Hubbard's Marina adds pirate ship, dolphin and shark tour operations, eyes Tampa Bay ferry after Helene rebuild

In November 2025, Hubbard's Marina of Madeira Beach, Florida, closed on three acquisitions: a pirate ship, a dolphin tour boat, and a shark tour operation, extending a portfolio that already includes a seafood market, a fuel dock, and a boat-building operation. The deals came roughly 14 months after Hurricane Helene sent nine feet of water through the facility and destroyed the main dock. A Tampa Bay ferry service is the next confirmed expansion.

From Pass-a-Grille to John's Pass: nearly 100 years of physical moves

Hubbard's Marina traces to 1928, when Wilson Hubbard started the operation with five rowboats and 40 cane poles in Pass-a-Grille on Florida's barrier islands. When residential development and shifting traffic patterns closed off the site, Wilson relocated north to John's Pass and helped the city build the boardwalk that now anchors the tourism corridor there. Dylan Hubbard, fourth-generation captain and current vice president, is in the process of purchasing the business from his father, who acquired it from the family in 2004.

The Helene count: nine feet, two days, five days

September 2024 is the stress point. Helene pushed nine feet of water into the facility, submerged the main office, and destroyed the main dock. Milton followed as a Category 5 before the first cleanup was finished. The boats survived. Of 84 staff members at the time, 15 lost everything. Hubbard and crew were first into John's Pass after Helene, ahead of fire and EMS, and a damage survey turned into a week of rescue work. The dock was rebuilt in two days. Trips resumed five days after Helene, before the barrier islands officially reopened. The community raised nearly $75,000 for affected employees.

The regulatory print: 85 days to change the rule

The physical rebuild ran in parallel with a regulatory fight. After Hubbard criticized weak enforcement against illegal charter operators at a federal meeting, NOAA's Office of Law Enforcement reviewed Hubbard's Marina and found the company's operating model out of compliance. Hubbard, president of the Florida Guides Association and a member of Gulf Council advisory panels covering reef fish, data collection, and outreach, spent roughly 85 days working to change the regulation itself. The business model was preserved.

What to watch

The Tampa Bay ferry service is the next confirmed operational step. A ghost tour launched recently. Dylan Hubbard is also in the process of purchasing the business from his father, a transaction that would formally transfer ownership of an operation the family has run in some form since 1928.