexis 25:10

But also you get to see the bottom of the ocean. Yeah. Which is so mind boggling to see, to be part of a research expedition like that, to see the live camera. I love that you're saying like you were there before they even make it to the Discovery channel. Like this is the footage that goes to the Discovery Channel. Yes. It is this kind of like empowering moment. You're part of groundbreaking science. And I was wondering if you could speak to another, Vessel because this has been your long-term goal that I'm so happy that you were able to achieve of working on scientific research vessels. Is your last one is working on RV Pelican. If you could kinda talk to that vessel, what its purpose is, what it does, and then what's been kind of something that's really been exciting that's come from working on the RV Pelican.

Larkin 25:54

The wonderful thing about working on that vessel was just the extreme variety of scientists who were all working on so many different, so many different projects. Another thing that was really rewarding was because it was the golf, there was a lot of, environmental research things that we're trying to research, what is the impact of having all of these, these oil platforms and all these things here, and like, how is that affecting the sea life here? What can we do to make that better? So to be a part of all of that was really rewarding too, helping these scientists to collect the data they needed to get in order to make the golf better.

Alexis 26:24

Very cool that you were able to work within the golf. Having a direct impact of how do we clean up the golf? Because there has been a lot of environmental negative impact and There's been, Huge spills. It needs environmental reclamation. So to be able absolutely to be part of that's so beautiful to be like joining the scientist. One thing you mentioned was the most rewarding and it was just the amount of scientists and the amount of people that you were able to talk to. And I was wondering if we could talk to your next kind of exciting big thing of moving inside communication and your next upcoming cruise in Italy.

Larkin 26:56

I'd be happy to talk about this. How this all started, and this is the beautiful thing about the maritime industry, you meet so many interesting people and end up in so many different environments on these vessels, that you don't know where you might have a special talent that you didn't even realize you had, that this maritime industry brings out in you. Now all of a sudden you're doing what I'm doing and you're a science communicator. A few years ago I was on the Keila Moana, and I was following these scientists around, I was very intimidated by them at first, cuz I looked at them like they were rock stars to me. When I was younger, I always wanted to be a marine biologist. Yeah. But the truth is that I didn't think I was smart enough to do that. And after talking to these scientists, I found out that a lot of them felt the same way, but they just pushed through it Yeah. A lot of people feel that way. So I kinda wanted to start sharing their stories and sharing what they were doing out there. So I started making videos for them and after a couple videos, I showed it to them and they're like, oh wow, these are really good. How long have you been doing outreach? And I said, outreach. What is

Alexis 27:51

outreach? I'm not doing outreach.

Larkin 27:53

And so as they explain outreach, which to everybody else out there, outreach is basically the, it's bridging the gap between the science world and the general public. But when he was explaining this to me, I said, you think you can get paid to do that? Doing this for. Yeah. Y'all just yeah. He goes, he said, I in fact, we'd like to pay you, oh man. Okay. Now I'm gonna be going out with them. I have two expeditions with them coming up. One in Iceland and one in Alaska. I make these videos, started getting networking with more scientists, and then made a YouTube channel. TikTok, any social media that I could grab onto to get the scientists out there, to get this message, what's going on out here on the water. Cause I think it's really important work. And that's actually How I met a woman named Emily, and she suggested that I apply for this vessel. I applied for a position to be their videographer for a couple months on board. So for two months, February, 2024, I will fly out to Italy, be on board for two months, and I will be filming and documenting what's happening on board in real time, which is beautiful wonder. Wonderful. So I'm gonna make, five, four to five minute long videos. In addition to that, and this is the part that I'm really excited about, I will get to walk around twice a day around the vessel with a camera and a scientist, and talking into the camera is gonna be a classroom of students.

Alexis 29:11

You sailing on the Jr you're going on the jr. Yeah. Yeah.

Larkin 29:15

Amazing. I love it. Cause that's what I'm so excited about. That's why I picked up the camera in the first place to show these scientists. I think that the science world gets like a bad rap. There's like this, people think that there's this stuffiness to it but when you're out there in the field, that these people are adventurers. Yeah. These are like your, these are your, laid it Indiana Jones'. Yeah. And they laid back. They're

Alexis 29:37

not gonna be stuffy. They're not scary. No, they're not.

Larkin 29:41

A funny thing that perception

Alexis 29:42

in your brain kinda lies to you of being like, they're a little bit intimidating. Or, I have all this bias about like how they view me and how I view them I think you're right that sometimes scientists get this stuffiness and you're like, no, it's really laid back. They're just normal people, man. Really laid back. Yes. Congrats on taking something that you just, you love that comes naturally of talking to people and showcasing people, and then all of a sudden to be able to make a career out of it. And it's so cool that you're gonna be on the JR because that's my ship. That's like where I lived for like over five years.

Larkin 30:12

Oh my gosh, that's awesome. Small world. I love it.

Alexis 30:15

You're gonna love the JR too because I think. We need people like you that are like so passionate about explaining science, I think to a younger generation and to Classrooms and to talking to them to showcasing science. But what you're gonna freak out about is that it is this beautiful floating lab stack. Basically, it's an entire ship that's like four floors of science and four floors of research. So not only are you gonna be able to talk to scientists, but you actually get to be part of the labs and you get to live within the labs. Speaking to like science communicated communication I know that you're about to go on the jr. Which is so beautiful, and that's gonna be kinda your upcoming, what are your kind of next big projects like? What do you hope for the future of science communication? What do you think that we really need to, pay attention on in terms of science communication? What do you think that we need to learn or understand?

Larkin 31:05

I think we need to make it, more fun and accessible For everybody. I wanna use innovative concepts and interactive ways to explain this science. I wanna get people involved and to draw them in, to get them excited. My vision for the future of science communication is that it does become something that people seek out. I would like it to be one of those things where we figure out some sort of a formula or something that is gonna catch, that gets people's attention the way that reality TV does today. I would like to have that kind of audience, that large audience to where it's, oh, did you see what happened last Wednesday on blah, blah, blah. Like vessel? Or did you see what happened? You have that excitement. Yes. In order to start generating that buzz? One of my goals, I would like to have a docuseries, showcasing different women in stem, showing what they're doing. Recently I thought that it was like a far out third dream. I'm working on building my team currently. Building a team and I'm building the different scientists that I would like to talk to. That's what I wanna do to start that conversation really, hey look, these scientists are real people and they're cool people. They're people that you would actually get along with and breaking down that wall of this is science up in this ivory tower. Yes. Yeah. And we're these lowly people down here. We need to bring it down. We need to make science a party. Like, why not? Let's launch everything. I don't care. If it grabs attention and it gets people on board. Cuz all we need to do, all we need to do is get people interested. Once they're interested and they start to see once, once they open the door and say oh wait, this is actually cool. They're gonna be hooked. Once you realize oh wait, this is accessible, and I'm part of this because we're all a part of science. Everything that I am involved in right now, this is sciences. Making people realize like everybody's already a scientist on some level

Alexis 32:47

Interacting with it. It's already part of your life. Not too scary. It's not too above your head. It's not too high brow. Let's bring it back down to reality. I couldn't agree more with humanizing it almost in a way. Absolutely. Or normalizing,

Larkin 32:57

humanizing it. That's what I would like to do. Another thing that is on the forefront is, I'm also starting to work with, organizations ships companies to try to recruit more women to make, this field more diverse. I'm trying to get more ladies out there to promote gender diversity and inclusive inclusivity into the maritime industry, because that's something that many times being the only woman on board. Having a one one mentor changed everything for me. It changed your life. There were many times that there was times where it was like lady captain, chief mate, amazing Bosen, deckhands, like the whole deckhand department, the whole deck department. Was all female. So I learned in that environment, which then gave me the confidence when I went to another vessel that I was the only lady. I know what I'm doing. Basically like raised baby sailor. I wasn't raised in an environment where I was like always second guessing myself. It was progressive cause because of my gender environment.

Alexis 33:50

It wasn't forefront of being prejudiced against because of your gender. But unfortunately, I don't think that's the norm. It's wonderful that was your experience. Exactly. But if you wonder able to kinda dive into this funding and dive into recruitment to help Yes. This general

Larkin 34:05

industry. Exactly. That's the goal right now.

Alexis 34:08

It's also so needed because it has such big impact. And it's always so funny where people become role models maybe without even realizing it to be like, okay, I just started doing this because it was something that I loved. You're now probably that role model for someone out there that's watching you YouTube, whether you realize it or not, like you're probably they're female representation and that's why it's so important because you have no idea where it's gonna go. You have no idea the impact, right? Or like the cultural kind of relevance that it has within our industry. Such a beautiful thing. I love this next journey for you. I just wanted to say thank you so much for coming out, for taking time outta your day, for talking all this maritime. Everything that you've been able to do and I am so excited to see what next.

Larkin 34:49

To newbie sailors out there. My first piece of advice for new sailors is ask questions. Because the worst thing you can do is go into a situation acting like you know something and then not knowing it Always ask questions. Always volunteering for things. Because when you're the first female, On these vessels. A lot of times the men on board aren't really sure what to do with you. Let's just say it. She's a sailor, but I'm not really sure. Can I ask you to do this? Can she really lift this? So they don't know. It's a little ridiculous But it's true. I physically had grab on people's hands and be like, look at me carrying this. Showing them what you can do. By volunteering and putting yourself out there as much as you can, especially when you first join the vessel, don't be a wallflower. Even if you don't know how to do something, even better. If you don't know how to do it, ask them to explain how to do that to you. Yes. I wanna volunteer for that. No, I've never done it. Can you show me how to do it? don't let you being the only woman on board psych you out. You have a seat at the table, you earned your seat at the table. Go take your seat and be a part of the team. My last piece of advice is to always offer a helping hand. Whenever you're on board, because it can get a little whirly out there, a little wild there if you're out for 45 days. Could be something as simple as just saying Hey, how are you doing today? Having a coffee or something checking in. Just checking in with somebody and just like, how are you doing? It gets lonely out there. Checking in with your cremates because you are a family when you're out there on the boats. There is no other work dynamic I think other than really being like an astronaut that can compare with what it is like for people out on a ship. There's nothing like it. There is no world like that. You don't understand it until you live it. Oh, totally.

Alexis 36:18

I always view Boat as like the International Space Station of the Sea, like it really so isolated. It is so insular that you have no other community and you're completely by yourself, but you're also in such a remote condition that a lot of things can happen and can get very dangerous. You have to constantly MacGyver a situation and fix a situation, but you have to do it as a community with limited resources. Altogether. And because of that, you're gonna be a family. You might be a little bit dysfunctional, like they might be an always, there might be an uncle we don't talk about, or there might be a cousin that's annoying or there might be dynamics like for sure. It's not like one big happy, like ladi da family. You're still out there. Think once you're in it, you just, you fall in love with it. There's, it's hard not to fall in love with working in the maritime industry. I think too, yes, it might seem like you're the only woman in that industry. You're the only woman in your vessel. As like Larkin is testament to it of the community that's online and the community that's available and the people that you might not know that has your back. No. It might feel a little bit hard, but there is a bunch of people that are being your cheerleader in Louisville, in Vancouver. We got you back.

Larkin 37:24

Oh gosh. Yeah. Abso absolutely. The other thing I guess I do wanna touch on really quick, no matter where you are in life, you can change your life at any age, just grab a little bit of fearlessness, because you only have one life. It's your life. So make it yours

Alexis 37:39

I think that's a perfect way to end it, and thank you for adding it. Larkin. This has been an absolute lovely experience. It has been an honor to have you on the show. Thank you so much. Can't wait to hear about your future We Are The Smoke Podcast. Tune in next Wednesday. Thank you for listening.