ESPERANZA II

Captain: Stephen Powell

Nationality: USA

Captain Stephen Powell grew up sailing in Newport Beach, California. "My brother and I would spend the summer sailing in Newport Harbor, like a modern version of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. My entire family were lifeguards, sailors, scuba divers, pilots, and general Bon Vivants", he said.

After graduating from the University of Southern California, Stephen traveled down to South Africa, to race and deliver sailboats, where he earned his Yachtmaster Ocean certification. Capt. Stephen has sailed in all of the great oceans of the world and has logged in excess of 40,000 miles offshore, including 2 trans Atlantic and Indian Ocean crossings.

He holds a USCG 100 ton Master license and is also a PADI Divemaster and a private pilot. In 2017 he purchased his very own 41' sloop in Palma de Mallorca, which he sailed across the Atlantic, through the Caribbean, and up the east coast of the USA. As a result of his extensive travels, Capt. Stephen speaks fluent Spanish and can generally get by in a couple other languages as well. He will keep you entertained with tales of the high seas and even teach you a few sailing knots if you so choose.

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Chef and First Mate Celia, who goes by the nickname “CC”, was born and raised most of her life near the ocean in Southern California. It wasn’t until 2015 that CC gave up her corporate career as a Meeting & Event Planner and started traveling the world spending three of those months sailing across the South Pacific on a Lagoon 450. Traveling brought CC to earning her PADI Dive Instructor certification which then led her into the superyacht and luxury liveaboard industry where she worked in a variety of roles - one of them more recently being a chef cooking for 25 guests and crew combined in the Bahamas and Turks & Caicos.

After nearly 5 years working in the yachting industry, she’s now able to combine her passion for the ocean and focus on her creativity skills preparing modern fare cuisine. When CC is not on charter, you’ll likely find her traversing through mountains and enjoying the culinary delights of the country she’s in or continuing her education working toward her sommelier certification and yoga teacher training.

We’re pleased to have Celia onboard with her shared passion for the ocean and enthusiasm for food.