Captain Red is the best of the best -- knows his stuff and obviously very committed to customer safety and experience.
James Palkovic
The Vessels
Blackbeard’s cruises are delivered on one of our two 65′ diving liveaboard sailboats, the Sea Explorer and the Morning Star.
- Exceptional oceanfront and island views
- Dining – picnic-style outdoors in the horseshoe or inside near the kitchen (galley)
- Bunks – beds come in doubles and singles as uppers or lowers
- Bathrooms (heads) – small and shared with your mates
- Showers – hot water and long showers are a luxury – enjoy them before you arrive
- Kitchen (galley) – yes, a compact space where all your meals are prepped. We’re serious.
Don’t pack tons of clothes. We’d rather have room to store all the food we’ll eat each trip.
Our dinghies are our transportation to and from islands.
Meet Our Crew
Chris
Personnel Director
Chris Hales was born and raised in the cool waters of San Diego. Whether it was fishing, free diving, or surfing he could always be found on the Ocean in his free time. Working his way into the maritime industry he spent the rest of his time refurbishing small vessels till he had a ship large enough to travel the high seas. Chris spent many years chasing Tuna up and down the Northern Coast of Baja, Coronado Islands, and Channel Islands till he found his Pirate calling with Blackbeards Cruises. Trading his cold water fishing expeditions for warm crystal clear teal blue waters of the Bahamas, Chris started with the company as an Engineer. Eventually working his way to Captaincy and helping out his fellow crew members as Personnel Director.
Morgan
Captain/ first mate
Morgan, or Biggins as his friends know him, comes to us from Orlando, Florida. When he was just eight years old, he took a trip to Boston with his family and ended up meeting his father’s scuba instructor, Steve. Morgan was fascinated by the underwater photos that were on Scuba Steve’s walls and told himself that he too, would one day get scuba certified. He got his scuba certification in 2010 and has loved being on the water ever since. All thanks to Scuba Steve! Morgan took to the water for 4 years with The Navy as an Aviation Electrician and when he got out he went to the Marine Mechanical Institute in Orlando for a year. In his spare time he loves metal working and aquariums. When you see him, please make sure he has put on sunscreen!
Ian
Captain/ first mate
Ian “Hoppy” comes from a small town in sunny South Africa. He is a PADI dive instructor as well as a PADI Freedive instructor. He has been working as an instructor for the past 5 years along the South African coastline. Ian is passionate about the ocean. Ian loves playing soccer and is an avid cricket and rugby fan. Something no-one knows about Ian, he loves all animals except for squirrels.
Amone
Chef
Amone is 25 year old and is a Qualified chef that comes from Garden Route in South Africa . She enjoys hiking , camping and has camped in almost every National Park in South Africa . She Speaks English and Afrikaans. Her Favourite sea animal is a cape Fur seal, she loves how cheeky they are.
Aaron
Engineer
From a young age Aaron has been mechanically inclined. He has always been interested in finding out how things work.
Aaron is a 28 year old Engineer from the sunny shores of Cape Town South Africa. He enjoys hiking and camping . He has the crossed the Atlantic and loves a good sea shanty . He loves sea otters because they hold hands in order not to drift apart. He Speaks English and Afrikaans .
Andrew
Dive Instructor
Born in a small rural town in South Africa, Andrews affinity for water came to the fore at school in Johannesburg swimming competitively and playing water polo . Introduced to scuba diving at school, he learnt to dive on the Indian Ocean reefs off South Africa and Mozambique .Whilst passionate about the ocean and all things in it , the African bush has a special place in his heart . His favorite ocean animal is moray eels because they have two jaws called a pharyngeal jaw which is why it swallows their prey and if they had to bite something too big it would be like a pit bull with lockjaw. In his free time, he enjoys health and fitness and watching documentaries.
Ariel
Cook
Ariel joins us from the beautiful twin islands of Antigua and Barbuda. Ari achieved her Associates degree in culinary arts and gained experience working in various hotels among the islands. She is down to earth and very approachable so be sure to engage her in some fun conversations. She enjoys sitting down with a good book, swimming in the ocean and exploring.
Barry
Dive Instructor
Barry comes to us from a small scuba/fishing village in Mexico called Mahahual. Growing up in the mid west as a kid, Barry has spent his adult life chasing warm weather. Barry’s ocean dream is to see an Orca while diving and he’ll stay salty until that day!
Mike
Dive Instructor
Mike grew up in Wyoming and had only been to the ocean twice before deciding to become a commercial diver after high school. He has now come full circle and is back to working on the water.
Freediving and spearfishing have become passions of Mike’s, and he’s chased fish across the Caribbean and Pacific oceans.
When Mike isn’t in the water, he’s out chasing other adventures. Backpacking from the deserts to the mountains, rock crawling with friends in his project truck, an H1 Humvee, or anything else fun and exciting. He has an “I wanna go” type of attitude.
Chris
CHEF AND ENGINEER
I grew up in Plettenberg Bay South Africa. As a kid I loved going to the beach with friends and playing soccer in the sand. The first sea creature I ever saw I jokingly called an Elephant Shark. I later came to find out that there actually was an elephant fish. I took a cooking class that was offered in high school and my life was forever changed. I fell in love with cooking and the joy that it spreads. After high school I went into hotel management and started cooking full time and have not looked back since. It gives me great joy to see the happiness that a good meal can bring someone!
Tristan
Chef and Engineer
Tristan got his love for the ocean from growing up so close to the beautiful waters of South Africa near Durbin. He got into cooking when he took a job as a waiter during the summers. He started cooking for family and friends when not working and just grew to love it more and more. Eventually, he decided to combine the two things that he really liked to do, which was boating and cooking. When not in the kitchen he can be found blowing bubbles.
Sophie
Dive Instructor and Engineer
Sophie grew up on a working cattle ranch on the central coast of California. After diving in the cold waters of the Santa Barbara Channel as a teenager she decided to go off traveling in search of warmer waters! She has worked in Honduras, Thailand, Indonesia, and Curacao but her favorite ocean will always be the Caribbean. While she moved back to the states for a bit to pursue new things such as snowboarding and bartending, she has decided that the ocean is where she is meant to be! Though Sophie may have a tattoo of a sea lion on her ankle, her favorite fish are either frogfish for the rewarding search and grumpy faces or yellowheaded jawfish for how ethereal they look. When not working she likes to relax by doing arts and crafts of any kind (though not well), reading, or taking a long hike.
Sheena
Dive Instructor
Sheena escaped from the great white north and joins us from the Canadian prairies. She studied Tourism and when she’s not diving you’ll likely find her adventuring in the great outdoors. Her passion for nature and travel have taken her through a variety of careers and around the world before eventually landing her in the diving industry. After an all girls dive trip down to the Bahamas she was convinced to try her hand at being a pirate. Her spirit animal is the tiny but mighty Mantis shrimp and she will never get tired of watching juvenile box fish!
Catalina
Dive Instructor
Cata joins us from Bogota Colombia and has her BS in Business. She speaks Spanish, English and Portuguese. She loves football/soccer, trekking and traveling. Her favorite marine creature is the octopus with their high intelligence and amazing camouflage.
Stephanie
Dive Instructor
Steph is a dive instructor joining us from Bern, Switzerland. She has a degree in business psychology and was working a regular 8-5 job before she escaped and pursued a diving career. Anything with water, a board or mountains is what she loves – diving, wake-surfing, snowboarding, skateboarding or hiking. She speaks German, English, Spanish and a little bit of French. The manta ray is her favorite animal because of the graceful movements and curiousness. Fun fact about Steph: She talks to all the underwater animals
Stacy
Chef
After finishing high school, Stacy got straight to work.
She has done a variety of jobs, from coaching to teaching people how
to drive. She then set out on her yachting journey where she completed
many courses in order to be able to show only the best workmanship.
She has had the privilege of sailing through the Mediterranean, where she experienced the beautiful waters of Monaco, SOF, the southern parts of Italy like the Amalfi Coast, many little islands along the way, Greece and Turkey. She then traveled stateside where she’s visited quite a couple different states, as well as Mexico and the Bahamas! Stacy’s favorite ocean animal is
split between dolphins and turtles. She’s been able to swim and play
around with both animals while being in the water. She likes how
chilled the turtles are and how fun-loving and energetic the dolphins
are, a little bit like herself to say the least. Stacy started diving with her mom at 14 and fell in love. They’ve dived the sunny coastline waters of Mozambique and Sodwana Bay over the past 10 years. Outside the water, Stacy carries, at all times, her ancient uno cards that have traveled all over the world with her. She also loves a funky button up shirt!
Tyrone
Dive Instructor
Tyron was raised and brought up in South Africa. He loves the ocean since he has been been a child and that’s what has brought him here. He has been diving since 2018 which has given him time for figuring out what his favourite aquatic animal is which is all the nudibranch in the world. His older brother Tristan has been working with Blackbeard’s already for a while as a cook and thought Tyron would be a great addition to the team. Fishing is one of his biggest passion and his favourite colour is green.
We Are Now Hiring
We are always looking for adventurous individuals to join the team.
Life on board is hard work but very rewarding- send in your application today!
Dive instructors, chefs, and engineer positions available.
