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Captain Tony and Jennifer met while both working for the same food company many moons ago. Married in 1992, they raised a pair of beautiful girls and a whole herd of wiener dogs. Traveling to the St. Augustine area frequently over the years, they always dreamt of living here and making their living on the water; but career opportunities kept them stuck in the mid-west – him being a sales and marketing executive and her being a very accomplished self-employed professional photographer.
After nearly a half-century living where they didn’t want to be, the two packed up, came south, and as cofounders of Red Boat Tours, Captain Tony and Jennifer have put their collective knowledge of customer service to work, to deliver a Best-in-Class experience for visitors and locals alike.
The couple’s passion for customer satisfaction drives them to ensure that each visitor’s experience exceeds their expectations and it’s paid off.
“We don’t do anything special; we just try to treat people like we would want to be treated” said Jennifer when asked why Red Boat is so highly ranked.
TJ (Tony Junior) Palesotti is Captain Tony’s oldest son, currently residing in Minnesota with his wife Laurie and their children Elie and Tony, where he has been a radio On-Air personality for nearly 30 years.
As a youngster, TJ’s career goal was to get into sports medicine, as a physical therapist, right up until time to start college, when he decided “Nope, too much school, think I’ll be a cop!” Two years of Law Enforcement school, “Nope, not for me, think I’ll get into media sales.”
In the course of the program at Brown Institute, the module on Radio On-Air Broadcasting “clicked” and that was it. Thirty years later, changes in corporate direction have eliminated all of the companies’ On-Air personalities, creating an opportunity for Captain Tony to bring TJ to Florida and explore the possibility of joining Red Boat to become the next generation “Captain Tony!”
When Jennifer and I finally admitted that every tour, every day, forever was probably more than we could do, we went in search of another Captain and were lucky enough to run across this character.
When Master Captain James Tulk is not Singing in a Rock & Roll Band (really), creating Amazing Giant Heads and parade characters, or restoring his beautiful 59′ Vagabond Ketch (where he lives), he’s driving The Red Boat and telling stories like no one else can. Captain James is our most senior captain and has become a very trusted friend. We consider him “family.”
On another lucky day, while the girls were participating in a local job fair, I received a phone call from a man who said, “Hi my name is David, and I just heard a radio spot that said you’re looking for a Captain.” David and I met for lunch and another great connection was formed.
In addition to being a very experienced Captain, David is a local Realtor and understands how to treat a customer. Be careful though, because when he’s between stories about our world-famous landmarks, he’s been known to profess the merits of the time share industry.
When Captain James became available to us, along with him came Roy Brown, who had served as First Mate with James in his previous position.
Roy, a true historian, can tell you more about the history of our area than you could ever even imagine you wanted to know! In his spare time, Roy has become an FAA-licensed drone pilot and does some amazing photo work, some of which you’ll find in our Red Boat social media.
Brooke Hanson has been a family friend of Captain Tony’s for over 40 years. As a young Marine stationed in North Carolina, Captain Tony spent weekends and holidays with Brooke’s family, who treated him like one of theirs. It was fishing with Brooke’s father that sparked Tony’s love for boats and the ocean and where he logged almost all of his offshore boating experience. Brooke, who was two years old when they met, has stayed in touch over the years. In 2022, she came from Idaho to visit and well, you know how that goes. 😊
Now a St. Augustine resident, she serves in Customer Relations for Red Boat and fills in as First Mate when needed.
