Captain John’s passion for the sea came at a very early age crossing the Atlantic from New York to Southampton England with his Mother every year on the Cunard lines ships. He has made several transatlantic crossings on freighters from Norfolk Virginia to Antwerp Belgium taking 14 days at sea.
Captain John attended New York Military Academy in Cornwall, New York as an underclassman and completed his secondary education in Dublin, Ireland. He has received on deck and formal training in the marine industry earning him a USCG 200 GRT Masters license with many ratings to the 500 GRT qualifications which he has sea service to acquire.
He entered the USAF and discovered a passion for aircraft mechanics and spent 4 years maintaining T-38, F-4D and F-111F aircraft and the last two years in the service sent him back to Lakenheath AFB England. He continued in corporate aircraft maintenance with Beech aircraft, Learjet and Bombardier Challenger aircraft to name a few. while gaining commercial experience and earning sea time on commercial dive boats on the weekends and holidays.
Captain John has operated commercial boats to include Casino boats, Private yachts (14 years) is a IGFA certified sportfish Captain and has fished professionally in the Bahamas and the Florida Keys. He has been the demo Captain for Hatteras, Viking, Lazzara Yachts to name a few for dealers in the Tampa Bay area He has been a PADI Master Scuba instructor for 30 years and still is in active teaching status and fully insured to teach from beginner to master diver ratings.
Captain John operated several private cruising yachts and lived in Puerto Morelos, Mexico running guests to Cozumel, Cancun, and Isla Mujeres. Has made many international private yacht voyages.
He is no stranger in providing world class service to the guests on board with safety and experience that will meet or exceed the seasoned yacht owners expectations. He owned a full service yacht service and management company in Naples for almost 10 years and was a dealer for most of the large yachts products and services servicing the west coast of Florida, Mexico, Panama.
In addition to his position as captain aboard ShipsAhoy!, Captain John is still actively engaged in experimental aircraft and presently is Director of Aircraft Maintenance for an L-39 jet trainer, MIG-21 and a Rockwell Commander at the ST. Pete / Clearwater Airport.
Captain John looks forward to having you aboard ShipsAhoy! to enjoy an experience that will leave a lifetime of good memories of being out on the water.
