Interview: Bob Denison, President at Denison Yachting [In the News]

This interview was featured on the AQUAHOLIC Youtube channel in April 2023. Watch the full video below:

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Nick: We are out in Miami, and when I say we I mean Marianne and I filming at the Miami Yacht Show and my best man in Florida is Bob Denison and Bob Denison is the reason that we’re here.

Bob: Are we shaking hands? I didn’t know what that–

Nick: No, no.

Bob: You were just participating me.

Nick: I was gesticulating.

Bob: Sorry.

Nick: But you know, we’ll just go with it.

Bob: That’s another word I have never heard, gesticulating.

Marianne: Really?

Bob: Yeah.

Marianne: It’s luminous. I’m gesticulating.

Bob: She was talking about her voluminous hair a second ago, and now gesticulate. It’s just a second ago. And now just to get just a lot of big words.

Marianne: I just missed, I just feel, can I shake your hand now as well?

Bob: Yes.

Marianne: Yeah. And just for the sake of completeness.

Nick: Of course.

Marianne: It’s lovely to be spending time with you.

Bob: Always. You guys are great at this.

Nick: This has got to be professional thing. When I was first thinking about coming to America to film boats, I spoke to Bob. Bob is a huge fan of alcoholic; I think it’s fair to say.

Bob: True.

Nick: And Bob said to me, if you come to America, I would guarantee you 10 boats. And we came to America and Bob came up with 10 really great boats for us to film. And Bob is now my absolute first port of court and has become, I think, a good friend. I like to think.

Bob: For sure.

Nick: And we thought it’d be great to introduce you guys to Bob and we want to get to the man behind the page. And I think the first question is going to come from Marian.

Marianne: It’s very, very important. This has haunted me now for four months. Okay. So I had the great privilege meeting you at Fort Lauderdale and that was lovely. And we came to your Denison party and that was great fun. We went for dinner afterwards. And you did all of that with such a plum, but no shoes. And it has haunted me since then. Did you ever find your shoes?

Bob: I did find my shoes three days later, which is unbelievable. Yeah so we left. It was a cool thing. We like escaped the party and a private tender went to the cool yacht club. And the whole time I was without shoes, but I don’t think I realized it until like halfway through. When we were walking–

Marianne: You were definitely getting, yeah, exactly. We going into dinner.

Bob: Yeah. No, it’s true. A few days later I walked by a boat and somebody said, are you missing shoes? And somehow they, it was like a Cinderella type of a moment.

Marianne: Is that because the shoes were bright yellow or bright orange?

Bob: Very boring shoes.

Marianne: Okay, I’m impressed then that they managed to match the man with his shoes.

Bob: Yes, exactly.

Marianne: But I’m pleased.

Bob: I think what it was, was they somehow recognize the pants with the shoes they never match. And they’re like, that’s the guy with mismatching shoes.

Marianne: Well, I’m going to have a lot more restful nights now.  I did love that night as well. We’re walking into this beautiful place. We in a gorgeous meal as well. You said, oh, I’ve got no shoes. And Danny, you’re a gorgeous wife, did a most impressive eye roll.

Bob: She’s really good at that.

Marianne: I applaud that woman. This is a woman who has seen some tough times.

Bob: Yeah. She has. And she’s perfected the eye role.

Marianne: it was really classic.

Nick: Maryanne can actually get her to go 360 degrees on me. That’s quite impressive.

Bob: No, but I think that’s more of a demonic.

Nick: Put it on Bob.

Bob: Perfect.

Nick: Okay. I think now we’ve really thoroughly gone through the whole shoe thing. We’ve ought to perhaps explain who Bob is talk a bit about boats and stuff. So Bob, heads up. I think it’s fair to say Denison yachts, you’re the man behind Denison yachts.

Bob: Yes.

Nick: And I think the thing with Denison yachts, the, the reason that I actually got in touch with Bob on day one was because Bob was doing, and he was the only broker to be doing this at the time. We’re going back now. When I started doing YouTube stuff, sort 2016, Bob was doing these amazing videos of yachts and nobody else was doing it. There were drone shots, there’s action shots. They were beautifully produced. And they were the best broker videos, I’ve ever seen. And I think that has been a hallmark for me of Denison yachts at you guys are absolutely on the front foot with regards to the whole social media and all that kind of stuff. Is that fair?

Bob: Yeah, I think that’s fair. The only thing I would say is when you give me credit for it, it’s the people that actually do it. So I might have an idea, and we actually get a lot of our ideas from the real estate industry or automotive. And so we look at what great car company’s doing or our real estate company’s doing, and we try to bring that in. And so what we did one time was a guy named Sean Wilkes, and he was an intern and we bought a drone for I think, like 80 bucks at the time. Do you remember how exciting drones were when they first came out?

Nick: Oh, yeah, exactly.

Bob: Like how is this going to change everything? And we bought it. We didn’t know what we were doing, and this intern named Sean Actually became our videographer later and still is doing it. Just started figuring it out and so he’d take a broker. The first one is horrible. I need to share it with you. It is so bad. The broker actually demanded that we remove it.

Marianne: No way.

Bob: Yeah, we had this elegant piano. We just tried too hard to be too, what’s the word? I don’t know. Like just it was horrible. And then we just kept going and going and going and going and it worked out. And we love just to try new things and see if we can engage with people in a different way.

Nick: Yeah. And it works. And if we rewind then right back to the beginning. So how did Denison yachting and you start what was the roots of it all?

Bob: So we start, when I say we, way before I was born in 1948, my grandparents were on their honeymoon. They got married from Michigan. They came down to Fort Lauderdale. And on their honeymoon, they met a guy who was leaving town. Like a lot of people were then. Because there was back to back huge hurricanes, it just knocked the power out and killed some people and flooded the streets and destroyed businesses. And he’s like, I’m getting out here. My grandfather somehow struck a deal with him and they bought a boatyard. And from that–

Nick: How’s he doing on honeymoon? Who hasn’t done that?

Bob: I wasn’t allowed to check my emails and he somehow was allowed to start this. And my grandmother was extremely involved with the operation of the, and they ended up buying a place called Dooley’s Landing. They renamed it Broward Marine, which is the county north of us here in Miami. And they just started building mine sweepers for the post-war effort to clean up all the mine sweepers. When that contract ended, they started building private yachts and I can’t take credit for any of this, but from 19, from then until the late nineties they were the largest producer of yachts in the world. I’m very proud of that.

Marianne: It’s amazing to think about, isn’t it?

Bob: And when I graduated university in 1999, they sadly sold the company. I thought that’s what I was going to do. And it’s a good thing because I would’ve been horrible at building boats. I can hardly change the oil in my car. I don’t even know. I said hardly. I can’t do anything that requires a tool. So it was a blessing.

Nick: It’s not just me.

Bob: Yeah, it’s not just you.

Marianne: I’m going to check out his hands soon. They’ll really soft, like baby’s hands, I guess.

Bob: They’re soft. I haven’t seen, it’s this and the keyboard. That’s it. And yeah, so we started, we pivoted after that. We started a brokerage company.

Nick: So that business was sold and you started a fresh business?

Bob: Sort of. Yeah, it was, so my dad, I have to give him my dad and uncles were extremely involved in the industry as well. And we pivoted into brokerage sales right back in 2001.

Nick: So not long ago really? 20 years.

Bob: 22 years. But yeah, we grew over a few decades slowly. Sometimes it seems like it was fast, but it was a slow grind of a thing. And yeah and now we get to now we just over time, like these two guys filming us, you just attract really good people to work at your company and the rest kind of takes care of itself.

Nick: And how many offices have you got now?

Bob: We have 23 offices and our latest office is in Monaco which is our first European office and our next office off after that’s going to be in the UK somewhere.

Nick: Wow. Fantastic.

Marianne: That is brilliant.

Nick: Yeah. Cool. And how many employees?

Bob: We have 220 employees and brokers.

Marianne: That’s astonishing. From a standing start 20 years ago. And it’s interesting that you think that was at times, and of course it was a grind. You know, it was hard work getting there, but actually 20 years, 22 years is nothing. It’s such a, I know it wasn’t from a standing start. We had everything before, but what an astonishing story.

Nick: But I’ve been in brokerage and I know I’ve did it for 20 years. And I never, that never up to me. But I mean, it that is unusual to go from that to that in 20 years in brokerage. I don’t know anybody else who’s done it.

Bob: Yeah, it was a long, long grind. But it’s just like with the things that you do that are fun and you’re passionate about it, and especially if you combine it with just loving people and enjoying just being around good people, getting you to the places you want to go, it’s the 20 something years goes by really quick.

Marianne: And it’s interesting you say like, and the whole point of this interview is to make you cry, but we’re not doing very well with that. And I’m going to give you some compliments now. It does shine out. Your passion for boating and your passion for people. And those are two lovely, lovely things because there’s nothing humans want more than to be wanted and liked and appreciated and cared for. And you give that in space. So that’s why.

Bob: Well, I mean, it’s really easy to do, and I’m not just saying this, but we get to work that 200 something people, they’re the best. And so for me and in our industry, if there was one thing that’s annoying to me about the yachting industry, especially our side of it, on the bigger boats, it tends to be not always, but there can be this like pretentious. And even if you walk down the display, sometimes you don’t know if you feel welcome. Am I allowed in there? Do I need to make an appointment? Can I bring my kid on board? And that’s one of the things that we really wanted to do differently is to make sure that not only are you welcome aboard, but we are really freaking happy you’re here. So that’s why. And we probably do a little bit too much on the hugging side and all that stuff, but we really, really love it when people come aboard and get to experience this, even if they’re never going to buy a boat. Just to get that like glimpse of what this thing called yachting is in a really friendly, fun way is really important. So sometimes I think the firms try to have this like posture image. Yeah, totally. But most of the yacht owners are incredibly friendly, very family forward.

Marianne: I don’t think you even know how important this is pre, a few years ago I had never really been on boats. I’d never done boat. And it was all like a mystery to me. It was something that happened over there and I could see it, but I had no idea how you cross into that world, that arena.

Nick: It wouldn’t even could have occurred you to try, would it?

Marianne: No, it’s just mysterious. And then these barriers, whether they’re real or perceived barriers are really important and critical and stopping people from enjoying something, which is just so much fun and so fantastic. So what I’m interested to know is like if when you look into the future, a little bit of sooth saying now I’d like from you, what does boating look like in the future and what barriers are there now to stop that happening?

Bob: And it’s such a good question. So I try to answer that question and think about it through the eyes of my kids who are all really small. So we have an eight-year-old. Five, four, and two-year-old, and I think about what is it going to be like for them to be on board a boat in the year 2040 something? I don’t know. And I think what it’s going to be is them enjoying the water in much the same way, but without a lot of the stress. So, like even for me right now, when I go out on my little boat, my palms will get sweaty pulling into. I’m probably wearing yellow pants, so people are looking at me and I’m like, oh, I hope I don’t do something stupid. It’s just that weird sort of–

Marianne: I thought, that’s just me.

Bob: No, it’s all of us. Even Nick, he will admit that, that there is that sensation. And you just, your kind of just feel like it’s just a weird feeling. So I think in the future when Rivers, my son takes his first girlfriend on a date, we’ll be able to press a button and the boat will dock itself. Yeah, will that take some of the joy out of it? Maybe but it’ll make it so much more stress free. If he wants to show off how cool he is, he might dock it himself, but he’ll have the option to do that. And there’s other things too. I think one of the things that prevents people from getting involved is they get scared of all the lines and the knots. How do you tie up the boat to the dock and the fenders and all that? I think that stuff will go away, and I think it’ll be a good thing. And then there’s the other stuff, like if you get seasick, I get seasick. I hate going out on a boat when it’s rough. It’s really embarrassing and it feels terrible. And just the introduction to stabilization and all that stuff is way different now than it was 20 years ago. So you can go out in the boat and be comfortable.

Marianne: I really like all of that. And the idea of technology guiding your boat in that is actually brilliant. However, I’m going to make a plea for all of the language and the beautiful old-fashioned terminology to stick. I had to learn what lines meant where the bow was and the port. That’s just gorgeous. Let’s not lose that.

Nick: Do you like it, Nick?

Marianne: Yeah. I think it’s gorgeous.

Nick: I think also there’s a purpose to it because, people say, well, why would you say port and starboard? You could just say left and right and everyone knows what you mean. That’s great. I’m looking at the back of the boat here and my left is over there. If I sit to Maria, I need something from the left. It’s over there. If I’m facing that way, left is that way, but the port is always on that side of the boat, and a starboard is always on that side of the boat. And that’s the reason we use these terms.

Bob: That’s very useful. And I grew up in this stuff and I know the language and there’s part of me that likes it, but it can also be a little annoying. And you attach that pretentious thing to it. When you have a guest the first time on a boat, they say, oh where’s the bathroom? And then there’s that really annoying person that has to jump on them and said, no, no, no, no, no its called the head. And galley is a kitchen.

Bob: Yeah. Like, I appreciate it, but I think we should just drop it all. Call the kitchen.

Nick: Don’t throw the baby out the bath water. Sorry, Bob.

Marianne: Actually make all the right decisions. But no, you’re wrong here. There’s the beauty of the language. We need to hold onto that. The heritage of boating, but may be a bit more flexible. It is it battle and it’s fine.

Nick: And I think to circle back to what you’re saying about accessibility, for people who don’t understand about boating, that in a nutshell is what alcoholic is about because I would’ve put boating in front of people and go, this is what it is. And this is one of the reasons I started doing meat with the owner because going back to what you said earlier, I think that there is perception among a lot of people that somebody who’s a millionaire and who’s got a 50, 60 foot, 2-million-pound boat is probably a snob. He probably drives. It gets driven around in a gold painted carriage wearing a top hat and lighting cigars, and 50 pound notes. 90% of the time, they’re ordinary people who’ve worked hard, done well, been successful, and are enjoying that success. And the thing that I like most when I do the meet, the owner and we sit down and speak to these guys about themselves and their boating and all that kind of stuff because we get comments saying things like, that guy’s just an ordinary guy. And duh. Yeah, he is. But there is this, I think, and there are people out there who can afford a boat. But they just don’t think, they think that’s not for me. I’m not that kind of person, but they are because it’s just normal successful people having a great time with their friends and their family.

Bob: Totally agree.

Nick: I think that’s what I’m trying to get across with the channel. And going back to what you said about the snobbiness of some companies. We’ve completely found this. I won’t mention the name, but–

Bob: Please do that. Where would make for good TV. Well you want to drop some names?

Nick: Yeah. Marlow I contacted Marlow before the show. I said, we’re coming to Miami. And I’d just done a Marlow with you guys. Funny enough at Fort Lauderdale. That video had gone up. It’d been really successful and I loved the boat.

Bob: Such pretty boats.

Nick: Yeah. They’re gorgeous. And it was a lovely thing and it was a proper Jimmy Buffet experience. They had the bar shaped like a boat. It was fantastic. I loved it. Or the viewers loved it. And so I reached out to Marlow and I said, listen, I’m coming, I’ve put this video up and I sent my link to it. Said, that’s exactly what it is. We’re coming to the Miami Boat Show and we would love to film some of your boats. And I got no reply. And so I emailed again. I said, did you get this? And I got email said, oh yes. We’re not really sure that is in line with our brand ethos and blah, blah, blah. And I emailed back and I said, that’s absolutely fine. No problem at all. But just so you know, you’re the first person to ever turn down free marketing. And I got an email back going. Well perhaps we could have a meeting at the boat show about it. And I emailed back and said, I’m sorry I’m there to film boats. And they left it at that. But it’s like, I’m offering you to put your boat in front of potentially a million people because that’s what we get view sometimes. And yes, 99% of those people will never be able to afford it. But you are here at the show spending a hundred thousand pounds to show your boats. And 99% of the people walk past it also won’t be able to afford it. But some will.

Bob: And there’s a few things there and you can bleep the name out later if you decide you, but they are Marlow’s are some of my favorite boats ever built.

Nick: They’re a great.

Bob: They’re awesome. They do have that reputation though. And it’s not just for media platforms like what you guys are doing and awesome content with videos and walkthroughs in YouTube, but also with the brokerage community, they can be very difficult to work with. At least they have that reputation and it starts with that first interaction. Saying, I’ve gotten to know them and they are awesome.

Nick: Yeah. Well and this is the thing why didn’t get that across the stage.

Bob: Yeah. So it’s, I think it also them. Yep. No, but it’s one of those things, if you actually got to know them, you would love them.  It’s sometimes that first interaction.

Bob: And that’s what we try so hard. Every person, we hope, hope, hope that you interact with a Denison, whether it’s a marketing email like that, or a hostess that you have that like hug kind of a feeling. And sometimes in our industry, it’s hard to pull that off.

Nick: And I don’t want to pick on Marlow because, I just mentioned it because it just happened just before the show. But I’ve had that from there’s another brokerage here I contacted and there was so much fanning around it didn’t come to anything. And the broker that I’d spoken to about it was really keen for me to do stuff. And he actually said that somebody in their marketing department had said, oh, we’re here to sell boats not to further their livelihood. You are showing boats to people. I can show them to 10 times as many people and it baffles me. But there is this perception. Oh, it’s just the internet. It’s just YouTube as though, yeah. Rich people don’t watch that stuff. What do they think they’re watching?

Bob: Oh, no. We’ve sold not just one, not just two, but dozens of boats through social media for sure through YouTube. The broker on this boat specifically has met several people that have bought very, very big boats from that platform. And I think that that whole thing of like, yeah, I don’t care how big your audience is, it’s mostly non yacht buyers. Like there’s certainly probably the, I think to your point, the same percentage of people that are not yacht buyers here, that we’re still, and who cares. At the end of the day who cares? So there’s some kid. Some person that can’t afford to buy the boat that’s spending 10, 15 minutes going and just providing joy for that person to just say, Hey, this I’m learning something new, or I’d like to fantasize for a minute about what, who cares if it will accost that boat or that brand or that broker a single penny just to give you access to the–

Nick: Exactly. And Elon Musk wants a boat a time was a little kid in his bedroom dreaming about buying a McLaren or whatever. Exactly what he eventually bought.

Bob: And I just, last night on my way home from Miami to Fort Lauderdale where I live, I called some brokers and clients our very, very best, my single favorite client in the world who’s built and bought many huge, huge boats. I just was talking to him and he shared with me, and I didn’t know this, that as a kid, they didn’t have any money at all. But they grew up here in Florida and his dad would take him out on these little boats and it would, and I think we’ve actually talked about this before. It doesn’t matter how small or big of a boat you are on just that getting out there on the water thing.

Marianne: Of course.

Nick: It doesn’t. It’s just like there’s something about it. I always say it’s like wherever my cell phone is, it’s a boat’s a place. You just, you lose your cell phone more often than you would anywhere else. And it doesn’t matter how big or small it is. And that I think in yacht ownership or boat ownership, there’s that common kind of like appreciation for the nonsense of buying. Because buying a boat’s a terrible investment.

Marian: Of course it is.

Bob: There couldn’t be a worse way because a ton of money depreciates and it keeps casting money.

Nick: I know, and it always makes me laugh when I get people comments sometimes on the videos and it’s normally from non-boat people going. A billion pounds for that. You could buy five houses and you could rent them out. You could have an income. Well, yeah, you could. And you could make yourself the richest man in the graveyard. Want to have some fun. And actually, the guy who’s buying his boats probably already has the five houses and hasn’t rented out, and that’s why he’s buying the boat. There’s got a waste a bit of money somewhere.

Bob: A hundred percent. And there’s also crazy people that will take all their money and spend it on that life experience of being, and it might not be a boat, it could be something else, but that passion. Life is short. I want to connect with the people around me in a special, unique way. Boating does that much like skiing wood or golf and all that stuff. But it’s just a neat kind of, and I think that’s one of the things COVID did. It was like the appreciation of now.

Nick: Yes.

Bob: Like, I’m going to do some completely, I’m not going to wait till I’m, a little older and a little richer and a little whatever. It’s like, Hey, we’re not guaranteed tomorrow. Let’s do that crazy, stupid financial decision and splurge on this.

Nick: Yeah. It was sports cars. It was boats. It was motor homes; it was all that stuff. And particularly stuff that people could sort of do on their own. And people who are spending money on flying somewhere and staying in an expensive resort. And the things were thinking, do you know what, we could put this money into a boat and we could have it in where, we’re not going to be stopped from going to it because these people had perhaps an expensive holiday, and they couldn’t get to it. And I think the whole flexibility of that brought it into sharp focus for a lot of people. And you do. It’s this thing you do with the people you love and the people that you want to spend time with.

Marianne: And which leads me beautifully to my next question. Which is and don’t think overthinks at all. Dream Day out on a boat, looks like what? Go?

Bob: It would definitely be with my wife, Danny, and our kids. And we would be probably somewhere in The Bahamas, which I love. It’s really close by. That’s like 45 minutes that way depending on the speed or not 45 minutes. Two hours that way by boat. And just the second you get there, you feel like you’re someplace different. Like when you travel that exciting feeling when you get off the plane and you don’t recognize the streets and the-

Nick: Yeah. You’re abroad.

Bob: slides look different. And the air smell, it’s like you’re in a special new different place. For me, that’s The Bahamas.

Marian: Are you on anchor messing around in the water or are you on–

Bob: I am at Anchor. I love a little place. And down here it’s a little cliché, but there’s abandoned island called Honeymoon Harbor, where the sting race come up and some sharks come up and there’s porpoises. There’s enough sand to play with the kids and throw the football. And it’s so easy to get to and it’s so fun. And the water is like an aquarium like crystal clear.

Marianne: Wow sounds gorgeous.

Bob: And it’s just the best. And you have some music on and just get lost in the day and you forget your phone and you realize it’s four o’clock when you thought it was, whatever o’clock. And it’s just that magic, like, I want to do that again and again and again. Kind of a day.

Nick: And what’s the Bob Denison Dreamboat money note? This is a question I get asked all the time. You get all the money in the world. What would you buy?

Bob: I would buy. I love boats like this. This is a perfect time to plug this boat, by the way.

Nick: Yeah, this is a gorgeous boat.

Bob: So be a boat like this. It’s 139 foot Abeking and Rasmussen that was restored by a yard here in America called Delta. My grandparents and parents and uncles built Broward and I would love to restore or buy an old Broward that was restored.

Nick: Yeah, that’d be cool.

Bob: And aluminum built, very American looking, and I would love to, and I think I might one day. And it would just be a neat thing to have that part of our family sort of continued. And the thing about Broward, they’re much like this boat. They’re very livable, easy. You feel like you can just relax here, grab a drink or a coffee and just talk to somebody like you were that special place. So that would be it for me.

Marianne: Gorgeous. Gorgeous.

Nick: And on your Broward, you can have, okay. You’ve got your wife, you’ve got your kids all taken as red, but you can have six perfect guests.

Bob: Oh my gosh.

Nick: Dead or alive. Anyone you like, you will summon them from the afterlife and they’ll be sat down with you for a meal in the saloon. Who’s it going to be?

Bob: You should have just said, oh, okay. So now I’ve got to pick really, and this is going to reflect.

Marianne: Yes, it is.

Bob: The depth of me. You can’t be like, oh, it would be Don Johnson or somebody. No offense, it wouldn’t be Don John, but it would be, it would have to be historical.

Nick: Dope. Be whoever you like, the people you just want to hang out here with,

Marianne: For one dinner party.

Bob: For one dinner party. One collection of awesome people. And I don’t have to say you guys, right?

Marianne: No. No.

Nick: We’re busy.

Bob: If it was like 20 people, you’d make that list.

Nick: Thank you.

Marianne: Six.

Bob: Yeah, that’s pretty good. 10 maybe, but six no. So six would be, I would definitely, it would have to be, I’m a huge history guy. So I’d love Theodore Roosevelt would be on that list for sure. Winston Churchill would be on that list for sure. Again, I’m a history buff. He would be that. People like that that bring great perspective and great, both of them are great conversationalists. And then I would have my favorite, I’d have somebody from my favorite band, Weezer Rivers Cuomo would be there. Do you guys know Weezer?

Marianne: Uh-huh, yeah. We take that person. Keep going.

Bob: No, you’re being fantastic. Okay and then it would be some of my favorite people that are just here with me now that like, just tend to make me happy and smart. It would be people like Ryan Alexander would be on that list for sure. And then it would be my other friends. That’d be my brother Eddie, my parents. Is that six?

Marianne: That’s seven. You’re going to have only one parent there.

Bob: Okay. So I’m dropping.

Marianne: Don’t drop your mother child, just–

Bob: Or my dad. I think I got to drop my brother. No you know what? I’m going to drop a Rivers Cuomo. He’s out, but he’ll–

Marianne: You sure?

Bob: Yeah. He’s top 10. That should be my brother, my little brother. My mom, my dad. Winston Churchill, Theodore Roosevelt. Who was the other one I said?

Marianne: The music person?

Bob: Okay dropping. Okay and then I’ll bring Eddie. My little brother. I don’t know. Is that six?

Marianne: That’s fine. You know, if there’s an extra one, we’ll just squeeze in. It’ll turn.

Bob: Oh, no, I said Ryan Alexander. That was it. All right. Perfect. Yeah. Okay that’s good. Can you guys, can you name one?

Nick: Oh, yeah. No, I can tell you exactly who I would’ve Jimmy Buffet. I mean the experiences and the life that guy had. Unbelievable. And he just seems like a really cool guy.

Bob: Would you make him play for you at the party or would he just hang out there?

Nick: No, just hang out with him. Just want to hang out with the guy. Jeremy Clarkson. Do you know Jimmy Clarkson? And again, is a guy who’s lived and lived and lived and lived. He’s lived 10 lives. You know, the stuff he’s done loving my hate him is unbelievable. Who else would we have?

Marianne: I know exactly who, I’d have one person but has nobody else’s invite. I would have Ernest Shackleton.

Bob: Okay. Love it.

Marianne: You know what I mean?

Bob: Yes, of course.

Marianne: Excellent. I would have him clearly, and we would have a big long chat about all these, this exploration and endurance and boats and Elephant Island, the whole show.

Bob: I just for the, I mean Endurance is one of my top 10 favorite books. And I just read it like two years ago.

Nick: You just, what a story.

Marianne; And they found the boat. They just found it.

Bob: They did.

Marianne: Incredible. They just found it last October. Unbelievable. And I think when they landed on, was it Elephant Island? And then he left all those people there and then he went up over an unclaimed mountain. They never, and it took about another 50 years before anybody could managed to get over that mountain.

Bob: So just be him?

Marianne: Him and two. That’s all–

Bob: That’s a little weird. She has a crush on a dead guy that, is that okay with you?

Marianne: He just rolls with the punches easier for him now. So you, no, I would, I’m very, very keen on polar exploration, love all of that. So in my next question for you, sorry if you had one, but you know, no formal line. Okay so again, we want a very instantaneous reaction here. I’m going to send you to Europe. But obviously Europe for you. And you get to choose one of these two holidays. You get either sailing through the med, around the Greek islands, or you get to go fjord spotting beluga whale spotting.

Bob: Fjord spotting.

Marianne: Thank you.

Bob: Are you not the fjord spotting guy? You’re the med.

Marianne: Which is why I slip him a couple of vodkas. Let him have a snooze. And I take the boat north.

Bob: So here’s the weird thing though. I have never, ever, ever, I’ve been out on the water, maybe, I don’t know how many times. Thousands and thousands of times. I’ve never seen a whale ever. So that would be extremely exciting to me.

Marianne: Yeah, it would just be one. I’ve never seen a whale either.

Bob: Have you guys ever seen a whale?

Marianne: I saw something that was probably a whale of landing back in the water. That’s the close that I’ve got.

Nick: Well it like a flying whale?

Marianne: No.

Nick: Was it coming in, touching down?

Bob: How much did you have to drink that day?

Nick: Landing back in the water.

Marianne: I saw a whale. You know when I dive off the boat and there’s like this massive.

Nick: It is spectacular. It is like Royal Landing. Marian doesn’t understand literally. Cannot understand this concept that they’re jumping up and forward and coming down like that. So she just launches herself into the air and plummets. But is it–

Bob: Hilarious –to draw attention? Is it trending or is it–

Nick: She just can’t, we’re saying you just arc yourself. Head down. The comprehension is completely beyond her.

Marianne: You just think though about kind of the bow wave that’s generated by that now increase that significantly and that that’s what I saw, and I think that was surely a whale coming back down.

Bob: I’ve never ever in my life been in the water in the UK.

Marianne: You’ve been in the water here with the alligators or croc tails or whatever they are?

Bob: Yeah. Well, they’re not in the ocean. They’re mostly in the Everglades. But this is the thing that, because you’re talking about jumping in the water in Wales. I have a horrific fear of sharks. Do you guys ever see sharks when you go in the water in the UK?

Marianne: It’s basically you can walk across the surface. They’re that many of them.

Nick: She’s lying to you.

Bob: Okay. So there’s no shot. You don’t oh, okay. Because that’s one of the things that is terrifying for me.

Marianne: No, you’d be so safe. You’d be cold, but you’d be safe in the British waters for sure. If you all about things she striplings up than what the shot was going to be.

Bob: Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That’d be perfect.

Marianne: You’re completely safe. You’re fine. I don’t have any more questions, but we can some up.

Nick: Yeah, no, I think that’s marvelous.

Bob: Thank you guys. It was fun.

Marianne: Didn’t make you cry again.

Bob: My feelings are at the surface, so if you want to try to make me cry, go for it. Do you have a–

Marianne: No, I just like the idea that your kind of sobbing inside. Hoping it ends soon.

Nick: Yeah, she’s quite sarcastic in reality.

Bob: Yeah. Good.

Nick: Brilliant. Bob, that’s been fantastic.

Bob: Nick, thank you.

Nick: Thank you so much for this and for everything.

Bob: Appreciate it.

Nick: We really appreciate it.

Bob: Thank you. You guys have been such awesome friends.

Nick: It’s been a pleasure.

Bob: No, but this is, I hope, am I closing it now?

Marianne: Yeah.

Bob: But this is the, for those of you that haven’t met them, they’re so fun and like if you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to hang out with them, it’s way better than you would ever imagine. They’re so cool and fun. When we had dinner that night, my wife and I were going home and we were like, ah, life is short. And it’s so great to know awesome people and to laugh and have fun conversations with great poeple, like nothing’s better. So thank you guys.

Marianne: You are very, very kind.

Nick: You’re the nicest man in the world.

Bob: It’s true. It’s true. Me too. I’m also really nice.

Marianne: Thank you, Bob.

Bob: Cool. Thank you guys so much. I appreciate it.