Staff Update Day 1
Location: West End, Tortola
The staff of Luna Kahuna, Cat, Alex, and Taylor, have besides ourselves, anxiously awaiting your arrival! We have completed the intensive staff training and made sure all our gear is in tip-top shape for our first round of shipmates for the 2015 season! We picked up our beautiful 46' catamaran yesterday and boy is she a beautiful sight! Crisp, clean white decks, with color-coordinated lines. She is going to take us on an amazing adventure. Today we have been running around, making sure everything is sorted with fresh and dry provisions and that Luna will feel like home away from home. I think we did a pretty amazing job and now all we need is you! We are all so excited to meet you and complete our crew!
Onwards and upwards!
Luna Kahuna out
Here is an introduction to the staff of Luna Kahuna:
Cat- skipper/dive instructor
Cat is so excited to be returning for another incredible summer of adventure with ActionQuest! She still remembers the first time she went diving when she was 15. Her dad took her to visit the Great Barrier Reef, and she recalls surfacing from the dive and yelling, "DAD! I want to do this for the rest of my life!" With the support of her wonderful parents, that is exactly what she set out to do. The next few summers, she went to an adventure camp where she earned her advanced diving certifications and had the time of her life. In 2008 she landed an internship where she earned her PADI Dive Instructor certification and began teaching. While studying at the University of Puget Sound, she decided to take a semester to sail aboard Argo with Seamester from South Africa to Antigua and went on to earn her Yachtmaster License later that fall. Cat's experiences with sailing and diving have changed the course of her life for the better, and she is so overjoyed to be able to pay it forward this summer. It is truly a dream come true to be able to teach sailing and diving with AQ!
Alex- dive instructor/mate
Alex is a travel and scuba enthusiast from Charleston, South Carolina. He is currently enrolled at Clemson University, seeking a Finance major and a Spanish minor. Diving has been an influential part of his life since the age of ten. Alex enjoys diving recreationally for dinosaur remains and other artifacts with his family while in Charleston. While he isn't diving, Alex is out on the water fishing or wakeboarding.
Taylor- dive instructor/mate
Taylor grew up between the farmlands of Indiana and the islands of Washington. From an early age, Taylor had a passion for the ocean and diving. In high school, he worked as a naturalist and crew member aboard a whale watch boat and earned his PADI open water certificate. In the spring of 2015, Taylor graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology and a Certificate in Maritime Culture and Heritage from the University of Hawaii. During his time in college, Taylor worked at the University of Hawaii Diving Safety Office, where he taught the AAUS Scientific Diver Course, DAN First Aid Courses, and NAUI dive courses. Taylor`s thesis project was on the hearing abilities and long-range communications of False Killer Whales. He also has worked on other projects with NOAA, National Geographic, Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, and the Marine Mammal Research Program. Taylor was introduced to the Global Expeditions family as a student aboard Argo sailing from Singapore to Cape Town last fall, but that wasn't enough. Now Taylor is joining the ActionQuest family as staff for the first time this summer.
Growing up in Sarasota, FL, Marina's passion for the ocean began at a young age. She joined AQ in 2006 as a shipmate on the Dolphin voyage and continued on completing two Atlantic crossings aboard Argo with Sea|mester. Marina graduated from Florida State University in 2013 with a B.S. in Biology. She holds PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer, AAUS Scientific diver, WFR, and STCW-95 certifications and has interned at Mote Marine and Pritzker Marine Research laboratories. Marina has worked with AQ since 2011 and is now the director of our Marine Science program. - See more at http://www.seamester.com/meet-seamester/seamester-team/#sthash.v0MmWj51.dpuf