Speaker 1 (00:00:07) - Welcome to the Sparky Life podcast with Lia Lamela. I share with you my electrical journey experiences an insight through engaging banter with those I've met along the way. If you're interested in trade tales, an industry fraught with excitement and risk. Subscribe and be notified every Thursday when trade tales continue. My next guest today starts most of her days greeted by the vast expanse of open sea. If you can imagine, the water shimmers under the sunlight, its crystal clear depths revealing an array of marine life beneath its surface. It's as if you get to peek into another world completely on the boat. As you move further from the shore, you may encounter secluded coves and hidden bays nestled within the coastline. The allure of fishing charter boats lies not only in the breathtaking surroundings, but also in the thrill of the hunt, the anticipation that builds inside of you as you cast your line into the depths. Welcome with me, Captain Maria. Hey, you are so.

Speaker 2 (00:01:26) - Important. An official. You're beautiful.

Speaker 1 (00:01:29) - It's my fancy dancy closet.

Speaker 2 (00:01:32) - I love your closet. What a fun place to be.

Speaker 1 (00:01:34) - Yeah, well, it kind of feels like cozy. This is Maria Gay. She is a charter boat captain with 17 years of experience.

Speaker 2 (00:01:45) - Well, I've been working on a boat that fishes for over the last 15 years, but I've had my captain's license for two years now.

Speaker 1 (00:01:54) - How did you get into the role of working on charter boats and fishing boats?

Speaker 2 (00:02:00) - It's always a fun question. I met this man I was dating and he sat me down and said, Here, you need to learn how to tie this knot. If you need to use this knot. I'm not going to have time to help you. Because he was a mate and a captain on a really big party fishing boat. And I got to go tuna fishing.

Speaker 1 (00:02:19) - I'm so jealous, by the way. I still haven't gone tuna fishing. I want to go so bad. Side note.

Speaker 2 (00:02:28) - So that was the first time I ever got to go offshore fishing in the ocean.

Speaker 2 (00:02:33) - I grew up in Michigan and it was like freshwater fishing and ice fishing, fishing, which I love. And that was my first experience. Fishing in the ocean. Very cool. Yeah. From there it just evolved and ended up here where it is now.

Speaker 1 (00:02:46) - Awesome sauce. Awesome sauce. So explain to everybody what a day in the life of looks like.

Speaker 2 (00:02:52) - Oh boy. It's multiple days in my life. So I'll tell you about one three day trip because we do long trips far, far from shore.

Speaker 1 (00:03:02) - I just want to prepare everybody be prepared to be very jealous, just.

Speaker 2 (00:03:07) - As everyone is.

Speaker 1 (00:03:09) - All of a sudden going to be like, I want to be a charter boat captain.

Speaker 2 (00:03:15) - So what we do is we do three, three and a half and four day trips to the Dry Tortugas. That's an area I leave out of Stock Island just a little bit technically to the east of us. And we go out all the way up to like 120 miles offshore. Passport. Jefferson can be some of the areas.

Speaker 2 (00:03:36) - Some of it could even be closer waters off the Marquesas, all these different islands that span into the Gulf. So the fishing part doesn't start till later. We leave the dock at 2:00. We take six paying passengers. You know, he's asked them what their goals are. What do they want to catch? We can catch it's mostly bottom fishing. We do troll a little bit, tell.

Speaker 1 (00:03:57) - Help the audience. Tell them what trolling is because you and I know, but we have some newbies out here that they don't they don't understand the pure joy yet. I got it because.

Speaker 2 (00:04:07) - I'm old and I'm very super excited. So it's just like a passion of mine, what I do. So when we leave the dock, we have anywhere between a two to a five hour trip, about 15 miles an hour I guess it would come out to. So it would be around 12 to 13 knots in nautical terms to start to fish for a certain type of fish. There's a lot of variables there. So when we leave the dock, we have to go into deeper water and then we put a lure out on a really big reel called an LP that is an electric reel.

Speaker 2 (00:04:41) - And so to drag this lure behind the boat, we don't slow down. We just go with our top speed. So it's kind of a special thing. It goes behind the boat game fish that are, you know, predators, Kingfish and Wahoo loved to chase this high speed lure because it's predators and they like to catch the bait and they think it's bait. And it's like I call it like a bonus fish. You know, it's something that. Will try to catch on the way to get to our destination.

Speaker 1 (00:05:07) - How far deep are you putting the lure or is it on top of the water?

Speaker 2 (00:05:11) - It goes down a little bit. It probably swims maybe ten feet, but we have to get into deeper water before we do that. So it would maybe be like, I don't know, an hour or so probably before we throw that lure out. So we'll get to our first spot where we're going to fish and what we do is bottom fishing. So we're targeting fish that live on the bottom of the ocean.

Speaker 2 (00:05:33) - They can live in a lot of different kind of structure. You know, there's rocks, there's coral, there's like different things like that. Anything where there's structure on the bottom of the ocean, fish like to live, you know, it's like their home. Yeah. So we'll get out there and we'll put the anchor out if we need to. It could be anywhere from 30ft deep, 25ft deep, all the way to 250ft deep.

Speaker 1 (00:05:55) - Holy shit. I did not know that.

Speaker 2 (00:05:57) - There's a big range. There's a big range of it.

Speaker 1 (00:05:59) - There's a big range. I did not expect that for bottom feeders.

Speaker 2 (00:06:02) - Yeah, it's pretty neat because I'll watch one of our fish fish technologies. Our fish machine, it's called a a sonar, a fish finder. And you'll watch, you know, there's different fish. I call them, you know, the the day shift and the night shift. So depending what time of day it is, we're catching grouper and groupers open. They tend to bite during the day.

Speaker 1 (00:06:24) - Yummy.

Speaker 2 (00:06:27) - And if you are catching, you know, so you can also catch snapper, mutton, snapper, yellowtail, mangrove snappers, things like that. Yeah, they do bite during the day, but they also bite a night time. So it all just depends on a lot of different factors. We'll find our first fishing spot. I like to try to fish before dark because you usually get like a little bit of a grouper bite and then we do a night plan and so the customers are allowed to fish 24 hours a day, the whole trip if they'd like. That's up to them for me. I obviously have to sleep.

Speaker 1 (00:07:00) - So you're running the boat, so that's a good idea. And these.

Speaker 2 (00:07:05) - Rules. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (00:07:06) - So?

Speaker 2 (00:07:06) - So we'll find a spot for night and then they can put out chum, which is, you know, a box of like fish food, if you will, and it goes away from the boat. And then they use a smaller rod and they, you know, feed their line back into the into the fish food that's floating behind the boat and try to catch fish at night.

Speaker 2 (00:07:26) - We get up and we do the same thing from sunup pretty much till sundown the second day. And then we'll take our trip back home and we try to arrive back at the dock at 2:00. Now the boat that I work on, I work on it's two fish charters out of Stock Island, and there's one boat called the Lauren Gene, and that's the fishing machine. She's 52ft and it's around 21ft wide and the magic is 42ft and it's about the same, the same width, 21ft wide. So what's special about these boats are they're catamarans. So they have two pontoons as opposed to a boat that's just like a V on the bottom. So they're really, really stable. So we can go out in a little bit rougher weather, a little bit bigger, seas a little bit better wind. It's a pretty good size boat, but it's also very comfortable because it doesn't rock from side to side to side. It kind of will like walk over a wave and then just kind of sit. So it's a really stable boat and it's just a more comfortable experience, I think, um, for, for the customers too.

Speaker 2 (00:08:32) - And then they sleep down in because obviously we don't get off the boat at nighttime. We're out the mainland.

Speaker 1 (00:08:37) - Where is there to go? You're surrounded by water.

Speaker 2 (00:08:39) - So they have a they have a toilet and then they have a separate shower. Small, of course. And we conserve water. It's like camping in the on the ocean with fishing.

Speaker 1 (00:08:49) - You guys can imagine like the sun is out. It's beautiful. The water is reflecting. It's turquoise water and you're just fishing all day. Your job is to fish all day. I'm sorry. That's like heaven on earth. Okay?

Speaker 2 (00:09:09) - It is wonderful. I tell people, they're like, Oh, how how is it? What is it? I said, Well, it's it's pretty awesome. You know, my job is I get paid to take people fishing where I want to fish because I think there's going to be fish there. It is really like a dream. It's I can't imagine anything I would do different.

Speaker 1 (00:09:28) - I love it. I love it.

Speaker 1 (00:09:29) - And why are fishing boats she's they're all all boats or she's just so you know guys.

Speaker 2 (00:09:35) - They are and you know actually I don't really know why they're she's Oh however but do you know.

Speaker 1 (00:09:41) - I heard I don't know if this is true or not but I heard that the reason that they're she's is because they're reliable and dependable and they take care of you. Your boat takes care of you. So, like, women are nurturing and like, they take care of their young, so to speak.

Speaker 2 (00:09:58) - So I like that I can get on board with that. We have one boat that causes a. A little bit of headache. She's pretty fussy. And when I first came down, Yuri would always say, my boss, his name is Yuri. He would always say, Oh, if you love the magic, she will love you back. And so I give my boat that when I'm running, running that vessel, I always talk to her. I'm like, Mom, magic, you can do this.

Speaker 2 (00:10:23) - The magical. We're going to go out and we're going to do all these things and yeah, yeah. It may be the women. They want to tame the seas. So if the boat is a female, maybe it would cause the ocean to be more gentle. I don't know. Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:10:36) - Yes, I like it. That sounds groovy for sure. Is this seasonal work or can you do this year round because you're in Florida, right? So technically, year round, right? Or am I wrong?

Speaker 2 (00:10:50) - Fishing in general can be around. It all depends where you are, where I came from and where I learned, you know, first how to tie a knot, then how to even fish in general. I worked on a big boat out of New Jersey and that boat, Jersey girl, they fish year round too, but obviously they fish for different things and it's dictated by what season is open. So in the early months, January, February and March, you would go cod fishing. Now, this was 15 years ago.

Speaker 2 (00:11:18) - Rules always are subject to change based on fish rules. Yes. So it would be cod fishing and then we would do bottom fishing for another type for the day just called Ling. And then we did deep sea fishing on longer trips for things like tile fish. So I know a lot of people have heard of Golden tile, tile fish, things like that. That's really deep. And then we would do our tuna fish season, which is super fun.

Speaker 1 (00:11:44) - Oh God, if you get a chance to go tuna fishing. Holy shit, that's. That's what you want to do.

Speaker 2 (00:11:50) - So up there, it's a year round fishery. Also, there's a lot of places that have year round fisheries. Now down here in this part of Florida, it's year round. The weather is better you opinion. We get a lot of customers that come from northern states and they're just happy like they want to catch some fish but mostly they're just happy to be on vacation. It's warm and they get to be fishing also.

Speaker 2 (00:12:11) - Yes, our seasons are open all year.

Speaker 1 (00:12:14) - You're like the only female captain that I know. Mainly captains tend to be of the male gender. What was it like working in a field where you're the only girl?

Speaker 2 (00:12:29) - It's different, but it's wonderful at the same time. Now I try to be very humble and I try to always approach everything like, you know, everybody always with me, especially. Well, let me back up the business that I work for now. He's been he started his own business and he's been in business for about I think this might be his 15th year owning this company in these boats. So the customers that he has have been coming with him for a really long time and they do one or more trips every single year, that's.

Speaker 1 (00:13:01) - A sign of a great businessman that they keep coming back to him like that. That's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (00:13:06) - Definitely. So I feel pretty stable. So I come down here and I had gotten my captain's license knowing I'm going to come down and work for this.

Speaker 2 (00:13:13) - You know, there were other things that I could do, too. There was like a me and there was, you know, just random other things to do. Or I could have found other employment. But my boss saw my desire to be a captain and to do this. Now, when I came down here, I did not know how to drive a boat. I kind of did, but I had never actually driven like a boat, Right. You know, by myself. I didn't know how to fish for the fish that were down here. And we do what's called we drag the anchor behind the boat while we move from spot to spot. So I had to learn how to drive the boat, and then it'd be a catamaran drive, a different kind of boat, fish for the fish, and then do all these things. So he took me under, you know, under his wing and the other captains that work there. And they taught me they were willing to come in and give me the time of day being different, nontraditional male in this kind of role.

Speaker 2 (00:14:06) - Right. And they gave me a shot. I had a I had a foot in the door and they just always treated me like I was like I was just one of them.

Speaker 1 (00:14:13) - That's wonderful.

Speaker 2 (00:14:14) - So so it was it was different and it was scary. So back to the customers. You know, the customers. Now I'm I'm five foot tall. I'm almost five foot one. So I'm this mighty smaller thing. And and it's kind of funny. Now, a lot of them know who I am or they've seen me or heard of me or whatever. And, you know, it's been two years now, but when they would first come, they would would be on the boat and they would they would think I was the mate.

Speaker 1 (00:14:41) - Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:14:42) - And they would say things and I'd be like, No, I'm your captain. And they would be so embarrassed, you know? So there was like a lot of that. So it was definitely like a thing where all of the discomfort was me really, and me becoming comfortable in my own skin, becoming comfortable with my role and learning to not worry about what other people's opinions were that were that were coming.

Speaker 2 (00:15:03) - Because there because it was me having fear as I gained my confidence. As I. As I got better at what I do and like got more comfortable in my own skin and found my style of what works for me. Then I realized, you know, a lot of the things that I'm afraid of are things that I think they're thinking. They're not actually thinking that you guys just want to go fishing and they happen to get me. Yes. By the end of the couple days of whatever the trip was, a lot of them, the most common feedback I get is, you know, we've been fishing here for X amount of years, ten, 15, 20 years, like a long time. And we'll tell you what we've caught. You know, £1,000 of fish. We've done X, Y and Z, We've done all these things, you know, and they're like, you know what? This is the most fun. The experience we had on this trip is our favorite, and we'd really like to go with you again next time.

Speaker 1 (00:15:55) - That's so rewarding.

Speaker 2 (00:15:56) - Isn't that so cool?

Speaker 1 (00:15:57) - Yes. Yes, that's wonderful. That's wonderful. That's just the positive energy that you bring to the table. Your aura. See, you guys don't know Maria like I do, but she's true Mermaid. She's just got that special energy. If you ever have the privilege of being around her, you'll feel it. You'll feel it. She beams. She lights you up from inside you.

Speaker 2 (00:16:18) - So what I think when I come, the men aren't afraid to like, you know, they don't have to. They can kind of release that stigma. I'm like, Oh, my God, look at this. By the way, today you can see the Milky Way from Horizon, her terrorizing. The conditions are really good. And they'll you know, they'll be like, Hey, can you turn out the lights? So I'll turn off all the deck lights when we're anchored up for a few minutes.

Speaker 1 (00:16:38) - Beautiful.

Speaker 2 (00:16:40) - Yeah, like, Hey, guys, come over here.

Speaker 2 (00:16:41) - There's like a school dolphin, like, jumping around. This is my. My daily life, right? I forget to realize that other people are just as fascinated with it also, and they've never seen it before. And that was one of a customer's goals. He came out with his binoculars and he's looking. Oh, hey, what are you doing? Come on up, you know? And he's like, oh, he's like, I've never seen the whole Milky Way. And that was just amazing. So there's a lot of goals that people have when they come out. Also, not just go to catch 100 bazillion fish and they have a lot of personal goals too. So it's just fun to ask them, What are your goals? What do you want to have happen? Is there anything you want to specifically catch? Is there one bucket list fish you're trying to catch? Is there anything you don't want to catch? Obviously, besides for a ton of sharks? Yeah. You know, so I can tailor the experience more to their goals.

Speaker 2 (00:17:31) - I can just do a better job being me if I know what's in their heart, I guess is a good way to put it.

Speaker 1 (00:17:36) - Yeah? Yeah. Now, what would you say has been an obstacle with all your years of experience fishing and on charter boats?

Speaker 2 (00:17:47) - I would say definitely an obstacle to overcome. Now, granted, I came from a different boat. Was being female being smaller? You know, I have to work a lot harder physically to keep up with because I did work as a mate quite often and.

Speaker 1 (00:18:04) - Help break down what's a mate? What's the mates responsibility? I'm sorry, forget mates.

Speaker 2 (00:18:09) - Responsibility is, you know, you say we're doing an overnight 20 say like a 32 hour tuna trip. Okay. So we come down a little bit. As soon as you get down there, you are cutting all these. We would cut like 20 some five gallon buckets of bait into little chunks. That's called chum. We would throw that over. You get everything ready, you get all the customers on and you take care of the customers, whatever they need for the entire trip.

Speaker 2 (00:18:35) - But in addition to that, you know, that's just basic customer service. In addition to that, if we're anchoring, you got to pull the anchor.

Speaker 1 (00:18:42) - Give people an idea how heavy is the anchor?

Speaker 2 (00:18:45) - Yeah, So so the anchor on the boat that I work on now, we would pull maybe 700ft of anchor line. Wow. And you pull that in manually. We don't have a winch. We don't have a hauler.

Speaker 1 (00:18:57) - Nike's.

Speaker 2 (00:18:59) - Yes. So when we're done fishing, we put a anchor, a big ball on it that floats to the back. It makes it come up to the top.

Speaker 1 (00:19:05) - Side note, guys, Side note, just so you know, Maria is like stunning fitness goddess. But this is why. Because she moves her body and she does hard work with her body. And that's one of the reasons why she's so incredibly hot. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 2 (00:19:24) - So flattering. Um, so, yeah, you pulled the the 700ft of whatever of anchor line it is in the boat.

Speaker 2 (00:19:32) - I do always have help with this because the, the, the big anchor that we use is £40 plus, I don't know, maybe ten foot a chain. So it is considerably heavy. Yeah. And it's not at the water. You have to pull in all this rope and then you have to pull it up like six feet maybe. So it's, it's a it's quite a bit. So make sure that before I use that anchor that there is somebody capable and willing to help me get it back in the boat. Yes. I don't have to do it all myself. I'm not afraid to ask for help.

Speaker 1 (00:20:02) - Yeah, there you go. There we go. Okay, so challenges with your height, challenges with, you know, physical, physical.

Speaker 2 (00:20:11) - The physical, the physical demands of the job.

Speaker 1 (00:20:14) - But you found a way around it. I mean, you made it work, clearly.

Speaker 2 (00:20:19) - Yes, I. I also found a way that works for me.

Speaker 1 (00:20:22) - Right.

Speaker 2 (00:20:23) - So for fishing, for example, if I'm catching a big fish, I know I'm not stronger than the fish.

Speaker 2 (00:20:28) - And when we have women and children come out, I knew they would always be successful because they know the same thing. They know they're not stronger than the fish. They don't try to like have a tug of war with the fish to get it in the boat. They use the things around them. They might put it on the rail that's nearby and use their weight to like push down on the back of the rod. Like leverage a little bit. Yeah. And then to stand up and reel a little and like, you know, if the waves going and dipping the boat down, then they would reel a little bit, the boat would come up, they would wait and then the boat would naturally go down again. So they would reel some more. So they they're more like able and willing to use like the tools that they have around them. Whereas, you know, the big strong guys, a lot of times, you know, they get really tired, but they do have the ability to muscle these fish in and like pull them in.

Speaker 2 (00:21:20) - So I've learned to use my size to my advantage also. And knowing my limitations, what's going to be too much? Where is the breaking point? The boat I work on? So say there's six people fishing and they all have a fish on. Well, they can't all stop reeling to help the body. So then I would come down, you know, because there's a platform up top so I can see what's going on and see if people need help. And so I watch from there or, you know, when I come down, when things are like that or it gets crazy or the lines get all tangled up, there's a lot of disaster that can happen when, you know, there's a lot of activity with the fish. In those instances, I'll come down and and help them out. We do what's called to gaff, a fish gaff. So we have a hook on the very long like a six foot piece of pole. And so we'll hook the fish and grab it and get it in the boat.

Speaker 1 (00:22:12) - Give people idea of the size of fish, because I'm sure there are some of some of us out there that are thinking, you know, itty bitty.

Speaker 2 (00:22:22) - The basic common rule of thumb where we fish is if you want to keep a grouper, he has to be at least 20in long. If you want to keep a mutton snapper, he has to be a minimum of 18in long. Now, the people I just took out the other day caught big fish. They caught a black grouper and the black grouper one was probably right around £40. Wow. Now I hold that fish standing up. He's probably chest high. He's probably like 48 or 50 inch fish maybe. But they're big.

Speaker 1 (00:22:56) - Yes, Yes.

Speaker 2 (00:22:57) - And they're dense and. And they're.

Speaker 1 (00:22:59) - Strong.

Speaker 2 (00:23:00) - They are.

Speaker 1 (00:23:00) - They are strong, man. They are strong.

Speaker 2 (00:23:03) - They are. If they don't want to come out of their hole in the rocks, you're not going to get them out. You just have to wait them out. You have to use a lot of patience.

Speaker 2 (00:23:10) - And then really fast, once they come out, they're notorious for getting stuck in little holes. They open their face, their gills and it's pokey. So they able to actually, like, hold themselves like hands, guide the rock with their face so they get right in their hole and they're stuck there. So that's so cool. Yeah, it's it's fascinating because you can feel them. So let like a little bit of tension off the line. So and you'll feel them kind of like move around a little or you won't even feel anything. You'll just see the lines start to go a different way, picking it out. And then you have to real, really quick. It's just tricky. It's like the most successful people or the patient ones that finesse. Not the strongest ones.

Speaker 1 (00:23:51) - Nice. Interesting. I wonder if that applies to life. Not necessarily the strongest, but maybe the most patient I could see.

Speaker 2 (00:24:00) - Well, patience is not my virtue, but I could see how. I do know some people who are very successful when they're more patient and more more gentle.

Speaker 2 (00:24:09) - I do see how that could could pan out. But I am the bull in a China shop. Like, let's go, let's go get these fish. Let's go do it now. This is so exciting. Oh, my goodness. Let's just go.

Speaker 1 (00:24:20) - What would you tell women who are interested in becoming a captain or working on boats? What advice would you give them?

Speaker 2 (00:24:29) - The advice I would give them is there is a lot of stigma with with working on boats. Some of it is high propensity depending on the type of boat you want to work on, there can be a lot of drug and alcohol abuse. There can be a lot of sexism. There can be just plain old boats where they just think women can't do it and for years it was it was thought that women on a boat are just bad luck.

Speaker 1 (00:24:51) - Yes, I've heard that. I've heard that.

Speaker 2 (00:24:53) - Way back to ancient sailor times. So, you know, find, um, find a place or a boat or a business and like, the people that you're working for and with, if you like, the people that you and respect, the people that you are working for and with, then in turn, those people are going to provide a good environment and they're going to bring you with they're going to help you out.

Speaker 2 (00:25:15) - You know, they're going to teach you what you need to know. For me, the way that I found my my path is by working with the people and then the job, I just kind of fell into the job. I didn't go out. I just learned to go fishing. And then I went and did it for fun. I didn't. And then I got asked to work and fill in and things like this. Over time, I didn't actually go out seeking that job. And then I found I liked it and I always worked for people that I liked and respected very, very much. And they treated me like I was a like a sister, like part of the family, Just one of the guys, however you want to look at it. We all took care of each other and they looked out for me and taught me new things along the way and that that would help. If you if you like the people you work for, it'll be 90% of the struggle. There's a million things you can do.

Speaker 2 (00:26:06) - You know, down here there's dive boats that need captains. Oh, and I will tell you, I have I have what's called there's different levels of licensing. So you have your basic six pack license. You can take six paying passengers out a certain amount of distance from land for a certain time. There's rules. I have what's called a 100 ton masters license because the boat I worked on and all my hours were on a vessel that fell into the 100 ton range. So when you have that license, I can take an unlimited amount of paying passengers up to, I forget how far from land so I can run a dive boat. They always want me to do that. Yeah, I just run the dive boat out here, tie up to the mooring buoy. I know that. That. Leah, you're familiar with the diving? Yeah. So there's that option because I can take more than I can. They might have 30 people on that boat. One qualification I am looking I'm considering getting would be to get certified as a dive master because that would add to my portfolio.

Speaker 2 (00:27:06) - Do it.

Speaker 1 (00:27:08) - You know. You know, I'm going to be like, man.

Speaker 2 (00:27:10) - Hands down to it.

Speaker 1 (00:27:13) - I have ulterior motives. Guys. Maybe it's a.

Speaker 2 (00:27:18) - Consideration. It's a very loose suggestion. I'm considering doing it. No commitments over here.

Speaker 1 (00:27:23) - Um.

Speaker 2 (00:27:24) - Another thing I could do is, you know, say nobody could ever do fishing ever again, and they shut down all the fisheries or something catastrophic happen. I could run a ferry, I could run the ferry that goes back and forth. The passenger ferry from for example, if you're up north, you could do like the New York Ferry or something like that. Obviously, I probably would just go in and be as a captain. I don't. How it works, but my qualification that I have.

Speaker 1 (00:27:49) - A lot of career options. You can decide where you want to take it.

Speaker 2 (00:27:54) - There are a lot of options. Sunset cruises are huge down here. Yes. And they take quite a few crew on that. So I know there's a lot of male and females that go out and that's a great place to start.

Speaker 2 (00:28:05) - Go see if you even like being on a boat with customers for however many hours. Right? It's a whole open world of possibility. That's fascinating.

Speaker 1 (00:28:15) - Beautiful. With all your life experiences, with all your success, what's in your tool belt? What do you bring with you every day when you wake up, you've got in the back of your mind something that you bring with you every day.

Speaker 2 (00:28:31) - So I wake up and I am happy and I want to spread love and joy to everybody. And I thrive when.

Speaker 1 (00:28:39) - Of course, the mermaid stool is happiness. I love this. It's like it's so poetic. Yes. The The mermaid stool happiness. I feel that.

Speaker 2 (00:28:48) - Happiness, joy, sunshine, warmth. But really, when I see people being happy, I know how good it feels. So I want everybody else to feel happy like that, too, and and be successful, you know? And it didn't always be this way, you know, I had to work and practice at it. But I wake up and I think about, okay, what am I going to do today? I have some things I have to do.

Speaker 2 (00:29:11) - I have a lot of things I want to do, and there's some other things in between there. So I wake up and I kind of run through my day, kind of make my plan for a day. And if I have something concrete like meeting today with this meeting, this was the one important thing I had to accomplish today. No matter what it took, no matter what the time frame was, I set my goal for one thing. That is something that I'm going to definitely do today, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult or easy it is, anything else besides that is a bonus.

Speaker 1 (00:29:46) - Nice.

Speaker 2 (00:29:47) - So I add to it. It gets me my most important goals first, but it also sets myself up for success because it's a lot easier to accomplish things and then add to it. But if I have this huge list of like 50 things, one that's just not even realistic. And then I find I was being more hard on myself, you know, and then getting down into the negative, Oh my goodness.

Speaker 2 (00:30:08) - Spiral of terribleness. Clearly the world is going to end, you know, because obviously that's the thing that happens, Right. You know, by doing that, what I've learned is I've learned to be more gentle with myself. By doing that, I'm able to be more gentle with other people around me. And, you know, so it just makes life better. My tool is kindness and love.

Speaker 1 (00:30:31) - Yeah. Spreading your mermaid love all around town.

Speaker 2 (00:30:37) - Yeah. My mermaid. Miss.

Speaker 1 (00:30:39) - Thank you so much for doing this with me, Maria. It was wonderful talking to you. Right. I'll talk to you later, sweetheart. Okay.

Speaker 2 (00:30:48) - Enjoy your day.

Speaker 1 (00:30:49) - I never expected reeling in a fish to be so physically tasking. And what a thrill it is to pull them to the surface. Most of the time I am seriously amazed at what a fight the fish puts in and then how little the fish ends up. Being working on a fishing charter boat is a harmonious blend of serenity, natural beauty and exhilaration.

Speaker 1 (00:31:20) - It offers a unique opportunity to immerse yourself in the wonders of the ocean. A career on the water one year and angler seeking the thrill of a catch or simply longing for tranquil experience surrounded by nature, a fishing charter provides an enhancing environment that will leave you with lasting memories. And can you imagine when this is your career? I feel blessed that I get to know this amazing mermaid and I have exciting news that I am going to be going on a trip with Maria. We are going down to the Florida Keys together for a girls trip and I am going to get to go fishing. I'm so excited. I haven't gone fishing in two years. It has been seriously soul wrenching. I really feel like being on the water is just a part of who I am. And whenever I am landlocked like this, there's always a part of me that isn't my fullest self. And I can't express how grateful I am that I get to go on this trip with Maria. So I will be covering the trip. We will bring you along with us.

Speaker 1 (00:32:42) - So you get to see all the excitement and adventure on what it's like to be a captain on a charter boat. I am so excited to share this with you. And look, the ocean. It might not be for everyone, but I would love for you to get as excited. And if you could see me now I'm smiling ear to ear just thinking about being on the water. I highly recommend you give it a try. Go fishing, go snorkeling, go scuba diving. It's an incredible, life changing experience. And if the water is not for you, that's okay. Go to the mountains. There's amazing places and you can find them. Which new place are you going to discover? Thank you for joining us. If you felt a spark in today's episode, I invite you to write a review. I'd love to hear what lit you up. Take what resonates with you, and if you'd like to hear more of the Spark life, please subscribe like follow and share. Until next time, create the sparks in your life.