LAYSAN

Captain: Matt Dana

Matt and Tmana Dana are freelance crew (Permanent Crew to be determined)


Matt is a USCG licensed Captain with nearly two decades of professional experience on sailing and motor yachts up to 114ft. on the Atlantic & Pacific, throughout the Bahamas, the Caribbean, and the Mediterranean Sea.
He has sailed over 65,000 nautical miles, crossed the Atlantic twice, raced in over 25 major regattas and lived aboard his yachts in the US Virgin Islands since 2003.
Originally from Massachusetts, Matt’s family traces their lineage back to the Mayflower and has strong generational maritime ties in New England.
He grew up spending summers on Cape Cod, where he learned to sail from a young age aboard his family’s boats.

In his early years in the Virgin Islands, Matt broadened his nautical knowledge base by working in a shipyard, and subsequently a sail-loft.
He has lived in and around National Parks most of his life, has a background in wilderness search & rescue and emergency medicine, worked as a ski instructor at Vail Resorts, and more recently as a free-diving guide and naturalist in the US Virgin Islands National Park.
He attended university with a focus in Japanese ceramics and bronze casting and holds a black belt in traditional Tae Kwon-Do.

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Tmana is a talented professional chef who originally hails from the coast of Maine where her family has a thriving New England seafood catering business.
She draws diverse culinary inspiration from her travels abroad in Europe, the Bahamas and Caribbean, not to mention her New England roots.
Tmana truly enjoys providing exceptional and inventive cuisine to all whom find a seat at her table and has a penchant for creating pastries, desserts and baked goods.

An accomplished sailor in her own right, Tmana has sailed over 5,000 nautical miles including several offshore multi-day passages in water over 25,000ft. deep.

Matt & Tmana were married in the Virgin Islands on their adopted island home of St. John in 2015.

They honeymooned by sailing from Florida to the Virgin Islands on a 6 month cruise through the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and the Spanish Virgin Islands.

Together, Matt & Tmana have sailed thousands of miles and genuinely love creating new and memorable experiences for their guests through their shared passions for nature, yachting, travel, and cuisine.