Kyle James Davis, also known as Captain Ky the Sea Glass Guy was born in 29 Palms, California on November 9th, 1985. The first of three children, Ky grew up in Sterling, Virginia where he discovered what would become his life long love of nature and adventuring. At the age of 16 he joined the Sterling Volunteer Fire Department and became a Nationally Certified Fire Fighter, as well as an EMT. Afte
r graduating high school, he enlisted in the US Army as a Combat Medic with his two best friends from SVFD. Ky graduated basic training with the honor of Company Top Marksman in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. Next, he went on to complete medical training at Fort Sam Houston with honors and was finally stationed at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. Initially Ky was placed in a Cavalry Unit in 2nd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division, however when 3rd Brigade needed extra medics for their upcoming deployment to Iraq, he volunteered to change units and was placed with the 2-27 Infantry Battalion. The 2-27 Wolfhounds deployed twice, and Ky served a total of 27 months on the frontlines of the war in Iraq. There he earned the Army Commendation Medal for Valor, as well as several other medals, awards, and decorations. After nearly five years he was honorably discharged from the Army, and moved back to Virginia for nearly a year. There, Ky met a cute Yorkshire Terrier that he named Little Coconut, or LC for short, and they headed for Hawaii together to attend college. Several months after returning to the islands however, Ky learned that a fire had burned down part of his family home. The disaster destroyed nearly everything he had ever owned and was a difficult experience for him having to start from scratch again. In wake of the fire, Ky purchased a 30-foot motor sailboat in Waikiki and lived aboard while attending Hawaii Pacific University. After a few semesters he moved from Oahu to the Big Island and bought property that included a 400-year-old, 3-mile-long lava tube that had been recently discovered when a bulldozer fell through the ground. On this six-acre plot of raw tropical rainforest he began his off-grid homestead by clearing land, constructing roadways, fencing, and then building a house. There he raised pigs, ducks, chickens, goats, turkeys, rabbits, and peacocks. After a year, Ky built a second home, which was used to house dozens of volunteers who came from around the world to stay at his organic farm. Within a year’s time Ky became the top ranked farm in Hawaii on the WWOOF volunteer program website. At Kaimana Cave Farm Ky taught the volunteers how to care for animals and run an off-grid organic farm. Over 500 various fruit trees were planted on the property throughout his residency, and Ky would often host field trips for the University of Hawaii to teach students permaculture techniques and animal husbandry. As a member of the Hawaii Cave Conservancy he hosted the National Speleological Society for explorations under his home, as well as insane underground cave rave parties. In 2016 Ky received a Bachelor Degree of Science in Tropical Horticulture at the University of Hawaii, where he graduated with honors and given the honor of being the Commencement Speaker. During his time in Hawaii, Ky also became an ordained minister and built a chapel in his lava tube to officiate weddings. To earn income Ky worked for production companies filming movies in Hawaii including Jumanji 2, as well as shows and commercials for Nike, Google, HGTV, MTV, and many others. Ky and LC also starred in an episode of "House Hunters Off the Grid", which featured his purchase of the cave property. The Hawaiian Airlines inflight magazine 'Hana Hou' also did an exposé on Ky, LC, and the cave. In 2017 Ky sold his cave farm to Hawaii Forest & Trail in order to pursue other dreams. He flew to Thailand to attend sailing school and earned an International Yacht Masters license. Additionally, he attended flight school to learn Paramotor and received his pilot's license. Returning to America he drove around the majority of the US coastline looking for the perfect boat to purchase, as it had always been his dream to sail around the world. After meeting with over three dozen brokers and looking at a variety of different sailboats he finally decided on a Ta Yang (Tayana) 50' Flying Dutchman which he located in Portland, Maine. In April of 2018, he christened her 'The Emerald of Pleiades'. There was engine trouble at the start and the people hired to replace it estimated the work would take a couple of weeks, but it actually took many months. During this time Ky got a crew together, and with snow on the deck, heavy rains, and stormy seas they headed south. Their first stop, after a very cold week sailing the Atlantic, was Annapolis, Maryland. From there they sailed another week south to Amelia Island Florida, and arrived the day after Thanksgiving 2018. On their first morning in Florida, tied to a friend’s dock on the Intercoastal Waterway, The Emerald of Pleiades was struck by a bolt of lightning with the crew aboard; the result of which was a never-ending string of damage and expenses. Initially the electronics, rigging, and mast had to be replaced which required eight months of repair in St Augustine Florida. The repairs were finally completed in June 2019, the crew sailed for Key West where they discovered more lightning related damage. Another month of frantic work ensued in order to sail for South America before the hurricane season. After a trial run to the Dry Tortugas, Ky, LC, and the crew sailed south once again. With no time to stop, they sailed directly for the top of South America, going around the west side of Cuba and Jamaica. Minus a couple of squalls, it was pretty smooth sailing until they reached the coast of Colombia and headed east. In order to make headway they resorted to engine power, and on day twelve of the voyage in the middle of the night the shaft and propeller suddenly broke away from the boat leaving a two inch hole in the hull. The massive amount of sea water flooding in nearly sunk the boat. While the crew pumped the bilges, by some miracle Ky was able to plug the hole underneath the boat from the outside while clinging to a rope in the dark, stormy seas. Water had already made it over the floor boards, and it was only a matter of time before they would have had to get into the lifeboat. Thirty knots of wind were coming directly from Aruba, the nearest possible port, nearly 130 miles away. On top of that, the intense current was going the opposite direction, pushing them towards pirate territory in Venezuela. Unable to use engine power, the crew sailed zig-zagged for nearly seven days in extremely rough seas to reach The Dutch Antilles. There the crew learned that there was no boat lift on the island large enough to pull out a ship their size. As a result, they needed to sail on to Curacao with only a wooden plug keeping them from sinking. After reaching port and hauling the boat out of the water, it was determined that the fiberglass hull of the vessel had become delaminated due the extremely rough voyage coupled with the lightning damage. Eight more months of repairs ensued which included removing the entire interior and strengthening all of the bulkheads. During his down time Ky began exploring the island with LC on their inflatable dinghy. There he discovered remote beaches filled with rare, old, and unique sea glass. He had always been a collector of sea glass, though never had really taken it too seriously, so he began collecting it and sending his mother pictures of his finds. Fascinated by what he was finding, she sent him links to pages of people selling similar pieces. Realizing that the sale of sea glass might offer him the ability to fund the costs to repair his sailboat, he and LC used their little outboard engine to motor along the entire coastline of the country day after day. At night, Ky researched his finds, read articles about sea glass and their origins, and learned as much as he could about the different types of sea glass and pottery. After months, they had amassed an enormous collection of beautiful sea glass which friends and family coming to visit him would then fly home in their luggage. Always one to believe the more the merrier, Ky began a part time business taking fellow sea glass enthusiasts on excursions to his secret beaches. During the Covid outbreak Ky returned home to Virginia to be with family and began selling his collection online by hosting Live sales on Facebook. The repairs to his boat were supposed to have been completed in a matter of months, but having made the mistake of giving the marina fixing his boat the majority of money up front, repairs were done very slowly and were ongoing for well over a year. During this time Ky explored Aruba and Bonaire as well, discovering unbelievable troves of sea glass at beaches previously unknown to the beachcombing world, where he amassed an extraordinary collection of one of a kind treasures. Once The Emerald of Pleiades was completely repaired Ky sailed to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands to continue hunting for previously undiscovered sea glass beaches in 2022. He then continued sailing on to the countries of Colombia and Panama during 2023 and the beginning of 2024, finding more and more fantastic beachcombing sites. He has uncovered even more hoards of sea glass in Cuba, St Kitts & Nevis, Martinique, San Andres, and the Cayman Islands. In June of 2023, after a long illness, Ky's best friend in the world, Little Coconut, passed away from brain cancer. He was absolutely devastated to lose her and promised LC as she died in his arms that he would find a way to bring her back. Ky began a fundraiser soon after to clone LC and sold off the majority of his sea glass collection to earn whatever money he could to make this happen. One year later, in June of 2024, Ky achieved his goal and began the cloning process. If all goes as planned, Little Coconut's clone should be born in December of 2024. In 2024 Ky was featured in articles in both 'Business Insider' and 'People Magazine'. He was interviewed in the hit podcast 'Offshore Sailing and Cruising' as well. Ky has also been featured in prominent YouTube channels such as 'Sailing Zingaro', 'Teulu Tribe', and 'Sailing Seawind'. Currently Ky is back in the ABC islands awaiting the end of Hurricane season so he can continue northeast to explore the remaining east Caribbean islands for more undiscovered sea glass beaches. Ky's collection of his best finds have been set aside to display in a sea glass museum he hopes to have someday in the future. His mother helps run the business from stateside since Ky is constantly traveling. She lists many of his sales, packages, ships, and handles a lot of the sales correspondence on LC's Glass. When not sea glass hunting, Ky uses his metal detector to search for treasure on beaches, old farms and mining territories, and even while scuba diving underwater. He has discovered gold, silver, coins, gems, and other interesting historic relics. Ky also enjoys collecting geodes, fossils, and rock mining. Other hobbies include outdoor survival, cleaning up beaches, crashing marathons, archery, and spearfishing. And no matter where he goes, his ever-faithful companion, LC, will never be far behind.
