Calangute, Goa — What began in 1993 as a one-man operation renting out second-hand surfboards on Calangute beach has grown into one of Goa’s most recognised names in adventure tourism. Atlantis Water Sports was founded by Herbert Rodrigues — known locally as Charlie — and now operates from two locations in Calangute and Anjuna, offering everything from scuba diving to parasailing, alongside a string of hospitality awards picked up along the way.

From Hobby to Hospitality Icon

Charlie started the business as what he himself once described as “10% business and 90% hobby,” leasing out surfboards to tourists in the early 1990s. His own passion for water skiing pushed him to buy a speedboat and source equipment from abroad during his travels, gradually expanding his offerings to include bumper rides, banana boat rides, and dolphin trips. As demand grew through the late 1990s, the business shifted to roughly an even split between passion project and commercial venture.

As tourist footfall in Goa increased, Rodrigues recognised the limits of running everything single-handedly. He transitioned the company from a standalone watersports operator into a broader tours-and-activities aggregator, partnering with certified, trusted operators to add island trips, waterfall excursions, and fishing trips to the roster — diversifying well beyond the beach and giving tourists a wider menu of experiences under one trusted name.

The venture wasn’t without setbacks. In 2004, while Rodrigues was preparing to represent India as a professional windsurfer in Italy, a devastating fire destroyed his canvas tent and equipment worth an estimated ₹1 crore. The setback was compounded by the temporary closure of several beach shacks across Goa over fire-safety concerns at the time. His resilience saw the business not only recover but continue expanding in the years that followed, eventually adding a second branch in Anjuna alongside its original Calangute base.

Customer Trust Reflected in Reviews

Over its three-plus decades in operation, the company has built a loyal customer base, reflected in an average rating of 4.7 out of 5 from customers across review platforms — a notable figure in Goa’s crowded watersports sector, where hundreds of vendors compete for tourist attention along the coast. It has also accumulated hundreds of detailed reviews on platforms like TripAdvisor over the years, many citing repeat visits and word-of-mouth referrals as their reason for choosing the operator.

“We’re proud that customers searching for watersports in Goa find us first,” said Charlie, reflecting on the business’s visibility among tourists researching activities online before their trip. “It tells us that three decades of consistency — being there, doing the job properly, keeping people safe — actually counts for something in the end.”

Industry Recognition

The track record has been backed by formal recognition from the hospitality industry. Atlantis Water Sports has been honoured at the Times Hospitality Icons awards on multiple occasions — including 2019, 2021, and 2022 — in categories such as “Legendary Watersports” and “Iconic Adventure Water Sports,” presented by OptimalMedia Solutions, a division of Times Internet and a Times Group company.

The business also won the What’s Hot Owler’s Awards 2019 for Best Club for Watersports in Goa, an honour associated with Times Prime, and was named a Preferred Partner under Deltin Casinos’ Preferred Partners Program in 2019 — recognition typically reserved for established, vetted operators within Goa’s hospitality and entertainment circuit.

Signature Experiences

Among the activities the company is best known for is scuba diving at Grande Island, off the Goan coast, where divers can explore coral reefs, marine life, and shipwrecks with PADI-certified instructors. It says it works only with activity providers holding essential certifications from recognised institutions, including the National Institute of Watersports (NIWS) and PADI, as part of a deliberate effort to standardise safety across its partner network.

Its best-selling offerings include a tour to the Dudhsagar waterfall, one of India’s tallest, where visitors can witness cascading waters amid lush forest, and luxury dinner cruises along the Goan coastline that pair scenic views with onboard dining. Parasailing and adventure boat cruises round out a roster built specifically around the kind of repeat tourist demand seen in Calangute and the wider North Goa belt.

A Name Tourists Are Searching For

Three decades on, Herbert Rodrigues’s venture has become one of the more visible watersports operators when tourists look up adventure activities in Goa online. For him, that visibility is less about marketing and more about a long track record finally showing up in how people search.

“When we started, nobody was searching online for anything — you just stood on the beach and waved people over,” he said. “Now people research everything before they land in Goa, and somehow we still come up. That’s not an accident, that’s thirty years of doing this properly.”

For Herbert “Charlie” Rodrigues, the growth from a single rented surfboard to a recognised tours-and-activities brand mirrors the broader story of Goa’s adventure tourism sector itself — one that has scaled from informal beach-side hustle to a structured, increasingly professionalised industry.

Atlantis Water Sports currently operates out of Tavares Place and Calangute–Anjuna Road in Calangute, Goa. More information is available at atlantiswatersports.com.