Rachel Crane: Restoring Corals, Nat Geo Expeditions, and Swimming with Humpbacks (#31)

Rachel Crane is a captain, dive instructor, expedition leader, and marine ecologist. Today, Rachel shares with us her dreams of being a vet in rural upstate New York morphed into becoming a boat captain in the Florida Keys for Coral Restoration Foundation. Along the way, Rachel had an incredible internship that included diving with Navy Seals in the longest pool in the world, swimming with humpbacks, and cave research. Rachel also takes us on a Nat Geo cruise in Alaska, and shares a hilarious and rare interaction between a juvenile tiger shark and a pufferfish.

Quick Links
University of Miami Summer Scholar Program
Unity College
Mote Marine Lab
Black Band Disease
Dr. Erinn Muller
Scuba Educators International
Rainbow Reef Dive Center
Boston Rovers Frank Scalli Internship
Boston Rovers Conference
New England Aquarium
Harvard Museum of Natural History
Carderock Navy Base
Cambrian Foundation
Coral Restoration Foundation
Coral Trees
University of Miami
Glacier Bay Lodge
Diveheart
Lindblad Expeditions
National Geographic (Nat Geo)

Show Notes

2:00 how the dream of becoming a vet morphed into becoming a marine biologist despite growing up far from the ocean in rural upstate New York.

6:57 why Rachel wanted to go to a college that did NOT offer graduate programs. As a result, she got hands-on experience with tardigrades aka “water bears.”

11:00 Choosing cold Maine over warm Florida for college: why this was important to Rachel.

12:15 Finding her way back to corals in the Florida Keys with Mote Marine lab studying black band disease, a prevalent disease found worldwide, and what happens when the funding runs out.

18:35 how to become a dive instructor for free

20:28 the incredible year long internship Rachel earned with the Boston Sea Rovers traveling the US learning about the different facets of marine science including working with the New England Aquarium and Harvard Museum of Natural History.

29:55 Canada does not have the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The result? Rachel got to go snorkeling with humpback whales!

32:00 where the longest pool is in the world (when it was built, the curvature of the Earth had to be taken into account) and how Rachel was involved with the largest human powered submarine race

34:54 Researching bacteria in underwater caverns, and doing her post-internship write up of her whirlwind summer exploring the different facets of marine science, and what particular skills helped make her internship.

41:38 how a natural disaster, and another twist in the road led Rachel to working to restore coral reefs in the Florida Keys. The twist in the road? Working in Glacier Bay, Alaska and snowbirding in Florida teaching diving.

47:30 how to be in demand for a job: connect with different people and organizations, and be reliable. Show up, show up on time, and do your job well.

49:30 what a day in the life of a coral restoration captain is like.

56:10 the importance of knowing your value. How Rachel turned down a dream job, only to get offered more money as a result. What Rachel’s role as a training instructor at Dive Heart looks like.

1:01:00Putting all of the seemingly random life events together and earning a position as naturalist and marine ecologist in Alaska for Nat Geo and Lindblad Expeditions.

1:10:00 Fun fact about working in the Galapagos: natives from Galapagos and Ecuador get first dibs on jobs before international applicants.

1:11:50 Rachel’s favorite field story: a juvenile tiger shark playing with a beach ball of a pufferfish.

1:15:45 Rachel’s take home message that you can do from anywhere in the world: reduce and reuse. The story to drive this home? Driving around remote underwater canyons with a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and finding trash. The other ask? Leave the shells, sea urchin tests (skeletons), and sand dollars on the beach and in the ocean. They’re composed of calcium carbonate which is a limited resource in the ocean.