How Crystal Charters Rebuilt After COVID With doola and Is Now Expanding Beyond the Cayman Islands

When COVID-19 shut down the Cayman Islands, Michael Bonnar’s thriving boat charter business came to a sudden halt. “It completely obliterated us,” Michael recalls:

“Tourism disappeared overnight, and with it, every single booking we had lined up.”

Michael founded Crystal Charters in 2016 with a simple idea: provide private, customizable boat tours that give families, couples, and groups their own slice of paradise on the water.

By 2020, it was one of Grand Cayman’s go-to operators, offering unforgettable trips to iconic spots like Stingray City.

But when borders closed, recovery wasn’t just about waiting for tourists to return; it meant rethinking the entire business from the ground up.

Are you also wondering, “How Crystal Charters rebuilt after COVID with doola?”. Let’s find out 🚀

Rebuilding From Scratch

The pandemic forced Crystal Charters to adapt.

Instead of carrying all the overhead themselves, Michael and his team began working with local boat owners on a lease model. This shift significantly reduced risk, lowered costs, and expanded the available fleet almost overnight.

“At one point, I realized the only way forward was to build back leaner, smarter, and with more resilience built in,” Michael explains.

“By working with local owners, we could operate more sustainably and scale more quickly without being weighed down by massive fixed costs.”

But even with this smarter structure, one issue kept tripping them up: payments.

The Hidden Cost of Expansion

Trying to expand Crystal Charters into other Caribbean regions meant dealing with wire transfer fees that ate into margins.

“Every transfer cost us $50 to $100,” says Michael. “That doesn’t sound like much in isolation, but when you’re processing multiple transactions, it cuts you off at the ankles. It basically made expansion impossible.”

The other roadblock? Online payments. As a Cayman Islands–based company, reliable gateways were almost impossible to secure. Michael laughs.

“The irony of being in one of the world’s most famous tax-free jurisdictions is that we couldn’t get access to modern, reliable payment infrastructure.”

“That’s when we realized we needed to think outside the box.”

🔖 Related Read: Maximize Your Profits: Save $30K in Taxes

How Crystal Charters Rebuilt After COVID: Enter doola

Through doola, Michael set up a U.S. company and opened a Mercury business bank account. The difference was night and day.

“Suddenly we had access to Stripe,” Michael says. “That opened up a whole new world of possibilities: secure payments, seamless checkouts, and confidence for customers booking from abroad. Pair that with Mercury’s free wire transfers, and we instantly removed what had been our single biggest growth blocker.”

With doola’s help, Crystal Charters built a custom booking platform integrated with Stripe.

It’s not just functional; it’s groundbreaking.

The system includes the Caribbean’s first ever online trip builder for private boat charters, giving customers the ability to plan and personalize every detail of their trip.

Beyond Banking: Confidence to Expand

For Michael, the benefits go far beyond lower fees.

“Setting up a U.S. entity through doola didn’t just give us access to payments, it gave us credibility,” he explains.

“We’re in a tax-free country, but by holding a U.S. company we also get access to credit, financial products, and investment opportunities that were completely off-limits before.”

That credibility has already had an impact on Crystal Charters’ partnerships and growth plans. “It’s funny, really. People think of Cayman as the place you’d go to avoid tax.

But in our case, setting up in the U.S. was the only way to get the tools we needed to grow.”

And now, customers booking adventures like the famous Bioluminescent Bay tour can do so seamlessly, with a modern checkout experience that inspires confidence.

🔖 Related Read: How to Open a Bank Account through Mercury

What’s Next

Now that the financial and technical barriers are gone, Crystal Charters is preparing to expand into new markets. Michael shares:

“We’re aiming to launch in our first new region by early 2026.”

“The model is proven, the system is built, and thanks to doola, the payments problem is finally solved. For the first time since COVID, we feel like we’re on offense again instead of playing defense.”

Founder’s Advice

🔖 Related Read: Top 3 Reasons First-Time Founders Prefer Using an LLC Formation Service

Start Your Business With doola’s Backend Solutions

If Michael can scale his business post-Covid from Cayman, nothing can stop you from taking the leap.

No matter where you are in the world, doola equips you with the tools to launch and scale your US-based business with ease.

From LLC formation to compliance, bookkeeping, and tax filing, we’ve got the heavy lifting covered so you can focus on what really matters: growth, strategy, and taking your brand global.

Book a free demo with us and get started risk-free today.