If you were riding Golden Gate Ferry in 1993, you may have been greeted by Mark Andrade on his very first day as a deckhand. Today, you may recognize him as the terminal supervisor at Larkspur Terminal, a position he's held now for 10 years.
Mark Andrade is responsible for the day-to-day functioning of ferry operations at Larkspur Terminal.
By Matt Larson
Published: September, 2015
If you were riding Golden Gate Ferry in 1993, you may have been greeted by Mark Andrade on his very first day as a deckhand. Today, you may recognize him as the terminal supervisor at Larkspur Terminal, a position he’s held now for 10 years.
Andrade’s first job on the water came when his father offered him a position working on a small freighter in the Bay. That got him into the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, where he met the captains and deckhands he’d later be working with.
With a teaching credential in social science, Andrade had planned to become a teacher. In fact, he taught at a charter school in Vacaville for three years and was a substitute teacher for a while in Marin County at the same time he was a deckhand.
But he loved working on the water, and just at the right time, Golden Gate asked him to be a terminal supervisor. “I was kind of shocked, because they had never taken a deckhand as a supervisor,” he said. But they’d never had Andrade working for them before either. He took the position and hasn’t left yet. “That’s the thing about this company, people come here and don’t leave,” he said. “It’s a good place to work.”
For Andrade, the best part of the job over the years has been the people he sees on a daily basis. He’s been fortunate to work in a position where he can interact with the customers, and many regular commuters know him on a first-name basis. He met his wife while working as a deckhand out of Sausalito. “It was a half-hour trip every afternoon that she was on the boat and we would just sit and talk,” he said. The marriage didn’t last, but he did get two lovely children out of the deal—both in high school now.
When Andrade comes to work, he’s responsible for the day-to-day functioning of the terminal. He gave a non-exclusive list of his responsibilities: “Crewing the vessels, crewing the terminal, the interaction with the public, keeping boats on schedule, dealing with passenger complaints and passenger questions.” And the most challenging part? “Avoiding the complacency,” he said. “You do this long enough and think you have a handle on what goes on, but then every day there’s something a little different.”
Despite growing up in the East Bay, Andrade has been rooting for the San Francisco Giants since he was a kid. But for football he sides with the Oakland Raiders. When he’s not supervising at Larkspur, he’s often watching a baseball game or reading a book, or attending one of his kids’ sporting events. His youngest daughter, Miranda, has taken up high school tennis; his son Nate just started football; and his eldest daughter, Jamie, is all grown up.
If you see Andrade with a moment to spare at the terminal, ask him about Game of Thrones. He’s seen the series and just started reading the books. He’s an avid reader and can often be found with a book in his hand. His favorite author is Tom Robbins, who wrote Skinny Legs and All, a book Andrade has read once every year since finding it on a ferry boat about 15 years ago.
“I found that book when I was a deckhand,” he said. “Pretty much everything he covers in the book I find myself agreeing with.” If you’re open to discussions on religion and politics, then Andrade highly recommends you give it a read.
Just as Andrade made an important connection on a ferry boat, the social aspect is one of the main reasons he recommends you take the ferry for your daily commute. “On each boat, there’s different groups that you always see together,” he said. “They wouldn’t have that connection if they were in their cars.” So hop on board and make some friends, and say hello to Andrade on the way.
