A working boat doesn’t divide life neatly into job titles. Aboard the Aqua Service off Vancouver Island, my day can include preparing meals, keeping the galley moving, laundry, errands, equipment checks, and helping the deck crew when needed.
I wrote about those everyday responsibilities in Everybody Eats. The Laundry Doesn’t Do Itself. These field notes add another part of the story: the things I stop to photograph between the jobs.
Between the galley and the deck
The galley is part of the operation. A meal isn’t just a break in the day; it’s how a crew keeps going. That means thinking ahead, working with limited space, and having dinner ready even when the day’s jobs change.
The deck has its own rhythm. Some days the work involves fish pens, cranes, lines, equipment recovery or maintenance. I document what I see and learn, but the details of any lift or line-handling job belong to the trained crew and the vessel’s approved procedures—not a casual internet how-to.
The moments I want to keep
I photograph the everyday things because they’re easy to forget: a boat alongside the pens, a piece of equipment suspended over the water, the coastline beyond the work site, and the meal that ends the shift.
This is the life behind the polished travel photograph. Real people, changing conditions, practical jobs and small victories.
I’ll keep sharing it as it happens.
More Better Good.
