Play in the bay with Dewey Beach Watersports
After a decade of owning and operating Dewey Beach Parasail, Justin Sikora says it was time to expand the operation. Dewey Beach Watersports is now open.
“We could see there was a need in the other water activities,” said Sikora on a recent sunny morning. “We’re just getting into our busy season, but things have been going great.”
On the bayside beach of Dickinson Street next to the Rusty Rudder, Dewey Beach Watersports is the town’s newest business aimed at the adventure seekers in the Cape Region on vacation. The business is run out of a tiki hut next to the original parasailing tiki hut.
Sikora said the bay is the perfect place for water activities because of all the exploring a person can do and all the different wildlife that will be seen.
“There are osprey nests, turtles, skates,” he said, quickly listing off just a few animals. “There really are an unlimited amount of places to check out.”
Sikora added that Rehoboth Bay is an expansive body of water that remains relatively calm.
“Even on the roughest day, it’s calm compared to the ocean,” he said.
Sikora said the equipment for Dewey Beach Watersports is all brand new and offers 10 stand up paddle boards, five kayaks, two 22-foot Suntracker Pontoon boats that seat 10 adults and six Yamaha V1 jet skis.
Sikora had been in the parasailing industry for 16 years and a licensed boat captain for 12. For three years, he lived in the Virgin Islands’ St. Thomas, managing one of the largest parasailing businesses in the world. He worked in Ocean City, Md., immediately before opening in Dewey.
“I’ve been around the water my whole life,” he said.
During the off-season Sikora and his wife, Dody, live in Jupiter, Fla., where he’s a stay-at-home dad with three kids. Dody is a teacher.
It’s great, he said thinking about his life.
“During the school year I get to be at home with the kids, and then during the summer they spend it down here at beach. It’s like summer camp for them,” he said.
Sikora understands that people come to him to have fun while they’re on vacation, but he and his staff take their jobs seriously.
“Safety is priority No. 1,” he said.
He said he and all his staff are required to be a part of the Maritime Drug Consortium, are first aid and CPR certified, and are boater safety certified in the state of Delaware.
People are more than welcome to walk up to the tiki huts at 113 Dickinson St. to rent, but Sikora recommends reservations for both parasailing and watersports equipment.
To make reservations for Dewey Beach Watersports call 32-227-1113. To make reservations for Dewey Beach Parasailing, call 227-9507.
More information can be found at www.flydewey.com.
Chris Flood has been working for the Cape Gazette since early 2014. He currently covers Rehoboth Beach and Henlopen Acres, but has also covered Dewey Beach and the state government. He covers environmental stories, business stories and random stories on subjects he finds interesting, and he also writes a column called Choppin’ Wood that runs every other week. Additionally, Flood moonlights as the company’s circulation manager, which primarily means fixing boxes that are jammed with coins during daylight hours, but sometimes means delivering papers in the middle of the night. He’s a graduate of the University of Maine and the Landing School of Boat Building & Design.
