December is here and we are about to experience a population boom. We have enjoyed a fairly quiet off season and Christmas week chaos is right around the corner. I encourage you to spend some time here on my website to learn about my operation and offerings. I can be hard to reach because I do not answer my phone when I am on charters. Luckily, my website has the answers to 13 years of questions my customers have asked along the way.

I will try to keep this update relatively brief and simple. I don’t have a ton of information to pass along. It has been so windy for so long and the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas has been unusually slow. Not many boats have been out fishing.

Generally speaking, December is a great month for fishing. It all comes down to weather and conditions. We can make the most ambitious plans, but we have to consider we plan to do and what we actually can do can be different. I have been doing this long enough to know how to read your group in conversation and communication. Ultimately, the more people on board and the further we plan to go out means the more we have to consider with the weather and conditions being a factor in our trip. Easy answer is a 4 hour reef trip for your outing. It’s not too long, we don’t have to go very far and if the deep reef isn’t an option, we have the near shore reefs, bayside and bridges as back up plans. Please, be sure to fill out the “notes” section of your reservation. I give priority to my customers that I have information I can make decisions based on what I know about your group and what you want to do. It’s that simple.

In the water trips become less reliable as our winter weather pattern sets in. Our water temperatures have been freakishly warm for this time of year, but that will change before the month is over. Wind and waves upsets the visibility on the reef for snorkeling. The longer it blows often means it takes longer for the weather to clear up. Not a rule in stone, but that’s generally how it works. If you do book a snorkeling only trip and the conditions do not allow the trip to go, we will turn it into a shorten and modified fishing and something custom trip to make your group as happy as can be. There are plenty of different ways we can have fun on the water.

As we progress into our high season of tourism I encourage you to learn about your charter operator. Certainly shop around. It seems since covid I have had additional challenges to operations each year as a legal business and tour provider. This year, the cost of everything is out of control. I feel the industry is about to price most folks out of a simple fishing trip for 1 day of vacation. I could easily raise my rates to be in a more comfortable situation. I am doing my best to be realistic. You can help participate in my business strategy. The more you know, follow along and learn on the trip, the less damage you cause my boat and less equipment I have to replace because of abuse. It is costly and frustrating watching somebody that doesn’t learn destroy my expensive equipment. I increased my advertising costs this fall to respond to the slower off season slump. You can help immensely by leaving a 5 minute Trip Advisor or Google review. The best time to do it is when I’m at the fillet table cleaning your fish. At best, maybe 3-5% of my customers will leave a review. I’m not the kind of person to buy fake reviews, but I can easily pass on my advertising costs if I can’t get some help showing others I run hundreds of high quality charters each year. Everything has value.

The boat is great. I have added some new cushions and isenglass after nearly a year of harassing my installer. It takes forever to get anything done here locally. Our cost of living and housing crisis has pushed many businesses out of town. The demand for any professional marine work is beyond the supply and having to rely on multiple businesses to keep my boat in top shape is a logistical challenge and I fear that it’s impossible to achieve 100% up time perfection. It has been 4 years or more since I had to cancel a charter due to a mechanical failure of some sort. Something to consider when you are looking for a charter operator. Many, many corners are being cut to save money. A thoughtless and wasteful charter operator will not be around here for long. A winter snowbird barstool boat operator is not a charter captain. They are in the mix and the price of a trip will usually reflect that a corner is being cut.

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