Cool Jobs 3: Making a Splash

For many who live and work on the Grand Strand, the allure of the water seems to have taken a back seat to the daily grind. Some folks moved here to be close to it, but the call of the time clock and the demands of myriad to-do list items conspired to render them, for all practical purposes, landlocked within their workday routines – imprisoned by their schedules.

But for others, this could never happen.

There are people here who have found a way to incorporate water into their jobs and their lives so seamlessly that there is simply no other option.

In this, the third installment of Working 4 a Living: Cool Jobs, The Surge takes a look at three extraordinary individuals who have built their lives – and their livelihoods – on and under water.

“Bringing Help to the Surface”

Brandon Toms, 27, once considered a life in youth ministry. He played in a number of worship bands as a drummer, and at one point played in a Christian hardcore band – but said things started to fall through at the same time his approval came in from Coastal Carolina University’s marine science department.

“I definitely went through a transformation at Coastal,” he said.

This transformation included the decision to spend a good portion of his life underwater.

During his first semester as a marine science major, Toms took his first Scuba class under Steve Luff, CCU’s director of dive safety and Scuba program instructor.

This was the first step in an odyssey that took him through an advanced certification course and further certification dives with Luff in Florida, exploring caverns and freshwater places featuring an abundance of manatees.

“I was hooked,” he said, adding that he took a Maymester coral reef ecology course at Discovery Bay, Jamaica – again with Luff and doing Scuba research.

He also got involved with a videography/grouper research project off Frying Pan Shoals in Southport, NC, and interned with Scuba Express [Express Watersports] in Murrells Inlet. Toms also worked for a time as a show diver at Ripley’s Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach.

He holds a BS, or bachelor’s of science, in marine science.

Toms became an entrepreneur, having started a business called FST Dive Services [www.fstdiveservices.com] in 2010.

“FST stands for fully submersible technicians – and I am on call 24/7,” Toms said. “The vast majority of what I do is in-water ship husbandry – so I will do corrosion control on large yachts. I will do hull cleanings, change propellers under water and also do salvage work.”

Salvage work for Toms means refloating boats after disasters, hitting rocks or sinking at the dock. But how does this work?

“It’s a real simple concept. In one way or another, you want to lift the boat to where the entire perimeter of the boat breaks the surface of the water – and then you want to pump out the water and plug any holes that you find,” he said.

But that, of course, is the short explanation. Toms said that marine salvage is a complete puzzle, and that’s what he loves about it. And this is in direct contrast to the redundancy of much of his other work.

“When I do basic hull cleanings, your brain just turns to jelly. You are sitting there doing a repetitive motion all day, and you are alone under water with not much stimulation. So I love those jobs where it’s like a game of chess and you are really battling an opponent. This boat that is down in the water is your enemy, and you’ve got to conquer it.”

The process includes the use of lift bags, which are placed around the distressed vessel in order to displace water and bring it carefully to the surface.

But again, this is simplistic. Toms must be vigilant because some of these vessels could be carrying thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and oil.

“If you don’t do the salvage correctly, you may release all of that into the environment – at which time the Coast Guard will have your head on a spike,” he said.

Obviously, Toms is in and under the water throughout this process – but he said that his job is multidisciplinary, running the gamut from filling out contracts with boat owners, calling insurance companies and taking photos for documentation.

“You’re bringing down all sorts of heavy equipment, talking with dock masters and keeping spectators away,” Toms said. “In some cases you are being ferried back and forth with work boats if it’s not sunk at a dock. Then you are manning lift bags, constructing and hypothesizing, testing – sometimes failing – sometimes starting over and re-rigging. Once it’s up, you are not completely done until you deliver it to safe harbor and sign it over.”

Toms became interested in adding salvage work to his business after helping out with disaster relief in Long Island, after Hurricane Sandy.

But he hasn’t forgotten the appeal of diving for diving’s sake. Occasionally, he can be found spearfishing off Frying Pan Shoals, which he said boasts exceptional top-to-bottom visibility, even in water deeper than 100 feet.

But everybody needs time on terra firma.

“I am really into craft beer, and I love visiting breweries in the area,” he said. “My wife and I are really into animals. We own two pot-bellied pigs, a crocodile and all sorts of crazy critters.”

And he has taken up drumming in public again, this time with his three-piece blues band, $6 Lobster.

“Stingrays, Sharks and Smiling Faces”

As a Scuba diver with Ripley’s Aquarium at Broadway at the Beach, Micheala Polly is able to work year-round – unencumbered by any sudden changes in tidal patterns or weather.

Originally from Jefferson City, Mo., Polly moved to Myrtle Beach in the summer of 2011 after two fortuitous events: Her acceptance into the marine science program at Coastal Carolina University and being hired at Ripley’s Aquarium. These two events happened in rapid succession that summer.

She was attending college in Missouri on a pre-med track until a couple of events took place in a zoology class she was attending.

“I remember kind of bickering with my professor because he said something wrong about a shark,” she said. “I grew up reading fish and shark books as long as a can remember, and I just remember taking that class and really enjoying it more than I should have.”

That professor was also her advisor – and he encouraged Polly to focus her efforts on what her heart told her to do, and from what he could tell – marine science was forefront.

“After speaking with him, I switched my major and started looking for colleges,” she said.

After taking a look at UNC-Wilmington, Polly came to Myrtle Beach on vacation and wound up taking a campus tour at CCU and said she fell in love with it. The same thing with Ripley’s Aquarium. She first visited the attraction with her family as a tourist.

“We did a Stingray Experience, and I got paired up with one of the dive team supervisors, and my parents were asking her how I could maybe get a job there. She said I had to be Scuba certified, and if I was interested, to put in an application. I think within the same week, right after the Fourth of July, I got my acceptance letter for sure from Coastal and I also got a phone call saying, ‘Hey, you are hired at Ripley’s. How soon can you be here?’”

She hustled to get her dive certification at Nu Horizons Dive and Travel in Myrtle Beach – and within a week went to work at Ripley’s.

“Before you know it, I was at work feeding stingrays – and the rest is history,” she said.

Polly’s work day is not all show diving – she does a lot of food prep for the marine animals and does what she calls a cleaning dive in what is known as Dangerous Reef, a.k.a. the big shark tank. And divers spend time talking to patrons as well.

But the dive shows happen on the hour, every hour – with a normal dive averaging from 15 to 20 minutes.

“When we first dive in, you swim down to the bottom,” she said. “You are actually feeding the animals, and so basically you go down, look up and wave at everybody. You just swim around and you feed all of the animals, and then when you get done, that’s when divers have a little bit of fun. I will typically dance in the tank during my dive shows or – I have been known to kind of play pranks on the people that are talking. I will put bunny ears behind them when they are speaking, or just make fun of them, like they are they are talking too much.”

Sometimes people think the divers are robots and that their tanks are big batteries. And sometimes, Polly likes to photobomb folks who think she can’t see them.

“It makes for some really good people watching,” she said. “I have broken up a lot of people taking selfies, because they didn’t realize that I could see them too. I do a funny face behind their selfie, and then they will find you later and they will be like, ‘I had no idea you could see me.’”

She cited the workplace vibe as easygoing.

“If you pay attention to what you are doing with all of the animals, and they acting and eating normally, then you can have fun with your coworkers and pick on them. It’s fun, and everybody in the building loves it when they come to the dive shows.”

Did we mention the sharks?

“They’re great,” she said. “I look at them as big teddy bears underwater, although they don’t look like your average teddy bear. I have never been afraid of them at all. If I was terrified of them, obviously I would be doing the wrong job.”

Polly likes to stay active outside of work as well, either by surfing, running or working out.

Her family followed her to the Grand Strand. Once a month they look for a new local restaurant to hit up. And don’t be surprised if you see her at the beach.

“I spent almost 20 years of my life not having a beach, so it’s important for me to go there as much as possible – kind of making up for the years that I didn’t have one,” she said.

Polly is currently completing additional classes at CCU in order to go to veterinarian school.

“A Day with the Dockmaster”

Murrells Inlet resident Miles Worrell was the captain of a fishing boat called “Our Gang” in 1998 when an angler caught a record Wahoo weighing in at 130 pounds, 5 ounces. The record still stands today.

He was a fishing charter captain for ten years before coming on board with Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach as dockmaster 11 years ago.

“Basically, a dockmaster takes care of everything at the marina on the outside,” he said, adding that Osprey Marina is off the Intracoastal Waterway in Socastee.

The marina maintains 96 wet-slips and has dry storage capability for up to 102 vessels – warehoused and tiered.

“We have a forklift [Wiggins Marina Bull forklift] that is capable of lifting these boats in and out of the water,” he said. “I can run that forklift, but on the other side of that, I have to make sure that the machine is operable and functioning at 100 percent. And then we’ve got water and power in every slip out here, so everything that goes on, I have to make sure everything is working properly.

He added that the marina is at full capacity right now, and the company website, www.ospreymarina.com, says that the marina operates at 90 percent capacity year round.

“This time of year, we have a lot of transient boaters going to Florida from up north,” he said. “They will call in and make reservations, and my job is to find space available for these boats. What I have to do a lot of times is move things around so that I will have room for that 50-to-65 footer that is coming in just for that night.”

Do huge boats come through?

“We have had 100-footers stop in here, just for the night,” he said, adding that the largest boat in there currently is probably a 60 foot vessel.

Worrell and staff pay close attention to the reservation schedule – and the first thing he does is to check to see who is coming in that day. After that, he said it’s mostly a maintenance situation – keeping the grounds immaculate, making sure everything is, well, shipshape.

"And then we have to cater to our residents that come out here daily. Let’s just say that Mister Smith calls and wants his boat put in at 10 o’clock. The girl in the store calls us and says – Mr. Smith needs his boat put in – Boom! We get his boat put in. In the summertime, that’s the majority of what we are doing. Wintertime, we’re catering to the transient boaters and people going south. In spring they come back and we cater to them when they are going north.”

He said the Osprey Marina has a central ship’s store, offering light fare like drinks and snacks – beer and wine.

“We don’t stock a lot of hardware anymore because I can order it and get it the next day, but we’ve got some basic stuff, like [marine] batteries.”

The idea is to make things as carefree as possible for recreational boaters, but Worrell told The Surge that his job is fun as well.

“You’ve got so much going on that it’s not boring at all,” he said. It goes by fast. We’ve got a lot of good customers and a really good employee base. Most of them have been here ten years.”

But he also gets high school students over the summers.

“I have gone through one freshman who is now a law student at [University of] South Carolina, and I’ve got some kids out of St. James High School that I have had for four years. I have been fortunate to get good help and the owners of this whole deal are awesome – they really are.”

James Carson Benton, Jr. is cited as the owner and developer of the property. He is also vice president at the contracting company C.L. Benton & Sons.

Worrell, 56, earned a bachelor’s of science degree in interdisciplinary studies at what is now Coastal Carolina University – when it was under the umbrella of the USC system.

When he wants a good meal, Worrell doesn’t have to look far from home. He hits up eateries like Lee’s Inlet Kitchen, Russell’s Seafood Grill and Raw Bar or the Inlet Crab House – to name a few.

But downtime can take him far afield.

“I used to be a hardcore surfer, and I still surf once a year to say that I am still a surfer – but now I devote my time off to snowboarding,” he said. “I will head out west in February to try to catch a couple of storms. My favorite mountain is Wolf Creek, Colorado.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2015 at 10:58 AM with the headline "Cool Jobs 3: Making a Splash."