Working Life is a monthly column in which Texans talk about their jobs.

My love for the water began as a kid, growing up in Corpus Christi. My friends, brother, and I started hand building small boats to go out in the bays when I was twelve or thirteen, and we’d run to the nearest shore rigs off North Padre Island and fish for kingfish and snapper.

I did commercial shrimping in my late teens, and from there I ran offshore fishing trips and did marine rescue and salvage operations, piloting crew and supply vessels. And I made private-vessel deliveries around the Gulf Coast. I’ve also worked as a deputy sheriff, an airfreight contractor, a FEMA disaster inspector, and in the oil-and-gas industry. But I’ve always been drawn back to the water. Nobody has a better office than I do.

Capt

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