The Great American Senior Show

Allen Exploration - Walkers Cay - and Captain Les Annan Episode One

March 02, 2022 Sam Yates Season 2 Episode 53
The Great American Senior Show
Allen Exploration - Walkers Cay - and Captain Les Annan Episode One
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Show Notes Transcript

What mysteries lie beneath her waves and shimmering blue? The mysteries have beckoned explorers for centuries. The young and young at heart still ply her pages today as the book of exploration will never be completed.

The Great American Senior Show was invited aboard the Axis, a Motor Yacht, part of the Allen Exploration fleet that promises to turn new pages and fill in stories that early seafarers could never dream of nor even imagine.

Join your grey-haired host of the Great American Senior Show, Sam Yates, as he helps to set the stage of perhaps several interviews that will reveal new mysteries and renew the dream of exploration beneath our seas.

We are on the deck of the Axis with Captain Les Annan in Episode One of Walkers Cay Rediscovered.

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The Great American Senior Show podcast is produced by Yates & Associates, Public Relations & Marketing. This podcast is part of the network of podcasts streaming under the umbrella of the Pod National News Network. For more information about Yates & Associates or the Pod National News Network, contact Sam Yates at (772) 528-5185 or Sam@Yatespro.com. Sponsorship opportunities are available. The Great American Senior Show is ranked 3rd Best in Senior Podcasts to Follow for 2023 in all podcasts for seniors in a comprehensive survey by feedspot.
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Yates & Associates is a full-service Public Relations and Marketing company serving select clients throughout the United States and abroad. For more information visit www.YatesPRO.com .

Sam Yates:

Hello, everyone and welcome to another exciting edition of The Great American Senior Show. I'm your grey haired host, Sam Yates. Today I'm sitting on the bridge of the motor yacht, the Axis at the port of Fort Pierce and the Direcktor ship yard. I'm here with Captain Les Annan of Allen Exploration, Captain, thank you for allowing me to be on the bridge with you.

Captain Les Annan:

It's a pleasure to have you aboard.

Sam Yates:

A lot of folks don't know about the Axis and Allen Exploration that's going to change before the end of this program. And soon I think it's safe to say that it'll change for a whole lot of folks it a story that we may be telling in the very near future. But Captain tell us a little bit about yourself right now.

Captain Les Annan:

Well, I I've been with Allen Exploration now for five years, that's when he bought the boat originally. I live in Fort Lauderdale and got a couple kids. Part of my jobs here is one is I'm the the fleet manager for Allen Exploration. I'm the captain of Axis and I'm also the Pilot for the submarine and the Tech on the submarine. I've been in the business for 35 years. So I have a Captain's license. And then I've also worked in the oil field. And I was when I was in the oil field. I was a an Engineer and I was on a 320 foot offshore supply vessel as Chief Engineer. So I have a Chief Engineers Unlimited License as well.

Sam Yates:

As I started the show I mentioned we're sitting on the bridge of the axis tell us about the axis.

Captain Les Annan:

So Axis is made by a company called Domine. And they they they're the largest ship builder in the world. This particular one was built in Holland. And there's 130 of this model, maybe it's more now. And the intention is for North Sea crew transport to and from the oil rigs. But my boss bought it brand new in 2016 and we refit it to be a yacht support. And now there's about I don't know probably about 1415 of this model and there's some bigger models and some smaller ones that the thing with the yachts is they're they're very comfortable live on we kind of say that they're their front of the house and we're the backyard because we we carry all the all the fun stuff and extra fuel and extra crew and freezer and fridge and lots of tenders and I can carry 8x20 foot containers and 10x10 foot or sorry for 10 foot containers all at once. Tomorrow if we had to just clear the deck. So the the only thing that limits limits us is the bosses imagination.

Sam Yates:

Of course with the background of the Axis and your background together with the connections to Allen Explorations. We're here at the Direcktor shipyard for a bit of a special mission

Captain Les Annan:

Yeah, we have a great relationship with with Triton Submarines. They they don't own a boat. So from time to time we'll take their clients or in this case, they're we're waiting for their their newest sub which is a seven man. It goes to 3650 feet. Submarine big thing. It's 11,000 11,000 kilos. And it's it has it's getting tank tested today. Actually, it's not going to come today. I'll be here tomorrow. And then we're going to take it over the Bahamas and see trial it and Certified. Well the inspector actually comes from Europe and has to do a full depth dive in it to certify

Sam Yates:

based on your experience is Triton submarines the best in the world. Well,

Captain Les Annan:

they're beyond a doubt that the world's foremost authority in submarines. I mean they they've built a sub that goes to the bottom of the ocean to man sub. Now US Navy submarines, they go fast and they go quiet but they don't go deep. They only go a few 100 meters deep is expensive and heavy. They don't they're not looking for that they're just looking to go fast and quiet. So and Triton is really set the mark. I mean, they've got everything from large passenger submarines that would take you know somebody's couple 100 feet and to these, the one that goes in the bottom of the ocean so and that one that goes above the ocean is done at many times now. So they really set the standard.

Sam Yates:

Of course our conversation would not be happening, were it not for Alan exploration. Carl Allen, your boss. I'll be interviewing for an upcoming series of episodes here on the great American senior show. And just a side note, I believe he has some strong ties to Florida's Treasure Coast and Sailfish Point right here on the east coast of Florida in particular, not far from where we are right now.

Captain Les Annan:

Well, yeah, I mean, he's his mom has a house there. And he, you know, he he's from Texas, and you know, he had a large company that went across America, but he's like, he's, he's sold that recently. And now his real focus is doing philanthropic stuff like we after Dorian, the boss raised a bunch of money and put a bunch of his own money in and we did I think I forget now I would 10 runs 5050 tons of run over to the Bahamas. Everything from Tesla wall to build building some products and roofing materials and we we spent a couple months hauling stuff over the Bahamas.

Sam Yates:

Tell our audience a bit more about Mr. Allen and Allen Exploration. He and his wife enjoy the ocean.

Captain Les Annan:

Yeah he Mr. or Mrs. Allen they're they're retired. And Mr. Allen owns an island the Bahamas called Walker's Cay and Walker's is going to was a longtime a popular fishing destination and the boss wants to bring it back to that again. He's not selling anything, not selling land not selling any slips. And we're going to have camping glamping hotel bar restaurant, the Marina is done. We can take I don't know about 10 100 and what 200 foot boats and another 50 Sport fishes. We're like everybody, we're having a tough time with COVID Getting the construction on land done. But we have a tournament coming up in May. And once we get open which I don't know when that's gonna be but once we get open he like to have a tournament every year or sorry, every month. He He's hard he he fishes everyday. You don't get rough it is or what he goes fishing every day is hardcore sportsman.

Sam Yates:

That must be a major challenge to own an island and be bringing it back to what it used to be as far as a fishing tournament Mecca more than just fishing the walkers. Kay project is a big deal for all of the Bahamas.

Captain Les Annan:

Yeah, so Well, I said the Marina has done that the dredging is not quite finished, but will be 12 feet at low tide. So a little, It's the Marina is about triple what it used to be. And the thing with Walker's it's a it's a major port of entry for the Bahamas, I mean, has an airstrip on it. Customs. And when you're going anywhere else Hopetown Marsh Harbor, you have to pass Walker's each way and we have a fuel dock and it'll once we get that open, it'll be a major impact to the entire Abaco chain. Because the smaller guys like coming from here, you know, in the summer, you know, might run across 20/30 foot boat with a couple other people, you know, a couple other boats wouldn't do by yourself. But anyway, then you could hit Walkers spend the night, fly your granny over, she doesn't want to take the boat ride and then head into the into the Abacos. So yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be huge. Walker's is uninhabited, and about five miles away his Little Grand. And the boss has kind of taken them under his wing. And he put a head a crew come over that builds NBA basketball courts and put a basketball court on the island. And the people love it there. It's in the colors of the Bahamian flag. So yeah, he's and he's really trying hard to clean up there, you have a real garbage problem. And we don't have a great solution yet, but we're trying to come up with something better than what they're doing right now, which is just throw it on a beautiful island and leaving it there. So yeah, microplastics he's really in learning about that and trying to see what we can do about AI. It's a huge problem worldwide. I'm not sure what we're gonna do, but that's part of the reasons of some of the equipment we have on board.

Sam Yates:

You know, looking around here on the bridge, there is a lot of sophisticated equipment. The Axis is almost a floating lab of sorts.

Captain Les Annan:

We have three PhD archaeologists on payroll that are a part of what we're doing but we axis itself is what's called a dynamic positioning to vessels. So it's very common in the oil field, it pulls up next to a rig and then you flip it over to the computer and it'll hold position and an up to 15 foot seas and 30 knots of wind. And then you can load stuff to and from the oil rig. We have four engines with you 20 knots, the boat drafts 10 and a half feet but mainly for for what we do is we travel with 164 foot yacht and 80 foot sport fish. So we refuel them, we give them extra crew. We have a major dive center on board. We big walk in fridge, walk in freezer, dry, good storage, so we kind of extend the stay in the Bahamas. I mean, well that last summer I went through 250,000 gallons of diesel I never left the Bahamas, so we don't sit still, that's for sure.

Sam Yates:

Being a crew member on this vessel has to be a great job. But are you seeing any worker shortages?

Captain Les Annan:

I had the same chef for four years and I had the same First Officer and Chief Engineer for two and a half years. And you know, they're young folks and grass is greener and you know, we do the Bahamas and Florida they want to go to the med so they you know they jump around and right now there's just a there's a huge shortage of qualified crew, both in yachting and in the oil field. And there's a few maritime colleges in the States and I mean, I worked with one kid he graduated from Maritime College, calc Cal Tech, and he he was working with me in the oilfield. He had five job offers starting at 150 grand each and he passed them off starting he passed them up to go work in the oil field because he just wanted to see what it was all about. But and now he's working as a facilities manager at a large college but yeah, there's a lot of opportunity out there for for licensed guys.

Sam Yates:

What's your recommendation on those who may want a career path in this industry

Captain Les Annan:

well depends on the position and and your age. I mean if you're if you're young enough going to one of those Maritime College is definitely the way to go because now you're gonna get a four year college degree and I would stay away from the deck licenses I would do the engineering captain's are a dime a dozen engineers are worth the wait and gold. So and also it transfers better ashore. Depending on the if you're a chef, then you know then just go into there's many crew agencies that will get you on the boats, if you want to be a stewardess. But the decking the deck part of it. Like I said, there's a lot of there's a lot of captains but there's not a lot of engineers. So

Sam Yates:

Now for our audience, I always like to paint a visual picture of things that you can't see Captain and it is wearing a very large piece of treasure around his neck treasure as from a Spanish galleon perhaps

Captain Les Annan:

It's a 1657 Spanish note 55 Sorry, Spanish piece of eight. And we we I was really lucky the boss gave it to me and really proud to wear the 1715 fleet which is right off America. There's a lot of guys working that still and evert time a storm comes up. That's why you have amateur treasure hunters will go on the beach and find things. The storms do move stuff around. The when they say wrecks though they're not really they're not talking like a wreck in an aquarium. They're talking... There's the woods pretty much gone. And it's spread out over an area. There's no penetration, there's no structure. But and it's tricky, you know, with legalities and of treasure hunting and what waters you're on and which who's the ship is and everybody wants to claim it but nobody wants to pay to do the work to get it.

Sam Yates:

Another personal question. I suspect you'll say Walkers Cay but as the Captain. What is your favorite port?

Captain Les Annan:

Oh, well, um, that's a good question. Yeah, Walker's is awesome for for the fishing and the diving. The the Out islands. If you have a small enough boat, we've got a couple of Hell's Bays, you can get into the into the flats there. And that's the bonefishing there is he's going to put a bone fishing lodge on Walkers and bonefishing it's amazing. I mean, I love the Exumas too, you know, the Exumas are just beautiful, but it's a long way from Walker. So

Sam Yates:

is there anything I've not touched on that you would like to add?

Captain Les Annan:

It's amazing to work for the Allen's it's they they he both Mr. And Mrs. have such a big heart and cares so much about the about the Exumas some, I mean some of the things they've done. Like for example, I think we're at 600 Amazon, they're like an iPad with the Amazon equipment that they've donated to the kids in the schools over there. He just donated a generator to Hopetown he donated another generator to the water plant on Freeport. I mean he and he never looks for a pat on the back for he just likes doing it and helping people out and it's it's really amazing to work for him and see how much they care about other people and the Bahamas.

Sam Yates:

My special thanks to Captain Les Annan of the motor yacht, the Axis and the Allen Exploration team. We'll be hearing more about the Walker's Cay rebuilding and a few other things we'll be able to talk about in the near future. Captain. Thanks for your time today.

Captain Les Annan:

Pleasure to have you aboard.

Sam Yates:

From the bridge of the Axis in the port of Fort Pierce, Florida and in the heart of the Direcktorship yard. I'm Sam Yates, your gray haired host of The Great American Senior Show with a special interview today that's a bit of a teaser of some special things to come..... And that's the way our program ends.