Tuuli Messer-Bookman
US Merchant Marine Academy
Unlimited Tonnage Oceans Master’s License

Capt. Tuuli Messer-Bookman is a 1986 graduate of the US Merchant Marine Academy. She holds her Unlimited Tonnage Oceans Master’s License and has over 300,000 miles at sea as a ship’s officer. She came ashore to teach at California Maritime Academy and taught all aspects of navigation, license preparation and simulation assessments. She was awarded Professor Emerita status upon retirement after 23 years of teaching. She is also a non-practicing attorney and has worked as an expert witness/consultant on over 100 maritime cases. She contributed to the 2019 edition of Bowditch and is a contributing author to the Nautical Institute’s Bridge Resource Management book due out soon. She has authored several maritime articles and books, the most recent being Maritime Casualties: Causes and Consequences.

She currently instructs part-time for MITAGS, is a volunteer instructor and vessel safety examiner for the U.S. Power Squadron and privately tutors license candidates of all levels preparing for their USCG exams. She chairs the Education Committee for the Tacoma Yacht Club and is chair of the Peninsula Emergency Preparedness Coalition, a group working to help prepare communities for natural disasters. In addition to teaching, her passion is rescuing dogs and she serves as a Director of the CHEW Dog Rescue of Gig Harbor and a volunteer with Bull Terrier Rescue NW.

She and her husband live in Gig Harbor, WA and enjoy boating, playing their two English Bull Terriers, and fostering dogs while they find their forever homes.