Per recent demand and how many trips I am booking daily for spring break, this is for those looking for more information to make Marathon Florida part of their Florida Keys Spring Break plan.
Marathon is a great place to visit and the diversity of activities we have to offer our tourists makes our island a top travel destination. Recently I went down the rabbit hole of social media and related social sites where people that cared not to research asked who does what for charters….. I learned there are many new operators looking for your business and what they offer can be a little misleading and confusing. I’ll try to help you understand.
Combination trips are my most popular trip for this time of year. 13 years ago I began offering more than 1 activity in a half day trip to appeal to all members on board. Fishing and snorkeling, snorkeling and sandbar, snorkeling and mermaiding…there’s lots of custom options and you get to decide.
Fishing trips are generally the safest bet. Dedicating our efforts to fishing ensures we have plenty of time for a successful trip. A 4 hour reef trip is a great introduction for families looking for a safe and easy experience catching fish. I provide everything needed and fish cleaning is included. Most of our local restaurants will cook your fresh catch for you and do a great job.
Snorkeling is an option if the weather is in a stable pattern. Spring Break is our windy season and conditions can change quickly. I will communicate with you the reality of the conditions to prevent taking you out in poor conditions. You can bring your own snorkeling equipment or I can provide snorkel sets for $10 per person. Wet suits can also be rented on site at Captain Hooks Marina for $10-%15 dollars. Allow your self plenty of time to get fitted before your trip. Mermaid tails can be added for an additional fee of $50. They spice up the trip pictures.
The art of a successful spring break trip is understanding your group, what you want to do and what the conditions will allow us to do with fun and success being the priority. It requires a well thought out plan and proper set up. Details omitted, I see customers going on illegal charter operations, dangerous boats, trips going out in impossible conditions and captains setting people up for failure intentionally.
I am an owner operator. I own my boat. It is the heart of my business. I built it to be my office and the best platform to host all of my activities. I built my activities with tons of managed variables for success. I made my website. It is designed to book your trips and provide all of the information you could need.
So, you’re shopping around looking for something to do on a boat. How do you choose a good charter? Everything you come across is manipulated information. The top 3 on anything searchable is a paid ranking. The top 3 on a review site is a paid ranking. If it has no bad reviews, it’s fake. If it has no consistency to reviews, it’s out of business or it’s passing charters on as an agent to somebody else you are not aware of. If it doesn’t have a website, why not? All businesses have websites. If it is really cheap, something is wrong. If it is really expensive, somebody has a monopoly on a resort and does not need your business and you are paying for marketing. Advertising is really, really expensive. There are so many pitfalls for the consumer in our industry. We need more regulations and any kind of enforcement for our industry to give you some sort of quality control standard. It does not exist at all in the charter world. Now more than ever that costs have gone way up, the quality of what you are getting has gone way down. Buyer beware. Oh, your credit card information. I never have any of it. It’s managed by 3 party sites that protect your information and security. Do you know how many times I have had a unrelated charter customer’s credit card info that they were completely unaware of? For that reason and so many other reasons, you are so vulnerable when you book a charter. Do not give out your credit card information. Once you do, it has legs.
Spring Break should be fun and relatively stress free. You should be able to count on whomever you hire for your day of fun on the water. I do what I can to flood my presence of what I actually do in this confusing dating game of which charter is for you. If I show it enough times, provide enough examples, then I feel I have done what I can. I have 13 years of doing exactly what I show on my website. I have 2,000 people a year on my boat. I do everything I can to make a poor experience impossible. If you’re not sure about something, the answer is likely on my website. If you are really not sure, please fill out my “contact” form and I will guide you through or refer you the next best option for your charter inquiry. I may not be the best option for some of your charter needs, but I can redirect you to who can properly give you what you want.
Most of my customers leave so happy that they forget to leave me a review 99% of the time. I don’t pay for reviews and I don’t pay to remove them. I actually cut all of my advertising for 2022 so I don’t have to increase your charter rate. However, I have to work as much as possible to afford to live here. I’m making an effort to encourage my guests to leave reviews to keep my costs down this year. If you decide to spend a day on the water with me, please take a few minutes to share with others your experience. Thanks!
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