Meet Our All-Women Crew

Owner and Operator - Coastal Eco Adventures

Captain Karen Dunn

Karen is a United States Coast Guard Licensed Merchant Mariner with nearly 50 years boating and blue water sailing experience including New England, Chesapeake Bay, the Intracoastal Waterway from Ocracoke to Beaufort, SC, North Atlantic Ocean, Florida, Bermuda, Bahamas, and Caribbean Sea.
As a North Carolina Certified Environmental Education Instructor for more than ten years, Karen creates exciting hands-on experiences for visitors to publicly owned marine preserves, sounds, bays, marshes, and ocean reefs. Presentations are curriculum-based and focus on salt marsh/estuarine ecology and their unique flora, fauna, and natural systems.

Coastal Naturalist

Cathy Meyer

Cathy Meyer is a coastal naturalist and writer. She has a Bachelor of Arts in English from Fairmont State University. With an insatiable curiosity about the coastal environment, Cathy has always been drawn to the natural wonders of the seashore. Countless hours have been spent over 40 years, walking coastal beaches in North Carolina and many other shorelines in the United States and beyond. She enjoys sharing her knowledge of the coastal environment, its ecosystems and inhabitants, as a freelance coastal educator. For over 10 years, Cathy has been an enthusiastic Masonboro Island field trip instructor teaching groups of schoolchildren and adults. With Coastal Eco Adventures, she is a coastal naturalist.

Owner/Operator Carolina Beach Oyster Company Aquaculture | Specialist and NC Oyster Trail Farmer

Mandy Uticone

Mandy graduated with a degree in Environmental Studies from UNC Wilmington and continued her education receiving an Aquaculture Science associate degree. She has taught marine science for more than 15 years and has a passion for the ocean. She worked in the aquaculture industry on an oyster farm for four years before starting and operating Carolina Beach Oyster Company in 2020.  Mandy’s goal is to provide healthy, local, and sustainable seafood to area restaurants and educate people on the oyster farming process from seed to shuck.  In her free time, she loves to surf, kayak, and talk oysters even when she isn’t on the farm!

Hurricane FunDeck 198

"Skimmer"

Welcome aboard your private chartered vessel with all USCG required safety equipment. The fiberglass tri-hull and open floor plan design delivers more space for passengers and fun on your Coastal Eco Adventure! You’ll cruise in comfort with the shallow draft versatility and deck boat stability of “Skimmer”.