Chef Amanda Black (Rotational0 Amanda Black: Born and raised in Charleston South Carolina Amanda was luckily enough to get into culinary arts in my high school and then decided to attend the culinary institute of Charleston after graduation. While still in school I received the opportunity of a lifetime to help open up a small contemporary American tasting menu style restaurant called Zero George. There she acted as sous chef under my mentor Vinson Petrillo, known for his multiple appearances on Chopped: Beat Bobby Flay and winner of San Pellegrino best chef. After learning as much as possible under him for 5 years manda opted to get out of Charleston and go explore the world. Her first stop took me to an Asian fusion restaurant in the beautiful island of St. John USVI. Unfortunately 6 months later the island was devastated by hurricane Irma and Maria. This unexpected turn of events took Amanda back to Charleston where she was asked to be a part of the opening of a new French fine dining restaurant called Purlieu. There she worked all stations and loved their open kitchen dynamic which gave her the opportunity to interact with guests. After her time there the itch to travel more came back and Amanda decided to take the opportunity to work with SAFARI QUEST. With them I’ve traveled to Alaska, San Juan islands, Hawaii and Baja. In her free time she still travel back and forth to the Caribbean to “live” but enjoy my nomad lifestyle of bouncing around!

Captain Denee Blanchard (Rotational) - It would be a pretty darn accurate statement to say Denee grew up on the water. She spent her youth in Mukilteo, Washington, Southeast Alaska, and the South Pacific—more often than not on a sailboat. These days you’ll find her in the south end of Seattle when she’s not captaining her ship or out on her own explorations. As she puts it, Denee worked from “head to helm” starting her career on ships by working to rebuild the Safari Spirit, then working her way along as steward, hotel lead, deck hand, bosun, second mate, chief mate, staff mate…and now, captain. She has her 200 Ton Near Coastal Masters license and sails throughout the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. For Denee, her job is a lifestyle. Growing up on the water, she wouldn’t want life to be any other way—the friendships formed on board, the beautiful places she sails through, and the exciting challenges. One big challenge was sailing in the inaugural Race to Alaska—an unsupported, 750-mile cold water race by non-motorized vessel from Port Townsend, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska through the Inside Passage. She also likes to spend time hiking in the Pacific Northwest and enjoys her tiny home she built.