Florida Water Tours Celebrates 10 Years on the Water
January marks 10 years of Florida Water Tours, and as we step into this milestone, we have been taking time to pause and reflect on where we started, how far we have come and the people who made it all possible. The past decade has been full of growth, long days and unforgettable moments on the water, and we feel deep gratitude for every guest, local partner and team member who has been part of the journey. As we look ahead, we wanted to look back at the beginning and share how a love for the waterways of St. Augustine grew into the family run business Florida Water Tours is today.
Founder Jessica Jadick was born and raised in Sayville on Long Island’s South Shore. She describes herself as a “marina kid,” spending her childhood on the docks looking for crabs along pilings and under boats. Her dad worked as a boat captain and mechanic, and the water was always central to her world. That early curiosity led her to study marine biology in college, but her path shifted when Dowling College in Oakdale, New York shut down while she was enrolled. With the school closing, Jessica had to pivot. She entered the service industry, bartending and working long hours to support herself, building resilience and people skills that would later shape her approach to hospitality and business.
In her early twenties, Jessica met Mike, who would later become her husband. At the time, they were living and working on Long Island, struggling with the high cost of living despite steady jobs. At 24, they decided to step away from the expected path and travel the country. What began as hitchhiking turned into an extended journey around the United States, including restaurant work, time along the California coast, and a month spent in Puerto Rico. Through all of those experiences, one place consistently stood out.
Jessica had visited St. Augustine several times because of her dad, who moved there for work when she was around 18 and worked on a boat doing tours. During their travels in 2014 and 2015, Jessica and Mike stopped there again, and it felt different. Compared to everywhere else they had been, St. Augustine felt grounded, welcoming and like a place where she could build a life.
In the summer of 2015, after returning to New York, Jessica knew she needed to move to St. Augustine. Around the same time, her dad called with an opportunity he believed was meant for her. He had seen a boat for sale that could become the foundation of something meaningful. Jessica called her grandfather, Dr. Charles Tichy a retired professor living in Omaha, Nebraska, and shared her vision. He believed in her and loaned her the funds that allowed her to move forward.
On January 20, 2016, Jessica officially purchased the Osprey and launched Florida Water Tours. The first year was lean and demanding. Jessica did not pay herself in 2016, and it was just Jessica, her dad and Mike handling tours, maintenance, phone calls and logistics. She was bartending at Meehan’s Irish Pub in downtown to help make ends meet, often stepping away during shifts to answer business calls. Nearly everything was learned through trial and error.
Marketing in the early years was minimal. Florida Water Tours relied on Groupon, TripAdvisor and word-of-mouth rather than social media. The St. Augustine tour landscape was also very different then, with far fewer boat operators. From the beginning, the focus was on offering a thoughtful, personal experience and earning trust one guest at a time.
Logistically, the early days were scrappy. Tours picked up passengers at the Vilano Pier, and the boat was docked at Xynides Boatyard on Ribera Street without a floating dock. It was physically demanding, but it allowed the business to operate while Jessica worked toward something more stable.
In early 2017, Jessica stepped away from bartending to become a full-time business owner. That same year, Florida Water Tours hired its first employees, including Marcel van Gils, who is a former educator with an extensive background in wildlife and ecology. As the company continued to grow, another key addition was Kevin, Mike’s brother. Kevin immersed himself in researching the history of St. Augustine, the surrounding waterways and local wildlife. Their dedication helped transform the tours into deeply educational experiences and set a higher standard for storytelling on the water. Kevin later earned his captain’s license and remains central to both tours and education.
The business also became increasingly rooted in family. Jessica’s mom moved down from New York after Jessica reached out for help during a time of rapid growth. She became the face of the front office, handling customer interactions and daily operations, which allowed Jessica to step back from constant emails and phone calls and focus on leadership and marketing. Jessica’s sisters, Sami and Riley, also supported the business through tours, special projects and operations as it expanded.
In 2018, Florida Water Tours reached several milestones. The company moved fully into the marina at Camachee Cove Yacht Harbor, with Jessica initially renting desk space inside a shared shop before growing into the boutique space. That same year, the business received approval for its bar program. Personally, it was also a defining year for Jessica and Mike. After ten years together, they were married aboard the Osprey and welcomed their daughter, Isla.
Mike’s mom, Mimi, later joined the business and became an essential part of daily operations. She supports Florida Water Tours in many roles, including front desk work, bartending, nonprofit leadership and earning her captain’s license. Kevin’s fiancé, Kristie, brought her background in education into the business, becoming a tour guide and later the primary educator for the nonprofit arm. The family run model expanded further with the creation of Floating Food Company, an in-house food and catering operation offering charcuterie boxes, snacks and desserts for public and private cruises.
In 2020, when COVID brought uncertainty and disruption, Jess responded by leaning into what mattered most. Rather than scaling back, she saw an opportunity to serve the community in a new way. Florida Water Tours launched Florida Water Warriors to address a long-standing need for accessible environmental education. With schools shut down and many community members unfamiliar with nearby ecosystems, the program began by sharing educational resources online before returning to on-the-water programming. This year, Water Warriors surpassed its goal of teaching 1,000 community members, reaching 1,772 students and adults and providing 400 students with financial aid totaling $4,415.
At its core, Florida Water Tours has always been about family. That foundation began on the docks of Long Island and grew through trust, belief and the people who showed up along the way. Today, that family extends across three boats and includes every captain, crew member, educator and guest who steps aboard. As Florida Water Tours looks ahead to the next ten years, the focus remains the same: growing thoughtfully, leading with trust and creating experiences rooted in connection and community, on the water and beyond.