Rainbow II & III

The Captain

Captain John was born in Ponce Park before it became Ponce Inlet, Florida. When you leave the dock on his fishing boat, "Rainbow II", ask him and he will point out the house in which he was born. He has been fishing out of Ponce Inlet since 1952, making him one of the most experienced captains on the local waters.

Beside owning and running his own charter boat he has plied his trade working in the "oil patch" for seven years (two months on, one month off) with a 1000 ton Towing and Freight License, any ocean. He has towed an oil rig from Galveston, Texas to the Straits of Magellan off the southern tip of South America. He also towed a supply tug across the ocean through the Suez Canal to the Red Sea.

He has plenty of on-the-water experience in the Bahamas, Turks and Caycos Islands, the Virgin Islands and along the Central America coast from Cancun, Mexico to Belize and Honduras including Cozumel.

Captain John won the Greater Daytona Beach Striking Fish Tournament in 1981 and has caught a record number of big game fish off of Daytona Beach, including blue and white marlin, sailfish, wahoo, dolphin, king mackerel and tuna. He used to make his living commercial fishing during the slow winter months bottom fishing for snapper and grouper.

For any kind of fishing Captain John has plenty of experience.

Captain Scott

Captain Scott Ellis has plenty of experience.  He is a third-generation captain, his fishing experience began on his grandfather's (Captain Gene Ellis's) boat, the old, original "Rainbow", which was a 40' wooden displacement hull with a Detroit Diesel 671.  Captain Scott not only learned the fishing business but his grandfather was an excellent boat builder and he learned many a carpenter boat building skill from Capt. Gene.

Captain Scott started from the ground up and now he does all of his own wood work, Fiberglassing and Emron painting. 

He learned the techniques of fishing from three different Captains Ellis: with Capt. Gene as first mate, before he was old enough to obtain a captain's license. He then worked for his father, Captain Johnny, on several different fishing vessels plus on an 85' motor yacht as First Mate and Chief Engineer. During this period the motor yacht was in the Caribbean most winters (most of the time in the Bahamas), the American and British Virgin Islands.

Captain Scott also worked for his older brother, Captain Steve Ellis, so among three generations of Captains, Capt. Scott has a lot of experience in catching big game fish. 

Captain Scott is also an authority on different fishing areas in the Caribbean as he also is the captain for deliveries of Custom Dive Boats out
of Deleon Springs, Florida.  He has delivered their 48' twin-diesel powered jet or propeller-driven vessels throughout the Caribbean.  He has plenty of
experience in navigating the waters from Boston to Key West, from Walkers Cay to Turks and Caycos Islands, Haiti and Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, American and British Virgin Islands, Key West to Cancun, Mexico, Cozumel, Mexico; down to Belize, Guatemala and Honduras.  He has safely delivered four 48' dive boats to Roatan, Honduras.

He has also been in and out of the Cayman Islands with most of the trips bringing him around the western tip of Cuba.

So, if you want to find out about exotic fishing and diving places, ask Captain Scott.  He's probably been there.

Captain Scott is a family man (his wife, Kim, is a teacher); he and his wife have three children: the oldest daughter, Lauren, is working her way through college, their daughter, Elizabeth, in high school, is involved in dance and singing (she and Lauren have sung duets at different Church events and weddings). Their young son, Scott, Jr., is a "chip-off-the-old block", all he cares about is surfing, skateboarding, basketball, soccer and fishing.