Fine dining, international exploration and escapades on the high seas have proven to have made thriving business for a long time.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting travel restrictions in 2020, Augusta-based scuba touring and travel company Aggressor Adventures shut down during the months of April, May and June. Once restrictions began to relax that summer, Aggressor opened back up and found that business had not slowed down.
Customers were coming back for destinations that had been booked from July through at least October, says CEO Wayne Brown.
“People were like, ‘I can’t not live my life,’” said Brown. “We had a customer between July and December last year travel nine times with us.”
Such is the demographic that Aggressor has attracted for decades. The Liveaboards are for scuba diving tours, while the River Cruise and Safari Lodges packages are lush vacation packages; all offer high-end amenities on luxury accommodation vessels that include morning beverage services, fine dining and wines along with exotic tours to destinations such as Belize, Sri Lanka and Egypt.
Diagram of the the Belize Aggressor IV accommodation vessel, including its luxury amenities. Photo courtesy of Wayne Brown. 
Itinerary map of the Galapagos Liveaboards tour offered by Aggressor Adventures. Photo courtesy of Wayne Brown.
The business was launched in November of 1984 by oil crew boat owner Paul Haines and scuba instructor Wayne Hasson. After the collapse of the oil industry in Louisiana, Haines, a scuba diving enthusiast, decided to convert one of his 12 boats into a dive yacht. This vessel was the Cayman Aggressor. In 1988, they refitted a second boat, which became the Belize Aggressor.
Brown, himself a diving enthusiast, purchased the business in April of 2007, after having gone on tours to Galapagos and Belize. He has since expanded the business beyond dive touring, so that those not diving certified can enjoy the experience.
At the time Brown bought it, Aggressor offered eight destinations. Now it offers 40. He opened up the first safari lodge in Sri Lanka, and a river cruise on the Nile River in Egypt, avoiding competition with similar tours in South Africa.
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“Both of those I did because nobody had the high-end, five-star level of safari lodge or river cruise that I was going to start up,” said Brown. “There were really no competitors in the level I was going to offer in those areas.”
Brown notes that the holidays don’t necessarily see a significant shift in demand, or in the destinations chosen. Half of business, he says, comes from the U.S. and Canada, and half from international customers. He also notes that during the winter, many U.S. customers tend to come from Chicago, New York or parts of Colorado, looking to get warm. New Year’s tends to bring travelers looking to bring in the year on adventure.
Brown also says that Galapagos is a destination that’s on “everyone’s bucket list,” as one is just as likely to see hammerheads, whale sharks and eagle rays while diving as giant tortoises and Galapagos penguins during land tours.
Destinations to Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and more are on the horizon as Aggressor Adventure continues to expand. Brown is frequently visiting potential locations, acquainting himself with the local cultures and planning out destination packages, securing licenses and marketing a year in advance.
“I just love this business,” said Brown. “I look forward to coming to this office every day and figuring out how I can give my customers more of an experience when they’re out at our destinations. I know there’s another 100 levels of customer service that are out there to offer. I just hadn’t thought of them yet.”
For more information about Aggressor Adventures, visit its website at www.aggressor.com
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter with The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
