his family\u2019s long-standing Hubbard\u2019s Marina business<\/a>, which has been operating at the John\u2019s Pass Village and Boardwalk in Madeira Beach since 1976.\u00a0<\/p>\nNow, he plans to interact with families in a whole new way, thanks to the acquisition of the Sunshine Scenic Tours boats. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Hubbard\u2019s Marina began to oversee three competitor attractions \u2013 Royal Conquest Pirate Ship, Dolphin Quest and Shark Boat Tours Nov. 3 \u2013 the day the deal closed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The financial specifics of the deal remain undisclosed.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt opens Hubbard\u2019s Marina up to more opportunities,\u201d Hubbard said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re all about. We are a family-owned and operated business that\u2019s family oriented.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This diversification has expanded the company, so that it is not so \u201cheavily fishing oriented,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Royal Conquest Pirate Ship is a two-level, 46-foot replica of a classic pirate vessel.<\/p>\n
Dolphin Quest allows guests to experience dolphin sightings through narrated eco-tours. The boat is also used for sunset cruises.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Shark Boat is in the shape of its namesake. However, riders shouldn\u2019t expect to see any great whites or hammerheads. The vessel was also designed for dolphin-sighting experiences.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It was Sunshine Scenic Tours\u2019 owners Dustin and Renee O\u2019Neal who presented Hubbard with an opportunity to purchase the company\u2019s assets. Additionally, the deal included the transfer of around 20 employees.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hubbard said that they could have put the vessels on the open market, but chose to offer him a package deal to ensure their employees had a \u201csafe landing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The O\u2019Neal family purchased Sunshine Scenic Tours, then known as Florida Scenic Tours, in 2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The boats\u2019 names and themes will remain the same. However, Hubbard hopes to collaborate with his new team members to identify what works well and where changes could be made to improve the customer experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Hubbard\u2019s Marina was also selected to operate the Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority\u2019s Tampa Bay Ferry<\/a> in September. A funding agreement between Tampa and St. Petersburg was approved by both city councils Nov. 6.\u00a0<\/p>\nDustin and Renee O\u2019Neal did not respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dylan Hubbard has the sea in his veins. A fourth generation fishing captain, he runs his family\u2019s long-standing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43166,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[202,204,203,199,201,200],"class_list":["post-43165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-st-petersburg","tag-st-pete","tag-st-pete-headlines","tag-st-pete-news","tag-st-petersburg","tag-st-petersburg-headlines","tag-st-petersburg-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43165","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43165"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43165\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43166"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}