Captain Brian Zarcone grew up in Fort Lauderdale sailing the waters of South Florida From Palm Beach to Key West and the Bahamas and Virgin Islands. In 1969, he was certified by NAUI. He fell in love with SCUBA diving and continued with the PADI courses from open water, rescue diver, divemaster and finally, twenty years ago became a certified PADI SCUBA diving instructor. When he lived in France he became a CMAS instructor. In 1984 he earned his 100 ton captain’s license from the US Coast Guard and since has run charter boats from 22’ to 100’ in length. The boats were involved in SCUBA diving, snorkeling, fishing, sailing, sunsets, eco tours and sand bar relaxing.
In addition he is also a notary and able to perform weddings (underwater, ashore or aboard the boat). Other boats may be chartered if your wedding party is large and shore side arrangements can be made with the help of our booking office.
With thousands of trips under his belt, Captain Brian enjoys most the private custom charters which allow him to get to know the guests needs from the most inexperienced boater who has never fished, snorkeled or for that matter been on a boat to the most experienced. He excels in teaching these fun and exciting activities to people of all ages. He is especially knowledgeable of the Islamorada area and has some very special fishing and snorkeling spots.
Captain Anne Baxter, former Everglades National Park ranger, published photo-journalist, and marine ecology instructor has 25 years experience exploring the Florida Keys, a great part of that while living on a houseboat and running week-long charters. For 15 years she taught shipboard marine ecology courses at numerous educational facilities in the Florida Keys. Since 1997 she has been operating Easy Adventures from the docks of World Wide Sportsman in Islamorada.
Sometime in July (I think) we chartered a 3 hour tour with Captain Brian and we just had a blast! We are looking forward to the next trip down to the keys and since it is only 5 hours away that may be soon. We did not see any critters and the snorkeling was not the greatest but the boat ride itself was well worth the money and we have recommend you to many friends and neighbors. Thanks again for a fun day and if you are ever up in Palm Bay we may just take you up on those scuba lessons but ONLY if you go see you brother first! All the best to you all and we hope to see you soon. Thanks again for a great day. (oh an little Miss Gllian driving the boat thinks she is a hot shot ! Too cute.
Yours, Amy Murphy
My wife Ann and I recently spent almost two months in Islamorada. We also spent a good deal of time out on the water with Anne Baxter . We hired Anne on four occasions. Three times she took us out into the "Backcountry," and once she took us out to snorkel at Alligator Light. During that trip we experienced the best snorkeling we have ever seen. The sun sparkled, the seas were flat, and the fish were all in abundance. During our back country journeys Anne showed us all the sights, mangroves, fish, and birds. We have recommended Anne to several of our friends….She is a terrific person who truly cares about her clients. World Wide Sportsman is fortunate to have an "eco" boat available for folks like us who only know about eating fish…not catching them.
Hollis Petersen, Bronxville, NY 03/07/00
What a perfect day! So relaxed and informative. It was like spending the day with an ever patient grandma who knew the answer to everything and never tired of "Anne, Anne, what is this??? The snorkeling was awesome. So much more beautiful than the "big" trip we took out from Pennekamp Park! And fishing was fun, too! My kids really warmed up to Anne and loved learning how to race hermit crabs! Thanks for a very fun last day in the Keys!
The Swangers, St. Louis, MO 04/03