Working on the Water

David Holt

District Boating Officer, Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA)

As a boating officer with TWRA, David Holt spends his workdays on a patrol boat, answering calls for service and promoting public safety on the water.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. I have always had an interest in the outdoors, hunting, and fishing, but like many young boys, I also had piqued interests in public safety workers. With jobs like this out there, I was able to combine all of those interests into one profession.

Q. What training was required?

A. When I was hired on with the agency, I went through eight weeks of wildlife law enforcement training, nine weeks in police academy, and then four more weeks of boating law enforcement training. After all of that, I went through six months of field training before I was able to work the job alone. It was all and all a year’s worth of training, but it couldn’t have prepared me better for what lay ahead.

Q. What does a normal day on the job look like?

A. No two days are the same. On a busy summer Saturday afternoon, I can be responding to a multitude of boating-related calls. If there are no calls, officers take this opportunity to proactively look for safety violations and try to prevent any sort of incidents from occurring.

Q. What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A. Friendships. If you ask anyone who has a career within public safety, they will tell you about the friends that they have made while doing it. The friends I’ve made from within my agency and outside have been a blessing. No matter if it’s after a long night at work, leaving a tough call, or just wanting to catch up, you always have your partners you can fall back on.

Q. Outside of work, do you spend any time recreationally on the water?

A. Most people don’t just love to go to the office on their days off, but I tend to find myself out there from time to time. Normally, it is going to be on a weekday jug fishing for catfish. Other officers and I love to get out on summer nights and use old Coke bottles with hooks tied to them to catch catfish. Once we acquire a tasteful mess of Chickamauga’s finest catfish, we have a catfish fry.

Ben Stenger

River Journey Lead Aquarist, Tennessee Aquarium

When he’s not checking up on exhibits, feeding fish and animals, and making sure everything is running smoothly in the aquarium’s River Journey building, Ben Stenger can be found snorkeling in area streams.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. I grew up on the Texas coast and fell in love with the ocean. My second-grade teacher was amazing and helped stoke my interest in biology and marine life. After moving to Tennessee, I took an ichthyology course at Tennessee Tech. We went on a field trip to collect stream fish, and my mind was blown by the colors and diversity of the fish we found. It completely altered my trajectory towards appreciating what we had in our own backyard.

Q. Have you learned any interesting information about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. My fellow aquarists and I like to observe how native fish use their habitat in the wild and then utilize that information to replicate it on exhibit. We have learned a ton and have had some amazing natural behaviors on exhibit as a result.

Q. What are some challenges that come with your career?

A. Caring for animals requires you to be consistently excellent at your job every single day. There are moments when exciting things happen, such as diving and moving animals, but most of the day is spent doing routine tasks with careful detail.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. As a fish nerd, the amount of biodiversity in our region’s waterways is what I like best. Spending an afternoon in a stream up in the mountains is my favorite way to enjoy the day.

Q. Any memorable stories you’d like to share?

A. My favorite stories are from taking staff and interns freshwater snorkeling for the first time. There can be some understandable hesitation at first, but by the end of the day, they are having a blast and identifying fish like a pro.

Q. Outside of work, do you spend any time recreationally on the water?

A. My favorite activity on the water is snorkeling, specifically the rivers and streams in the Southeast. Our area has the highest diversity of freshwater life in the country, and observing and photographing them in their natural environment has been a passion of mine for 20 years.

Nick Williams

Head Captain & Chief Engineer, Chattanooga Riverboat Co.

Photos by Vityl Media

 

Part of the Chattanooga Riverboat Co. team for nearly 20 years, Nick Williams makes sure everything is ship-shape when captaining the Southern Belle Riverboat.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. In high school I decided I wanted to work on boats and become a marine engineer – it probably came from watching a lot of old movies. I came down here to save money for my first year at a maritime school, got this job, and decided to stay.

Q. What training was required?

A. There is training involved, but a lot of it just comes from experience. Boats are like small towns, you have to know about all the different trades. It’s everything from welding and painting to navigation and security.

Q. What does a normal day on the job look like?

A. A normal day for me is working on maintenance projects between scheduled cruises. I captain the Southern Belle Riverboat as well as a smaller 49-passenger boat, Latitude 35, that we actually built ourselves. We have a crew of dedicated people who check and re-check to make sure that every cruise runs smoothly.

Q. What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A. When customers get off the boat and tell you what a great time they had. People find the history of the area fascinating, and there is something special about cruising on a riverboat that you don’t experience on modern vessels.

Q. Have you learned any interesting information about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. Yes, tons! There is an old story about the riverboat Cherokee that actually drove up Market Street and rescued people that were stranded on the rooftops of some of our original buildings in the flood of 1867. When the Cherokee left town, it went over the top of Moccasin Bend and set a riverboat speed record from here to Bridgeport, Alabama, that hasn’t been beaten to this day.

Q. Any memorable stories you’d like to share?

A. In 2015 we took the boat all the way to Paducah, Kentucky, for repairs, 465 miles down the river. It was an amazing trip! It took us around five days to get there, and we were living onboard the whole time, grilling food on the top deck and sleeping on the benches. We don’t take the boat out of town very often, but those trips are always special.

Kevin Angelilli

Owner, Tri-Star Scuba + Public Safety Diver, Hamilton County S.T.A.R.S.

An experienced scuba diver and instructor, Kevin Angelilli can be found leading certification courses at his business and volunteering as a public safety diver for the county.

Q. Tell us about your position.

A. My wife and I started teaching out of the garage, and it grew and grew, so we finally decided to open up a storefront. We opened in April and have been going crazy ever since. Within five months, we’ve had 100 certifications.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. I always liked the idea of being underwater and scuba diving. When I got the chance, I took it, and did not stop. I do recreational, technical, cave, public safety diving, and underwater archeology.

Q. What training was required?

A. When you start, you become what’s called an open water diver. From there, you go to advanced open water, then rescue. I teach 38 specialties of diving, including professional levels and recreation.

Q. What does a normal day on the job look like?

A. During the summer, we’ll go to quarries at least twice a month, and we typically do an out-of-town trip every month. We also do international trips – we’ll go anywhere on the planet that has a place you can scuba dive.

Q. What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A. I’ve been teaching for over 31 years, and it’s still cool to watch somebody take their first breath underwater. And when someone says they love a creature, whether it’s an octopus or turtle, and they get to see one – that is magic.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. A lot of people know about the Civil War and old history that’s here, they just don’t realize that some of that history is in the river … There are many cars, trucks, and boats sunken in the local area. I have been fortunate to get the chance to dive them and see and touch history.

Q. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

A. I created my own public safety diving logo – the PSDLogo – so we could have something to wear that is immediately recognizable and signifies that we are public safety divers. I have sold them worldwide, and dive teams use them everywhere. The Warrior Memorial Reefs Foundation said that they wanted to use my logo on underwater memorials for public safety divers.

Corbin Dull

Owner, Surf423 + Product Specialist, Skier’s Marine + Team Rider, Pure Wakesurf

After a successful day working as a boat salesman, Corbin Dull heads to the water to share his passion for wake surfing through his business, Surf423.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. In 2018, my wife and I relocated to Chattanooga. Shortly after the move, I began working in the marine industry as a sales representative. With a background in professional skim boarding in Florida, I naturally found myself being invited by boat owners to come aboard to wake surf. As I shared my passion for water sports – something that had shaped my own upbringing – I saw the excitement and joy it brought to the kids. That experience sparked a realization that this could be more than a hobby; it could be something I pursued more seriously.

Q. What does a normal day on the job look like?

A. A typical day for me involves working 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. as a boat sales representative, followed by running evening surf charters from 6 to 8 p.m., Monday through Friday. Being able to share my passion for boating and wake surfing makes both roles incredibly rewarding and enjoyable.

Q. What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A. Watching people – especially kids – gain confidence, drop the rope for the first time, and truly enjoy the moment is incredibly fulfilling. Every session is a chance to create lasting memories, whether it’s a family bonding on the boat or someone overcoming their fear and learning something new. I get to meet all kinds of people, hear their stories, and sometimes even inspire a lifelong love for wake surfing and the outdoors. Being out on the lake doing what I love never really feels like work.

Q. Outside of work, do you spend any time recreationally on the water?

A. Absolutely! You’ll find my family and me out on the water almost every weekend during the summer. Whether we’re wake surfing, fishing, or just relaxing, we love tying up boats with friends to hang out, share stories, and enjoy good times together. The waterways are truly where we make our best memories.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. Definitely the incredible scenery. Whether I’m boating on the river downtown or heading up to the Hiwassee River, every part of the Tennessee River offers something truly breathtaking. It’s very hard to beat the sunsets over the water in a boat!

Andrew J. “AJ” Van Slyke

Visiting Lecturer, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC)

Together with his students at UTC, underwater archaeologist Andrew J. “AJ” Van Slyke is uncovering the history hidden beneath the surface of the Tennessee River.

Q. Tell us about your position.

A. I am an archaeologist who focuses on underwater sites. I became an underwater archaeologist with my employment in the U.S. National Park Service Submerged Resources Center in 2020. In this job, we protected and documented underwater archaeological sites in any national park with water. In August of 2025, I started my new career as a lecturer and archaeologist for UTC. My colleagues and I want to build an underwater program, introducing students to the maritime world.

Q. What sparked your interest in this field of work?

A. Growing up in Florida, I always went to the beach and had a burning passion for history. Archaeology is the way to tangibly prove that something happened. So, when I learned you could leave the shore to dive and uncover forgotten stories … I was all in.

Q. What training was required?

A. Lots of dive training and years of schooling to become a qualified anthropologist, or specifically an archaeologist. While my BA and MA were in anthropology and historical archaeology, I want to use my PhD to tie together every shipwreck I have studied into a broader historical context.

Q. Have you learned any interesting information about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. Currently, we are studying six abandoned shipwrecks in the Tennessee River abreast of Chattanooga. This search started because of rumors that USS Chattanooga, a quickly built, stern-wheel steamer used to transport food during the Civil War, rested near Ross’s Landing. However, our investigation into all the steamers named Chattanooga suggests that the USS Chattanooga did not likely come to rest in Chattanooga. The wreck local lore suggests to be USS Chattanooga is likely the Chattanooga Packet, which sank at its moorings in December of 1921, 500 feet from the Market Street Bridge.

Q. What do you find most rewarding about your job?

A. At UTC, I am immersed, every day, in the most rewarding aspect of the job: sharing my passion with the students.

Q. What is your favorite thing about Chattanooga’s waterways?

A. So far, my favorite thing is the possibility to uncover stories only forgotten because they are just beneath the water’s surface. The potential to study and help document Tennessee’s submerged cultural heritage is what I think about every time I drive over or by this state’s rivers.