Captain Duran Stuart, who is a native of the Bahamas, has over eight years’ experience in the yachting industry. After receiving his high school diploma from Queens College in Nassau, he enrolled in the Chapman School of Seamanship, located in Stuarts, Florida. The school prepared him for his career by offering classes in theory and hands-on experience related to boating. Classes included rules of the road, Marlinspike, weather, first aid/CPR, boat handling, piloting, dead reckoning, electronic navigation, and boat and engine maintenance. After 369 hours of study, Duran graduated in September of 2005 with his Professional Mariner Diploma.
Duran formally began his yachting career as a mate aboard a 92-foot luxury motor yacht, but quickly learned the ropes was promoted to the role of captain after obtaining over 2300 hours logged in navigating and piloting and being part of three different crews. He has worked aboard both private and charter yachts and has traveled throughout south Florida and the Bahamas as well as making vessel deliveries up the northeastern United States.
Captain Duran has a friendly personality and a passion for ensuring the safety and comfort of his guests. His focus for each charter is the satisfaction of those on board, and he will always go out of his way to help create the best vacation possible. Personally, he enjoys deep sea and reef fishing and loves sharing his favorite spots for the best catch. Duran looks forward to welcoming his guests aboard Yacht Alexandra Jane and doing all he can to ensure that everyone has a fun and memorable yacht charter vacation.
Chef: Telana Van Wyk
Languages Spoken: English
Telana was born and raised on a farm in a small town in the Northen Cape next to the Orange River, South Africa. Growing up, she had a great interest in cooking and food and would help out at restaurants, where her true love for cooking was inspired. Telana studied at the Institute of Culinary Arts, Stellenbosch and went to work for years in Cape Town under some of South Africa’s top chefs. A desire to explore the world led her pursue a career as a private yacht chef, a profession she has been enjoying since 2016. Having traveled extensively throughout Asia, she as a flair for Asian / Thai cuisine but loves experimenting with new foods and sharing her delicious meals with guest onboard. While on charter, her meals are influenced by the location and Telana enjoys incorporating local flavors into her dishes. In her spare time, Telana like to stay active and enjoys tennis, swimming, canoeing, river rafting, trail walking and skateboarding. She also enjoys learning new languages.
Chief stew: Ollie Ryan
Languages Spoken: English
Ollie is originally from South Jersey USA. She had developed her passion for boating at a very young age on her family's Chris Craft cruising the Jersey Shores. Ollie went to Moore College of Art and Design in South Philly were she explored and toned her creative side.
To get away from the cold winters Ollie moved to South Florida in 2000. Living in the Boating Capital, it was only natural with Ollie's passion for boating and entertaining that she would find herself working on Yachts. For the past ten years Ollie has worked on Yachts in the Bahamas. Her love of boating and entertaining still grows.
Ollie's number one goal is to make the guest Happy!
Mate: Martin van der Westhuizen
Languages Spoken: English
Growing up I played a lot of sports. My love for rugby started when I was a small child growing up in South Africa. The sport carried me all the way to Arkansas where I attended college and played rugby on scholarship. It was after college, I found my love for water sports, including diving, fishing, and generally just going out to have a great time.
