Founder & Managing Director
Tony Webb —
The Man Who Never Quit
on Ordinary People
Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC
Five decades. Four pioneering industries. One man who has spent his entire career — resources, reputation, and 25 years of self-funded sacrifice — building opportunities for the people everyone else ignores.
1975USN Navigator
1982Youngest Exxon Owner USA
1990World's First Search Engine
1999Space Tourism Pioneer
2012Inner Space Tourism Born
2022UAE Government Partner
The Foundation
Built Over Flowing Water
1958Webb Family · Macon, Georgia
Tony Webb's foundation was literally built over water. His father — a distinguished architect whose work is preserved at The Georgia Historical Society — built the family home over a running stream. He also built the Southeast's first indoor air-conditioned mall, and in 1958, a seven-story pre-poured prestressed concrete motel that still stands today.
When young Tony asked why he stopped at seven stories, his father answered: "Son, there were no cranes that could lift higher." Tony Webb has spent his entire life building higher than the cranes of his era could reach.
"Because Dad taught me about architecture, construction and the full business — that is Tony Webb's solid foundation to accomplish the fabrication and assembly of the world's first movable underwater hotel."
1975U.S. Navy · Celestial Navigator
Tony enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1975, serving until 1979 aboard the USS Glover AGFF-1 — specializing in celestial navigation. Navigating by the stars.
His ship made history as the first USN warship to enter the Middle East under the Middle East Peace Agreement in 1978. He was given the historic naval command: Steer by Seaman's Eye while navigating southbound through the Suez Canal.
He tested GPS before the world knew what GPS was. After the Navy, he continued as a mariner — transporting yachts along the Intra-Coastal Waterway — as he began his business career from the sea up.
1982
Youngest Agency Owner in America
1982Before the IBM PC Existed
Before the IBM PC existed. Tony Webb became the youngest agency owner in the USA for Exxon Office Systems Company — a subsidiary of Exxon Enterprises — competing directly against IBM, Wang, and Lanier in the emerging dedicated word processing and FAX machine market. Exxon invented the dedicated word processor. Electric typewriters were the competition. Tony Webb was selling the future to a world still living in the past.
1990 — Before Google. Before the Internet.
The World's First Multimedia Search Engine
1990VP · Electronic Yellow Pages · World First
In 1990, Tony Webb was hired as Vice President to build the world's first Electronic Yellow Pages — a community-based multimedia search program for the world's first software search engine company. This system automatically captured live television news broadcasts and made them 100% fully searchable — text, audio, and all forms of visual information indexed simultaneously.
Google has never fully achieved that level of multimedia indexing.
Tony designed the Electronic Yellow Pages to empower communities and entrepreneurship — with a structure that would allocate a fraction of all generated revenues directly to K-12 schools. A new Information Age industry funding children's education from day one.
The search engine was beta-tested for three years capturing the daily proceedings of the U.S. Senate. It worked. It was powerful. And it was killed — not by the market, but by those who feared what full transparency of the public record meant for those in power.
The K-12 school funding model died with it. Greed won. Not a single dollar was allocated to education.
"The world's very first search engine with 3D automatic indexing of multimedia — text linked to audio and ALL forms of visual information. Making the entire spectrum of multimedia 100% fully searchable. Google never ever has achieved that."
1999–2012 · 25 Years Self-Funded
Outer Space for Ordinary People
Most entrepreneurs, after losing a pioneering company to political sabotage, pivot to something safer. Tony Webb pivoted to space — and funded every single step himself for twenty-five years.
- 1999Space Tourism for Ordinary People — Day One. Tony begins 100% self-funded dedication to bringing space travel to everyday people. Not the wealthy. Ordinary people.
- 2000UN World Space Week — Major Supporter. Champion for access to space for everyone, 2000–2003.
- 2002International Space Development Conference — Speaker. Presented two revolutionary ideas: an international space tourism lottery for ordinary people, and global internet gaming to fund Lunar and Mars missions from the bottom up.
- 2009First Major Sponsor — Google Lunar X PRIZE · SYNERGY MOON. International team made the final round, eliminating over 15 competing teams.
- 2012NASA under the Obama administration killed the dream. The Russian Soyuz seat — taken. Cecil Field Spaceport suborbital program — killed. Twenty-five years of self-funded dedication, sabotaged. Tony Webb did not quit. He pivoted.
2012 — The Greatest Pivot in Entrepreneurial History
If They Won't Give Ordinary People Outer Space —
He Built Inner Space Tourism.
He Built Inner Space Tourism.
When NASA shut the door on space for ordinary people, Tony Webb asked one question: what is the frontier closest to space that ordinary people have never experienced? The answer was 30 feet beneath the surface of the ocean.
In 2012, Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC was born. U.S. Patent Design D-736,947 — the only patent of its kind on earth. The same man who navigated warships by the stars now invites the world to sleep beneath the sea.
2012–2026 · The Milestones
From Patent to 50 Nations
- 2014World Parks Congress — Australia. Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC was the only NGO to present a coral reef restoration funding solution.
- 2015UN Climate Accords — Paris. Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC received mention to world leaders. Immediate global media coverage followed.
- 2016Red Sea Underwater Research Center. Approved by three Egyptian Government Ministries and the Arab League.
- 2019Florida DEP Approval. Florida Department of Environmental Protection approved operations in Florida waters.
- 2022Historic UAE Government Partnership — right after Covid. Mission: peace and prosperity through the ocean for 50 nations.
- 2026Seatrade 2026. 3 hotels. 3 crews. 15 Caribbean island nations. 31,500 one-night underwater stays for 50 nations. UAE established as world leader in eco-conservation, eco-tourism and the Blue Economy.
The Thread That Never Broke
Five Decades. One Unwavering Mission.
From 1982 to 2026 — across five decades, four industries, one sabotaged company, twenty-five years of self-funded space tourism, and the greatest pivot in entrepreneurial history — one thread has never broken:
"Tony Webb is not just any ordinary entrepreneur — but one who extends opportunities for ordinary people. He pioneered Outer Space Tourism for 25 years. When that was taken, he created Inner Space Tourism. The ocean became humanity's next frontier — and the price of admission is within reach of anyone."
Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC
The Story Continues.
The Ocean Is Waiting.
Three Planet Ocean Underwater Hotels, LLC. Three international crews. Fifteen Caribbean island nations. The UAE leading 50 nations to save warm water coral reefs from extinction. Ordinary people living at 30 feet underwater for the first time in their lives.