Second Mate - National Geographic Venture

📋 Description

• • Serve as the Second Mate aboard the National Geographic Venture, a state-of-the-art expedition vessel that carries curious travelers to the planet’s wildest corners. You will stand at the helm of discovery—literally—guiding the ship through Southeast Alaska’s ice-laden fjords, the serpentine Columbia and Snake Rivers, the wildlife-rich Gulf of California, and the legendary Panama Canal. Every sunrise brings a new latitude to plot, a new tide to calculate, and a new horizon for our guests to photograph.
• • Assume responsibility for the bridge’s navigational and communications suite: ECDIS, ARPA, radar, GPS, GMDSS, depth sounders, and more. You will keep every sensor calibrated, every chart corrected with the latest US & Canadian Notice to Mariners, and every waypoint locked into the voyage plan. Your precision keeps 100 guests and 50 crew safe while they chase breaching humpbacks or zip ashore in Zodiacs.
• • Stand two bridge watches per day—typically 6 on / 6 off—totaling 12 hours. During watch you will fix the vessel’s position using every tool from radar ranges to visual bearings, make log entries, and con the ship under the Captain’s orders through narrow passes, busy ports, or open-ocean swells. You will also serve as the primary small-boat coxswain, launching and retrieving 12-passenger inflatables in surf, ice, or river current with calm confidence.
• • Own the ship’s safety culture. You will lead or assist in weekly drills—fire, abandon ship, man-overboard, flooding, medical—and ensure every crew member knows their station. You will maintain the ISM Code documentation, update the Safety Management System, and keep emergency checklists ready at every muster point. When the alarm sounds, your voice on the PA is the one everyone trusts.
• • Manage the administrative heartbeat of the deck department. You will create voyage-plan spreadsheets, post daily sunrise/sunset tables and tide/current data, maintain the chart inventory, and requisition bridge consumables. You will also build and track every crew member’s training matrix: new-hire checklists, STCW certificates, external courses, and completion certificates that are filed both onboard and in Seattle.
• • Drive continuous improvement. After each transit you will debrief with the Captain and Chief Mate, analyzing near-misses, fuel burn, and guest feedback. You will recommend route optimizations, equipment upgrades, and training gaps. Your data-driven insights directly influence itineraries that appear in National Geographic magazines and documentaries.
• • Champion guest experience. While safety is non-negotiable, you also understand that an expedition is a once-in-a-lifetime journey. You will narrate glacier calvings from the bridge wings, help photographers frame the perfect shot, and occasionally host a “Navigation 101” session in the lounge. Your professionalism and warmth turn curious travelers into lifelong ambassadors for conservation.
• • Live and work in a rotational 6-week-on / 6-week-off rhythm. During your hitch you are fully immersed—sharing meals with naturalists, swapping stories with undersea specialists, and falling asleep to the hum of stabilizers. During your off-hitch you enjoy paid travel home and the freedom to trek Patagonia, dive Palau, or simply recharge with family.
• • Uphold Lindblad Expeditions’ legacy of sustainability. You will monitor fuel consumption, optimize RPM for minimal emissions, and ensure zero single-use plastics on deck. You will mentor deckhands in ocean literacy so that every crew member becomes a steward of the sea.