It's just past 7 a.m. on Friday as the Vida Mia pulls away from her slip at the Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor.
The water is calm but gently rocks the boat as Captain Ricky Walker leads her out across the clear ocean. Fewer than a dozen of people are on board for a sunrise coffee cruise this morning, including Owner Brynn Rovito, a small crew and about a half-dozen others.
Aloha State Daily joined the tour on May 30, where we spoke with Rovito about the about Vida Mia's storied history — and how business is going some five years after she acquired the boat. In addition to following larger trends, ASD is profiling small businesses in Hawai‘i as a part of its ongoing business and tourism coverage.
Vida Mia, a nearly 100-year-old wooden yacht that has been renovated and saved from dereliction, doesn't lose sight of the Honolulu coastline on the 90-minute ride. During the trip, guests can partake in coffee, a selection of breakfast items and views of Diamond Head and the Waikīkī skyline that many people probably don't often see.
Rovito, who acquired the yacht at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, says the Vida Mia is one of the few classic motor yachts left in the world and the only one here in the Islands.
"She's got a ton of history and a ton of lives," Rovito says of the boat.
The commuter yacht — one of about 300 constructed in the early 20th century — was built in Stockton, California, in 1929, Rovito says.
"These boats were built in the Art Deco era, and this is a time when there was a lot of excitement about traveling around the United States," Rovito told ASD as she gave us a tour of the yacht ahead of the coffee cruise.
It was an era of great excitement in America, and people wanted to get to new places quickly, she said in a follow-up phone call.
These so-called commuter yachts were built "basically to get to work quickly," in a time when air travel was just becoming a possibility and roads were unreliable, she says.
The first owner spared no expense, constructing Vida Mia from cedar, oak and teak. The boat features bedrooms and spaces below deck where crews used to sleep. Rovito says there was once a built-in aquarium. An original porcelain tub still remains.
The boat was specifically designed to go through the Panama Canal, she said.
Vida Mia was privately owned for about 15 years until the early 1940s, when it was commandeered by the War Shipping Administration, fitted with radar equipment and used to search for enemy submarines during World War II, Rovito says.
After the war, ownership of the boat returned to private hands.
Vida Mia arrived in Hawaii in the early 1960s. According to Rovito, Vida Mia was an escort boat in the Transpacific Yacht Race. A history shared on its website notes that in 1963, Edward Rose was the first to buy the boat in Hawaii, but it was "left uncared for in a boat slip in Lahaina" after his sudden death.
In 1968, Chuck Clark bought the boat, she said. According to the site, he wanted to start charter cruises, and installed a new diesel engine and relayed the decking.
Vida Mia changed ownership many times in the intervening years and eventually fell into disrepair.
Rovito says the early 2000s were the Vida Mia's hardest years. A couple of "ambitious companies" had taken over ownership and tried to restore the boat but were unsuccessful.
"Not only is it expensive, but you need to have the right laborers and the right plan," Rovito says. The companies fell into financial distress and at one point the boat was seized by the government, she told ASD.
Vida Mia was ultimately purchased by a local businessman in 2014 and restored, its website notes.
History aside, the boat is a star in her own right, having been featured in the first season HBO's "White Lotus," and in the 2017 movie "Snatched," starring Goldie Hawn and Amy Schumer, among other film appearances over the years.
Rovito — previously an attorney for the U.S. Senate — returned to Hawai‘i, where she had formerly lived, and began restoring wooden boats about 10 years ago. She worked on another boat with the same team that had been involved in the restoration of Vida Mia over several decades.
Rovito says that created the opportunity for her to meet the former owner, and in 2020 she was approached about buying the yacht.
When asked why she wanted to pursue the opportunity, Rovito says when she first stepped on a wooden boat in Hawai‘i "I felt something really special and I wanted other people to feel that. I wanted other people to experience that. There was something really unique about a wooden boat on the ocean in Hawai‘i. It was just so beautiful. You just feel so special."
The coffee cruises began shortly after she took ownership.
After she moved back to Hawai‘i, Rovito says she would wake early and walk around Waikīkī.
"I thought that Waikīkī was really magical at that time, and I thought that people would really love being on the water with a cup of coffee."
In addition to the coffee cruises, Vida Mia also offers sunset cruises and private charters. The boat is certified to take 36 people, but passenger counts are typically limited to about 20 to 25 on public cruises, Rovito says. They see around 250 people a week between private charters and coffee cruises.
When asked how business is faring, Rovito says the company has had to adapt to changes in the tourism industry over the years, but is able to shift gears quickly as things change.
"We built our own website, I have my own development team. We did our own social media. We did everything from the ground up, and that allowed us to get through the changes in the industry. We have a slow, steady growth. Even though tourism affects us, we're able to pivot quickly to make things work," she said. "We're healthy, but I think that's because we did things right."
She says their business model was focused on making a visit to the Vida Mia a regular activity for people who live here.
But cost increases in the digital marketplace are challenging. For example, Rovito says the rate for the platform she uses to handle things like scheduling and payments went up by 6% after it was acquired by a larger company.
"I can't raise my rates for my customers because I don't want to," she said. "Now I have to eat the 6%. Those margins make a really big difference for a small business."
What's good about business? Rovito notes the word-of-mouth referrals that drive business, about 60% of which is local.
"As soon as someone's on the boat once, they come back. They spread the word."
Toward the end of Friday's trip, Rovito asks a couple aboard how they heard about the coffee cruise.
"A lady in the ocean," the woman replied, eliciting laughs.
As the cruise comes to an end, and the boat is steered back toward her slip in the harbor, a rainbow emerges over the harbor, bright against the overcast skies.
"There's so much happening all the time in the state, politically ... I just want people to know that we're here. We're here every day. We're working hard. We're creating jobs for people. We're training people in a unique craft and we're making people happy," Rovito said after the cruise ended. "Honestly, I cannot be happier just seeing all the elements of the business come together after five years."
Even the crew members are happy to be there.
"Every once in a while, you wake up and be like, 'man, it's early. I don't want to go to work.' Then you get here and it's like so cool. It's like 'yeah, I love this job," crew member Philip Botes said.
His favorite thing about the job is talking to different people from around the world.
"I also like that I'm at a place where everybody is just happy to be here."
Captain Ricky Walker, who says he drove the boat years ago, speaks reverently about Vida Mia. He told ASD that it's an honor to operate the boat every day.
"It's like living history."
Learn more about Vida Mia here.
Know of a small business with a cool story? Email Senior Reporter Stephanie Salmons at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
Stephanie Salmons can be reached at stephanie@alohastatedaily.com.
