Your Captain – Brandon Stone

Bay Explorer’s owner Brandon Stone has a long-held passion for the ocean, so with Bay Explorer he makes his passion accessible for others to share – both locals and tourists to the region.

Brandon has grown up on the ocean, surfing, scuba diving, snorkeling, fishing, sailing and exploring coastlines. Brandon has a marine education also. He has the highest credentials in SCUBA with PADI as Master Scuba Instructor. Brandon spent 3 years as a lecturer at the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Marine Studies. His study of marine mammals culminated in research on Humpback whales in Tonga, and Southern Right Whales in the sub-Antarctic.

He has owned and operated marine businesses that have introduced thousands of new people to this aquatic environment.

Brandon took the first commercial dolphin swimming operation out of Tauranga as skipper of Dolphin Seafaris. His knowledge of the local waters proved invaluable creating the first public and commercial marine interactions in the area. His original company started in 1990, AQUANAUTS was a company based in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga for several years. He then started the international tour company ON THE WILDSIDE. This business took clients are far as Vavau Tonga to swim with Humpback whales.

He currently operates BAY EXPLORER and KEWPIE CRUISES www.kewpiecruises.co.nz in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga. It’s an icon tour business in Tauranga now, taking passengers daily on scenic harbour cruises in Tauranga harbour and to Matakana Island.

“Its now part of the local pride in the area, the best of Tauranga tourist activities”. An ideal option if you are limited for time and looking for activities in Mt Maunganui.