MARGATE Yacht Charter

Captain: Duran Stuart

Duran Stuart - Captain
Nationality: Bahamian

Captain Duran Stuart, who is a native of the Bahamas, has over ten 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 and 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 MARGATE and doing all he can to ensure that everyone has a fun and memorable yacht charter vacation.


Ollie Ryan - Chief Stew
Nationality: American

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 where 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 over the past ten years, Ollie has worked onboard vessels in The Bahamas. Ollie’s number one goal is to make guests happy, and she can’t wait to bring this to fruition on MARGATE.


Mandy Luscombe – Chef
Nationality: Canadian

Mandy grew up in a small town outside of Kelowna British Columbia, Canada. Her taste for organic and fresh ingredients started at a young age as she was taught bread making and canning from her mother who is a chef. She is very passionate about healthy cooking and utilizing the fresh ingredients around her. She started traveling the world at age 19 starting in Australia then moving to New Zealand at 21. She then traveled around Europe settling for a year in Scotland.

This exposed her to many different tastes and styles of cuisine. Before yachting, Mandy worked as a corporate trainer in high-end restaurants learning about service and various cooking techniques. Being from a wine country in Canada, Mandy has taken great interest in the industry and is very knowledgeable about food and wine pairing. In 2012 she took a year off to go to expand her knowledge and enrolled in a culinary program at The Art Institute in Vancouver. While in Vancouver studying, she met her husband, Shane. Together they have made a career out of yachting and have traveled extensively for work and pleasure including The Bahamas, Indonesia, Central America, the USA, and Mexico.


Shane Ryan - Mate
Nationality: Canadian

Shane was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest in a city just outside of Vancouver, Canada. His first introduction to boating was over 20 years ago when he served as a salmon fishing guide on the west coast for 10 years. He then headed south to Florida to pursue a career in yachting with his wife, Mandy.

Shane handles all guest excursions and experiences off the boat and always aims to maximize their experience. He loves to make sure guests experience something new while also ensuring they are checking off of their wishlist.

In his spare time, you can find Shane fishing, golfing, or playing hockey. He is looking forward to showing guests the best time possible with all the beauty and adventure the Bahamas has to offer.