Avontuur Travel International Inc., a luxury travel agency, has launched with offices in downtown Sarasota and Naples. The company was founded by Michael Distler, a travel advisor with more than 15 years of experience serving clients in the luxury market while working within the Virtuoso network. In addition to designing personalized itineraries for individuals, families and companies, Avontuur will also cater to adrenaline junkies—think luxury safari drives and cage-diving with great white sharks.

Avontuur is a noun defined as “a remarkable or exciting experience” in the Dutch-English dictionary and as “adventure” in Afrikaans. Avontuur’s first guided adventure will be hosted by shark experts Chris and Monique Fallows, who have studied great white sharks for more than 20 years. The Avontuur trip will allow travelers the opportunity to dive among the great whites of Guadalupe Island in the Pacific, southwest of Mexico’s Baja Peninsula, with two sailings set for October 2022 aboard the Solmar V and Socorro Vortex.