Kit in Baja California, author's photo.
Kit, tell me how did you get into expedition cruising?
In the late 1990s, I was in graduate school, and I had a summer job in the Virgin Islands as a sailing and scuba diving teacher. I met a woman there who worked for the government of the Virgin Islands. She was helping me with the local marine biology curriculum that I was writing at the time. In addition to her day job, she also worked for a small ship operator called Clipper Cruise Lines. They were looking for a naturalist to work onboard one of their small ships in Virgin Islands and she recommended me. So, I got my first job in the expedition cruise industry by word of mouth. I had no idea what I was getting myself into as up until then I only worked on sail and dive boats. I showed up very much unprepared – this was all back in the day when you had to travel with your slide carrousel in your hand luggage so your lectures wouldn’t get lost with your bags. But I absolutely loved it, and I carried on working for that company for several years coming back on and off, until eventually, I started working at sea full-time.
Diving in Misool island, Indonesia. Copyright: @Kit van Wagner
As someone who briefly worked onboard an expedition ship, I’ve always been fascinated by expedition staff – each member tends to have such a complex skillset. What are the necessary skills to succeed in this type of job?
This is a great question. Being an expedition team member is a full-time, full-on commitment. There is no doubt that it requires a combination of hard and soft skills. And soft skills should never be overlooked. Communication is essential. Being able to get along with clients and your teammates seven days a week, no matter what your mood or temperament is also critical. Being a team player, able to power through challenges, is very important. I would also say those soft skills transition to interpretation skills. You can be an excellent geologist, but if you cannot describe to someone why that rock is exciting, then your job is not being done well. Hard skills such as Zodiac operations, or leading hikes and being able to get oriented using a compass ,are crucial too – it’s a real balancing act.
I know that you are very passionate about teamwork and building exceptional expedition teams – what do you think makes teams jell well?
I am fascinated by team dynamics in general. Why do they work sometimes and other times the dynamics just aren’t there? I don’t think there’s one clear answer.
Perhaps a part of it is having a balance of strengths. A solid team needs people who are confident and more experienced, and who can mix well with people who are new and learning. That dynamic works if you do not have an emphasis on either side of the spectrum. Personality really matters too. People who are really in it for the experience and life-long learning and don’t have a set of expectations, tend to foster more open team dynamics. It is harder to build a team and bond with others if people are more set in their ways and perhaps a little jaded about what they are doing.
When you have a good team, it is usually defined by everyone being open to a shared common adventure and taking on challenges by coming together, rather than a bunch of individuals in it to pay the bills.
Whatever that special brew may be, you know it when you see it.
You just launched a company called Seaworthy Ventures – talk me through it.
Absolutely. My mission with Seaworthy Ventures is to help companies onboard and develop their expedition staff professionally by building tailored, immediately accessible, and sustainable training initiatives that can be standardised across all their different operations while using an online platform and Cloud-based e-learning hubs.
E-learning platforms enable expedition brands to distribute knowledge to their geographically dispersed team members instantly. They can continuously build resources and introduce formal assessments when and if these are needed. Online learning can also help build a sense of community by introducing forums, common vocabulary, and social networks that enable expedition team members to contribute their own knowledge acquired in the field during their career. Nothing that we do in expeditions is set in stone and you must be able to adapt and think on your feet. All these tools are vital and give operators a level of accountability that they haven’t necessarily had access to in the past.
And I love the idea that staff don’t have to have just one opportunity to access a particular lesson, training, or course. Instead, learners can go back to the materials repeatedly to study and review videos, interviews, lectures, and readings. Some people learn quite quickly, while others need to digest and reread. Online learning allows everyone to pace their own individual learning.
I think that the expedition cruise sector has been slow in adapting online learning, but the pandemic really opened up a lot of companies to the ways they can leverage online learning, and that’s what I am hoping I can help them to do with Seaworthy Ventures.
What is in your opinion on the current landscape of expedition cruising brands in adopting these online learning platforms to engage and educate their expedition staff?
It’s been really interesting to work with different operators. Some companies were early adopters and they already have learning management systems in place. In their case, I can help build them more content for their existing sites.
And then there are those operators who haven’t really leveraged the opportunities that this technology provides and are really excited to do so. I have several different conversations going on with the providers who see that potential.
The beauty of building an online learning environment is that it is a continuous process. You can start with developing onboarding modules where you can relay company values and your cultural landmarks to your staff. Once that is done, you can build soft skills such as communication, leadership, service excellence, guest services, and guest relations. And then, maybe an operator starts to tackle some more critical hard skills and field knowledge topics, there is so much potential.
Another area where I see a growth opportunity for my business, is the development of out-of-the-box courses that operators or field staff could subscribe to and then take a series of classes on a particular topic that they need. I believe this is the direction the sector will be heading to eventually, so it is exciting times for my business, and it is exciting times for expedition cruising industry and operators who want to grow their potential in their online learning and training.
I would like to talk to you about something different: We both share a passion for more diversity and inclusivity in professional space and more specifically, in leadership roles: where do you think we are at in the field and the office?
When we talk about diversity, it is something that people across the board and in every walk of life are calling out for. We have seen real neglect in inclusion in our governments, in industry, and in education, so I think expedition cruising reflects society as whole in many ways.
Saying this, some changes are happening and diversity on expedition teams is slowly increasing. I see it in expedition marketing materials and Facebook feeds, but we still have a long way to go for sure. I am by no means an expert in any of this but having travelled the world and being exposed to so many different cultures and so many different people from all walks of life, I would like to see that better reflected in the microcosm of the ship world. Expedition teams have a lot to benefit from cultural and indigenous knowledge in the places that we visit.
With guides in Zanzibar. Copyright: @Kit Van Wagner
What do you think needs to change and what individual expedition cruising brands can do to have more representative teams?
I do think recruitment is a big part of it and I believe one of the more important ways to increase diversity of our expedition teams is to be proactive about promoting it. The recruitment channels that are in existence now are currently not promoting a lot of diversity or inclusivity for whatever reasons.
It is time to start thinking outside the box and to make connections with non-profit organizations and professional guiding and sports associations that are developing and training guides with diverse backgrounds and indigenous knowledge. We need to build bridges to put these groups in touch with expedition recruiters. That’s one role that I would like to explore. With my business, I am donating 1% of my profits to causes that promote diversity in guide training and aquatics. I would like to play a part in building those bridges by identifying those non-profits and professional associations that could start to employ guides with more diverse backgrounds into the expedition world.
These are early days for this initiative but that’s one thing I would really love to see change in our industry.
As we are coming close to the end of our conversation, I wanted to ask you about the places you have visited during your career: Is there any place that is really close to your heart that you would like to revisit or the most memorable experience from those days at sea that you would like to share?
Australia, Kimberley Coast. Copyright: @Kit van Wagner
It’s such a difficult question to answer. I have been super fortunate in my lifetime and through working in adventure and expedition cruising industries. I got to see over 130 different countries and territories worldwide.
Brown Bear, Sea of Okchotsk. Copyright: @Kit van Wagner
For wildlife, it must be Russian Far East for me. The Sea of Okhotsk was just phenomenal and being so remote and so mysterious, the potential for wildlife, from the endangered Western Pacific Gray Whales to brown bears, all the different sea birds, that destination is magical. The landscape is magnificent too.
For culture, it would be Indonesia. A country of 17,000 islands with so many cultures and languages and that unifying friendliness wherever you go is a truly humbling experience. I literally had people putting their babies in my hands for a photo together. I felt a bit like a rockstar.
Kit during scouting trip in Baja California. Author's photo.
I was also fortunate to lead a few scouting trips. One of my favourites was around Baja California and getting into Gulf of California which was incredible. I also spent eight days in Senegal driving around the country with two fantastic guides who were such wonderful cultural liaison to the country and the language and the landscape there. It’s a pity Senegal doesn’t make a great expedition destination as the coastal waters are very shallow and it makes it very difficult to access it by the ship. But these were great experiences.
Last question, having travelled so much, do you have a favourite item or items you always take with you and if so, what are these?
Well, I would like to say I always have a set of watercolour paints and a little sketch pad. I would say it’s the one thing I don’t leave home without because I find if I can just sit in the spot and sketch it, paint it, even for a few minutes at a time, it just helps me to really be in the moment. And at least I can capture the feeling for the place, and a small memento that I can bring with me home to recall that slice of time and place.
Creole Wrasses, painting by Kit van Wagner.
Kit is a founder of Seaworthy Ventures LLC, a company that helps create 'learning and leadership development opportunities for working teams, scientists, expedition crews, and small boat captains.' You can learn more here.
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