Heavenly
Crew profile

Captain: Jason Collier
Jason was born just outside of Richmond, Virginia, in Hanover County. Growing up, he loved being outdoors and spending time with family and friends but always felt particularly drawn to the sea. The experience that solidified his love of sailing and sharing memories on the water began in Punta Gorda, Florida, where, at 19, he spent a week on a 32’ Hunter sailboat learning to sail and completing his ASA 101-104 certifications. It was at this point that he knew he had a true passion for the sea and went on to join the U.S. Navy, enrolling in the “Quartermaster A-School”, an intensive navigation curriculum. During his time in the Navy, he worked aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower as an assistant to the navigator, sailing overseas and exploring both the Persian Gulf and Europe. Throughout this time, his love for the sea, sense of adventure, and desire to travel only grew.

After Jason’s time in the Navy, he returned to his home state of Virginia and started Captain Collier’s Seafood with his family, where he was able to bring a little of the ocean he loved so much to his customers. Additionally, he began working as a Realtor. During this time, he raised a son, now 26, worked day-to-day, sought adventure wherever he could, but always found his way back to the ocean.

In 2020, itching to get back on the water since COVID, weekend fishing trips on the river proved never enough. Jason joined SailTime in Norfolk, VA, a fractional boat ownership program that allowed him unlimited access to a 2018 Beneteau 35.1 called the Blue Angel. By the fall of 2021, Jason had signed up to crew the NARC on a 65’ Nautor Swan and made the 2,000nm journey from Newport, RI, to St. Maarten. After spending some time in the Caribbean and falling in love with its crystal blue waters, Jason decided he was ready for a life change and flew back to Virginia to wrap up that chapter of his life.

By March 2022, finally ready to fully pursue his passion, Jason moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands to take the helm as captain of his destiny and share his love of the sea and sailing with others. He worked for several months as a day captain before meeting Jennifer, when an opportunity to explore the role of term charter captain arose. By October 2022, they had landed a seasonal contract together aboard a brand-new Bali 5.4, where he found he could combine his boating experience with his outgoing personality and truly shine.

The Virgin Islands offer Jason the opportunity to enjoy the Caribbean’s tropical blue waters and sunshine every day while snorkeling with sea turtles and exploring the best coral reefs and dive sites. His goal as your captain is to keep you safe, ensure the boat is well-maintained and seaworthy, and share with guests the wonders of the ocean and all the secret gems that make this place, which has captured his heart and soul, so special.

Jason holds a USCG 100-ton Master Captain’s license with a sailing endorsement, an STCW with security awareness, is CPR-certified, ASA 101-104 certified, and has logged over 10,000 miles at sea. He promises that the safety of all guests on board is his top priority, along with ensuring everyone has an amazing time on the water. This is Jason and Jennifer’s third season working together!

Chef/First Mate: Jennifer Sutton
Jennifer is a fun-loving, competent sailor with a thirst for adventure who enjoys sharing her love of the ocean and sailing with others while also keeping their bellies full of fresh, healthy, and delicious food! Originally from Michigan, the eldest daughter and one of seven children, she learned to swim before she could walk. As a result, she was always comfortable in and drawn to the water. Growing up in the Great Lake State, boating was a natural part of life. Cruising around the many local lakes, waterskiing with her siblings, and fishing with her father were commonplace, but sailing was just something she’d seen in movies – a childhood dream she wouldn’t fulfill until moving to NYC in her 20s, where she ended up spending most of her life before moving to the Caribbean in 2019.

While in New York, Jennifer worked as an HR Specialist, an Executive Assistant, and an assistant film camera operator before deciding to focus on photography as a career. With NYC and later Hoboken, NJ, serving as her base, Jennifer traveled extensively, worked at one of Manhattan’s premier wedding/event photography studios, added a small jewelry business to her repertoire, and managed several home renovation projects and Airbnbs, all the while discovering a true appreciation for good food and wine. Growing up, helping her mother in the kitchen and her father in the garden, Jennifer naturally developed a taste for cooking and a love of all things fresh. However, it was her exposure to the cultural melting pot of NYC and international travel that expanded her palate for ethnic and creative cuisine, heightened her joy of cooking, and sparked the desire to build upon her culinary skills.

It wasn’t until the first anniversary of 9/11, upon meeting the chairman of the NYC Community Sailing Organization – who had invited her to come out sailing in NY Harbor to take photographs for the club – that her sailing journey truly began. As the daughter of an electrical engineer, it didn’t take long for her mindset to transition from casual recreational sailing to needing to understand how things work. By the following year, she had set out to acquire as many ASA sailing certifications as she could. By 2006, through multiple educational charter experiences throughout the Gulf Islands of Vancouver as well as the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean, she had obtained ASA 101-106 certifications. (Celestial Navigation is still on her wish list!)

In 2018, Jennifer was ready for her next adventure. Her undeniable love of the water led her first to accept a position as a yacht broker in southern Massachusetts and, ultimately, to the USVI to pursue a crew opportunity that arose in December 2018. This opportunity was not only to “crew” on a sailboat charter but also to play “chef,” and she hasn’t looked back since.

This is her fifth season as a Charter Chef. Based primarily in St. Thomas, she has chartered throughout the BVI, the Bahamas, St. Maarten, St. Barths, and Anguilla. Sailing embodies all the things Jennifer loves most about life: being on the water, staying close to nature, going with the flow, and exploring off-the-beaten-path places. Working as a Charter Chef has proven to be the perfect blend of her acquired skill set, enabling her to combine the things she loves most: hosting, itinerary planning, making others happy through shared experiences, and bringing everyone together to break bread (and play games!). She enjoys sharing her passion for sailing with others and says that nothing makes her happier than hearing from a charter guest that she has helped them fulfill a bucket list adventure they will never forget.

Jennifer holds ASA certifications 101, 103, 104, 105, and 106, and is STCW, CPR, and NASLBA (Navigational Skills and Safety) certified. She completed her USCG 100GT with a sailing endorsement course in 2019 and has logged over 10,000 miles at sea. Her focus is on safety and the guest experience. She divides her time between family in Michigan and New York and her home in Vieques, PR, where she continues to hone her self-taught culinary skills and cultivate personal photography projects.