A friend of mine had worked at BC Ferries for years as a deckhand. He told me they were always looking for people and said I should apply. So I went out and took all the courses I needed. I went to a job fair and told the BC Ferries staff there I wanted to be a deckhand. They started listing all the certificates I’d need, and I slid mine across the table and said, “I’ve taken them already.”

They gave me a recruiter’s number and told me to call the next day. When I did, they said they could probably get me into the terminal. It wasn’t exactly what I had planned, but I really enjoyed my time working terminal. It was a great group of people and every day was different. You got to interact with the public and work with a strong team. The only reason I moved to the boats was because I was only getting a shift or two a month at the time and I had a mortgage to pay.

These days I work in the engine room.

One thing people might not know is how much happens behind the scenes to keep the ferries running. When people ask what we do on graveyard shifts, they’re often surprised. They assume the boat is just sitting there, but that’s when a lot of the work happens.

We’re bringing fuel on board, pumping sewage ashore and doing maintenance on engines that have been running all day and finally get a chance to be shut down. A lot of that work has to be done in a five or six-hour window while the vessel is docked. When the crew arrives in the morning, the boat is ready to go. Most people never see what it took overnight to make that happen.

When people do get the chance to walk through the engine room, they’re shocked by the size of everything. The engines are the size of a small school bus. From upstairs, it’s easy to forget what’s underneath you.

This job teaches you how important it is to stay alert. I remember a situation where one of the guys doing his rounds noticed a small fuel spill that hadn’t been there earlier. It’s the kind of thing you only catch if you’re paying attention, if you know the space and what’s normal. We dealt with it right away, but it’s a good example of why our checks matter. There are a lot of systems running on board and catching things early is a big part of keeping passengers safe.

One of the challenges of the job is working with a constantly changing crew. I change start times every couple of days and often work with newer employees, so a big part of the job becomes teaching. If someone hasn’t done a task before, then it’s a learning day. I’ll show them how to do it so next time they can handle it themselves. Eventually, they can teach the next person.

That’s how I learned when I started. On my very first shift, Eric McNeely walked me around the engine room and showed me what he did and how everything worked. He basically went through it piece by piece and said, “This is what I do.”

At the time you’re just trying to take it all in. Later, once you’ve been doing the job for a while, you realize the order he showed things in makes sense. Eric’s our president now, but back then he was the one showing the new guy around the engine room on day one.

Now that I’ve been here longer, I try to pass that knowledge along whenever I can.

I stay involved in the union as a shop steward and the second vice-president of Local 2. I also sit on several site safety committees and our local grievance and convention resolution committees.

Last year I also helped organize the Golf for Graeme tournament, in memory of Second Officer Graeme Barnes, which supports a scholarship in his name to help students pursuing marine careers. We raised nearly $13,500 in under two years. In a close-knit industry like ours, losses are felt deeply. Events like Golf for Graeme are also about reminding each other that mental health matters and that none of us are alone.

Long shifts, changing schedules and time away from family can take a toll. It’s not always something people talk about but sometimes people are going through a lot and nobody realizes it. That’s why it’s important to look out for each other.

Alex Yates, ERR on Watch 9, Nanaimo

When I first moved to Cortes Island in 2015, I came from a background in education. I wasn’t sure I wanted to keep doing that kind of work, but I knew I wanted to find my place in the community. A few months in, I started doing childcare for someone who worked on the ferry and began asking all the questions: what’s good about the job, what’s hard about it, what’s it really like?

Coming from the Great Lakes in Ontario, I’d never imagined working on the ocean. As I rode the ferry back and forth, I thought, this would be a dream job. You don’t get views like this anywhere else. For a lot of locals, it never gets old and for many passengers it’s the trip of a lifetime.

What inspired me most was the idea of working outdoors, doing physical work, and still being home every day after my shift. I had no idea then that the schedule would turn out to be great, that there’d be room to advance, or that there were so many opportunities for learning and training.

That first year, though, I only worked seven days. Sometimes just getting your name on the casual list feels like a victory. One captain told me, “Stick and stay and make it pay,” and he was right. It can take time. Some people wait years to get full-time work, but it’s worth it. My husband and I even timed starting our family so I’d have a regular position by the time we had a child.

What most people don’t realize is how skilled deckhand work is. Inside our work backpacks, we carry government-issued certificates that look like passports, showing our completed competencies. We take passenger safety management, rescue boat operation, and firefighting training. The first time I suited up in the gear, I felt like a superhero. But what really stayed with me was the weight of responsibility that comes with it; the knowledge that if something happens, we know exactly what to do. We drill and train so our reactions become instinctive.

Loading vehicles is another part of the job most people don’t think about. Our ship is narrow at both ends, so we often guide passengers to really crank their wheels over to fit. It can be stressful. There’s a lot of moving traffic and we have to stay alert and calm. My years of practicing tai chi help me stay grounded. Someone told me this summer that I was the most graceful ferry worker they’d ever seen.

I’ve learned to read the energy of the car deck. It helps to remember that by the time travellers get here, they’ve been on the road for hours. They’re tired, it’s hot, they just want to get to their destination. We stay patient, we check parking brakes are set and we keep each other safe.

The proudest moments for me are when I get to share the experience with others, especially kids. Sometimes we bring families up to the bridge to meet the captain and let their child steer for a minute. Seeing the look on their faces is magic. One day a family came up, and right as we were talking about whales, a pair of humpbacks breached ahead of us, three or four times. It was one of those rare, perfect moments that remind me how lucky we are to work where we do. I love being a look out. One of the masters calls me “hawk-eye,” because I notice marine life and traffic moving a long distance away. An unexpected perk of this job is the time interacting with crew members, mates, masters, and the engineering crew. I had no idea that I’d work in a job where professionals with vast experience would be willing to share so much about themselves. I love learning so this job is definitely one for a lifelong learner!

The biggest challenge right now is crew morale. We’ve had trouble retaining crew and filling positions, which means those of us here take on more. When I first started, we’d have crew meals and get-togethers all the time. That sense of community made the long days easier. Now, with housing costs rising and fewer affordable rentals, it’s harder to find people who can afford to rent a secondary home or find a spot to place a trailer on Cortes. This used to be a job where you could support a family and pay a mortgage with extra money left over. I’m lucky that my husband works so we can afford to live on this beautiful island.

If I could change one thing, it would be to strengthen that sense of solidarity, both in the workplace and within our union. I love being part of a union and connecting with other members. In our local, we’ve been focusing on education and training. It gives us time together, a chance to talk shop and share our lives outside of work too.

It’s easy to forget, with all the routines and schedules, that this job is full of heart. I try to bring that into everything I do and I hope it rubs off on others.

Krista Mandula, secretary-treasurer, Local 11