Marylee

The crew of Mary Lee has been hard at work over the past few weeks prepping for the start of session one! Hard work, planning, and laughter were the essential tools to transforming our mayhem into the perfect chaos required for our shipmates to have a blast. We are stoked to finally meet our students! The boat is fully stocked with food, fuel, water, diving books, and sailing equipment. During our next 21 days, we are going to explore the islands of the British Virgin Islands while doing some amazing sailing and diving to work towards certifications. The crew of Mary Lee could not be more excited to kick off this summer with diving, sailing, and of course, loads of fun! We can not wait to see everyone grow and become more confident in their skills!

Here is an introduction to the crew on Mary Lee:

Skipper / DiveMaster : Margaux d’Arbeloff

Margaux grew up in Belmont, Massachusetts, a small town outside Boston. She started sailing with her parents at a young age, including bareboating around the British Virgin Islands and sailing on a small lake in southern New Hampshire. This passion for sailing found her attending ActionQuest as a student from 2015 through 2017 and furthered Margaux’s love for the ocean through sailing and scuba diving. In 2018 and 2019, she returned to working as a mate on Vega and Minerva programs. After obtaining her IYT Master of Yachts 200 Ton Limited License, she returned to ActionQuest as a skipper for the Vega program in the summer of 2021 and 2022. Outside of ActionQuest, she is a recent college graduate from the University of Miami, earning her B.S. in Marine Science and Biology. While in college, she was president of the UMiami Scuba Club and played on Miami’s Club Lacrosse team. In addition, she studied abroad in Australia, then took a gap semester during college to go on Seamester’s transatlantic voyage aboard S/Y Argo. In the winters, when she misses ActionQuest, she works as a kids (7-teen) ski instructor at Beaver Creek Resort. She cannot wait to return to the sunny and warm Caribbean for another amazing ActionQuest summer!

Dive Instructor: Mac Poole

Mac loves the ocean and chasing adrenaline rushes. He began diving in 2017, whereafter receiving his first diving certification. After 2020, Mac wanted to pursue a professional career that could allow him to travel and be in the ocean, which turned him back to his interest in diving. Becoming a PADI instructor is something that Mac is very proud of, and he enjoys sharing his passion for the sea and scuba diving with anyone that shares that common interest. He looks forward to meeting everyone this summer and being on a great team.

Dive Instructor: Amanda Drazka

Amanda grew up in Rye Brook, New York, right outside the city. She fell in love with the ocean from a young age while snorkeling on family trips to St. John, USVI, where she eventually got scuba certified with her whole family. Since the beginning, Amanda developed a passion for being underwater and knew it was something she wanted to pursue. She spent many incredible summers as a student with AQ since 2016 and earned her Open Water Scuba Instructor certification in 2022. She learned a lot through her summers with AQ and is beyond excited to share this knowledge with students of her own! Outside of AQ, Amanda is currently pursuing a Marine Biology and Ecology degree at the University of Miami. She loves Miami but is beyond excited to return to the BVI’s for another life-changing summer with ActionQuest! Her main goal is to keep the stoke levels high and create a life-activating experience for her students as her staff did for her.