It is that magical time of year again where the icy grip of winter is waning and you are eagerly awaiting the feel the warmth of the sun on your skin and experience an express preview of your upcoming spring relief and summer fun. WE have that and I am in the fun business. I offer high quality spring break activities on the water for the best adventures for seasoned angler and visiting families. Spring break 2026 is a very busy time of the year for me and I want to provide you with the best information to help you make the correct decision for your group’s planned activity.
13 hours of rain subsided and we fished the break with an hour late start from the plan. That’s how it goes this time of year
The weather dictates what we can or can’t do. I’m certain people do not understand this. I am taking you and your group out into the ocean on a boat. Many of my trips have been booked last minute this year, which is fine. If the weather sucks, it’s blowing, it’s raining, it’s cold…….and you book a last minute snorkeling trip with me, what exactly am I supposed to do with that? We do have weather forecasts available here. I would love everything to be perfect, but that is not realistic. This is our windy season, so wind, waves, changing wind direction, changing temperatures and all the things that go along with that are in play. I can and do often adjust the plan to make the most of what conditions we have to work with. This March, this month I have had too many customers challenged by very reasonable scenarios. I do have all the information you need to prepare for a trip with me arranged in an easy to find way on my website. “Trip Tips” on my homepage tells you how to prepare for every trip I offer. That information is important because when you don’t have towels for your snorkeling trip, your kids get cold because they are wearing almost no clothes or you have an unusually difficult time because you are unaware of anything you signed up for, it makes me adjust the plan I had for your trip and I spend more time adjusting to help you have the experience we can have vs. the one that was planned for the best outcome. I have to think and prepare significantly for every trip I operate. As my guest, you have to think about the trip you are booking and prepare for the activity you are intending to participate in. We are a team working together for the best outcome.
We do get nice March days for snorkeling.
Snorkeling is the trip that is the most conditionally sensitive activity I offer. I need close to perfect conditions to run a snorkel trip. The ocean is like a bid snow globe. If you shake it to a froth for many days, the snow goes everywhere. That is our visibility. If we have 1 nice day the snow does not settle down immediately. Hundreds of square miles of dirty “shaken” water still exists and it takes time and other factors for that to all settle down again. I run high quality trips. Nobody will be happy paying me hundreds of dollars to be taken out into the rough, dirty and cold ocean to have you not see anything and be miserable. I believe you expect me to kinda know better than to do that. I have had several people try to talk me into taking them snorkeling. I would love to! That is the easiest trip I run!!!! It’s fun. If the conditions are not present for a successful trip, we do not operate that trip. If you book a last minute snorkeling trip in the scenario I have described, you will be presented with alternative options to replace your snorkel trip at the same price point with options to build a different trip entirely if possible per my schedule and conditions. Water temperature is mid 70’s, visibility has been 10-40ft lately, 20ft minimum is what makes a snorkeling trip ok. Good is 30ft visibility or more.
A well executed 4 hour reef trip where we worked through changing conditions
The most common fishing trip I have been and will be running this month is a 4 hour reef trip. This can mean or be many different things. If it is nice, we go ocean side to fish the deep reef for snappers. From there we fish our way shallower back to the dock catching multiple species. This is usually fast action and we catch enough to have a nice fresh fish dinner or 2. If the wind is up, we fish the shallower bayside for snappers and groupers. This is an ideal platform for kids and less experience anglers, as the fish are more forgiving and the technique is simple. This is also where we go to avoid discomfort for sea sick prone guests, as seas are often under 1 foot and depths are 6-12 feet deep. This fishery can also be very fast paced and checks all the boxes for a fun experience.
I am so happy to have guests returning to our islands to keep me busy again. There are many choices for charter operators available and I encourage you to make a well informed decision on who you decide to charter. If you don’t look closely you may see us all as the same or choose on a price point alone. Many new captains and weekend heroes with a boat have entered the charter options locally and have significantly impacted the health and stability of my business. You’re going to get what you get for reasons. Maybe you get lucky. You would be shocked at the lack of enforcement of compliance or regulations for participants in our industry. Many captains and crew are hired on to replace the defective one before them and one bad business replaces the vacancy from the previous one as well, so the cycle goes on and on. I follow the local arrest logs as a source of entertainment along with what is posted on social media. The past year many of our new charter fleet members have transitioned to what looks like a bunch of edge of existence carnies from a traveling circus. Not good. Do your homework. If something does not seem right there is generally a reason.
I had a friend bass by to say hi snap a pic while on a charter
The boat is in good shape. Just completed my 100hr service, so I am good for a month of nonstop operation with no disruptions. I have been noticing an uptick in other charter boats having mechanical issues. Just another symptom of rising costs and short cuts. All of our operational costs have risen disproportionately the past year, but I am rigid in my service and quality of the equipment on my boat. I also have no plan to increase my rates, which I have not done for several years. The pain from the rise in fuel costs hurts me and I hope you remember that when it comes to your gratuity at the end of your trip. I still run my same trips and every portion of my program is the same as it always has been. The highest quality.
One last note, XL charter shirts are finally back in stock. It was probably close to over 2 years to get my design files from the artist I used for my shirts. No reason, just people are people. I am also having a new website built. That too, way way behind, but it will get there and hopefully will provide you with a more streamlined user experience. Everything is changing so fast, so I try to stay in the fast lane and keep up. I hope to see you all on the water soon for a spring break adventure soon! I hope to get the next month’s update done on time too, but I have been really busy. Glad to be busy!! You can keep up to date with all my adventure on my social media on Instagram and Facebook. I try to keep the content different between them.