Like thousands of kids her age, 20 year old Dawn Manzari came home from college last month. Before she even had time to unpack her clothes, she was working her summer job. It's the same job shes been working since her early teens, so she's fairly familiar with the pattern.

Wake up at 5 a.m. Be at work by 6. Start a pot of coffee. Get everything ready for the customers.

It all sounds very routine, like it could be happening at just about any restaurant, store or shop on Long Island. But Manzari's job differs from those respectable, and mostly indoor, pursuits in that she gets to be outside, on the water, with her family.

When she is not a Biology major at Penn State University, Manzari works as a mate aboard the Island Princess, a 65 ft. party boat that sails three fishing trips a day out of Captree State Park. The boat is owned and operated by her father, Nick, and she'll often get to work along-side her sister, Laura, or her mother, Marie.

"I love being out on the water and especially being near my family", Dawn Manzari said. "I always have my camera with me and I take pictures of things that fascinate me. If we catch a new fish, I'll try to find out what it is. Last year, we came across some whales, which was cool".

Of course, being a mate isn't all about photo ops and family bonding. It can be hard, unpredictable work.

If you've ever been fishing on a party boat, from half-day fluke trips around the island to three-day shark expeditions out of Montauk, you know how hard mates work. Their job is to make the customer comfortable and the trip a success, whether that means untangling lines or baiting hooks or giving a hungry passenger a sandwich. "My mom usually makes me so much food I end up sharing with the customers anyway," Manzari said.

Manzari came to the job as part of a family business. Others come for different reasons.

Jannine Galgano, 23, has worked as a mate on several boats out of Captree and works on the Island Princess. As a girl growing up in Babylon, she always wanted to go fishing with her father. "But he always took my brother and never took me when I was a kid," she said. While still in high school, Galgano landed a job at the Captree Bait and Tackle Shop, right on the dock.

When she was a senior in high school, she became a mate. Six years later, Galgano knows the ins and outs of the job like she knows the ins and outs of the knots she ties on the boat.

'When I get there in the morning, I start rigging the rods for the customers," she said, "It's just drop loop after drop loop, overhand knot after overhand knot, to get the people set up." The mates also help prepare the boat for sailing, whether that means simply untying the stern lines and defrosting or slicing the bait or helping the captain in the engine room. Galgano said if the captain is working in the engine room, she may pitch in on the dock, standing at the bow of the boat trying, like P.T. Barnum, to draw in customers. "Whatever it takes to get the boat and people ready to fish," she said.

"Some people may think it's only a part time job and we're out here having fun and games, but we work hard," said Brian Sorice, first mate on the Island Princess. It's a pretty simple job, it's just a matter of being responsible enough to do it." Like Galgano, Sorice has been a mate since high school. Unlike Galgano, Sorice has been with the Island princess since day one. Three or four days a week, Sorice will arrive at 6 a.m., act as first mate on fluke trips that run from 7 to 11 and Noon to 4 p.m., then captain the weakfish and bluefish trip from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.

"Even just doing the two trips makes for a long day'" Sorice said, "but I get a thrill out of making sure people catch fish." He recalled a recent trip in which he hooked a 9 pound weakfish and hands the pole to a 9-year-old girl so she could reel in her first fish. Just the look on her face," he said. "She was in her glory."

Life as a mate may seem pretty peachy, but the job does come with some frustrations. Mother Nature, for instance, can play a large role in deciding whether a mate can work or not. If rainy skies keep customers away, fewer mates are needed and some are sent home. Other times, on beautiful weekend days, the boat will be filled with 80 or so customers and only five mates.

Mates make an hourly wage but most of their money comes from tips, which are pooled and split evenly at the end of the day. Getting stiffed by a customer is one of the big frustrations. "Sometimes people would rather tip the guy who delivers the pizza for two seconds than the mate who's out here working for you for four or five hours." Galgamo said.

Some people just aren't aware that they should tip, said Sorice, who said a good half-day trip is $5. "You can bait their hook 25 times and untangle them another six times and they just don't know."

Mates such as Manzari and Galgano sometimes suffer from a frustration that Sorice has never had to deal with. Some customers have a problem accepting help from a female mate. "I've had people not willing to let me help them and ask for a man to do it," Manzari said. Galgano said ahe often quells such problems by quietly going about her business and proving herself through actions.

Manzari and Galgano are not alone. Most boats up and down the dock have at least one or two female mates in the weekly rotation. Some are lifers, who aspire to getting a captain's license and owning their own party boat one day. Others are using the money to get through college, while still others are working a job they enjoy until they can figure out what life will bring them. It's no different for the male mates.

Every so often a mate will have a scheduled day off. It presents a chance to sleep late, run errands or visit with friends. When Sorice gets a day off, he is usually right back on the water, in his own boat, fishing.

I don't bring anyone with me," Sorice said of his days of tranquility. "I used to go out with friends or family, but I found when I did that, the next thing I knew was I was working".

And that's no way to spend a day off.