Meet the Team

Captain Michael Konecnik

Owner & USCG Licensed Captain

Captain Mike has been on the water since the day he was born. His family and himself have been avid boaters for over 50 years, and he has been diving since the age of 16. As a child on vacation in Venice from Wisconsin, Mike always enjoyed hunting for shark teeth at Casperson Beach, including finding numerous megs in just waist-deep water!

As it does, life took over for a while – family and work. Mike has a daughter, Jessica, and ran a local restaurant and marina complex here in Venice for 25 years before getting involved with fossil diving. A close friend and great fossil hunter, Gil Cross, reintroduced Mike to the world of fossil diving, putting him on the road to becoming the passionate fossil hunter he is today.

Captain Mike founded Aquanutz in 2011 and has gone out diving every day (weather-permitting) since. He has met many amazing divers with the similar interests in fossils and hopes to continue for many years to come.