Captain Lauren Malinowski

Captain Lauren Malinowski grew up along the shores of southeastern Connecticut, where weekends and summers meant fishing, clamming and crabbing with her dad along the rivers, lakes and beaches of Long Island Sound. The sea runs in the family: her great-grandfather was a merchant mariner for Italy, and her grandfather a lobsterman and scuba instructor in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

She moved to Florida to fully embrace that calling — becoming a certified scuba instructor, a USCG captain and a wildlife rehabilitator, and a fierce advocate for the ecosystems and wild animals she works around. Her dives span the Red Sea, the Caribbean and the Pacific, Atlantic and Indian Oceans, with shark dives and hunts for shark teeth on her days off.

On a tour with Lauren, expect more than a boat ride: her favorite moments are close-up dolphin encounters, and she pairs them with insightful, eco-focused narration — whether you're spotting playful dolphins, exploring mangrove tunnels or hunting shells on a secluded barrier island.

Captains and crew rotate across the fleet and both home ports with the season and the tides, so we can't promise who'll be at your wheel on a given day — but every Sand Dollar trip runs with a local captain, USCG licensed & insured, and a crew that treats your day on the water like their own.

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