We are knocking on the door of April. Spring break is here is full force. And right on time, the wind is here. All totally normal for this time of year. Not optimal, but far from doom and gloom. However, it would be foolish to book a snorkeling or offshore trip without being aware of the wind and the conditions that will likely persist through the rest of the month of April. If you understand the weather, we work together on a plan and we execute our mission correctly on the water we can have a really good trip. April is a month of changing conditions, weather and options.
What does not look good? Snorkeling and offshore trips. This is not a rule, but a generalization. I need a couple of days of winds below 15mph to get offshore and I need several days of 10mph or less winds to have the “dust” in the water to settle down and visibility to return to our reef line. This week hundreds of square miles of water will be frothed and it takes X amount of time for that to settle out. I already know the first day the wind dies down everybody will be calling me because their snorkeling trip was cancelled and not realize it was cancelled for a good reason. Maybe we all are not going to the exactly the same places, but we are in the same body of dirty water. No way around that most of the time. I have actually had a bad review or two from not operating a snorkeling trip. Well……there was a reason and I have no control over that. However or whatever you do book, we plan on what you want to do and adjust on what the conditions allow us to do. And that is the best I can do. I’m in the fun business and I want you to have fun on your trip. Beating you up in heavy seas and throwing you in cold/dirty water is not going to keep me in business or have you coming back for more. I do it the right way.
So we have fishing. Your best bet is a 4 hour reef trip or bay trip. Either can be interchanged based on the wind speed and direction. All something we will discuss before your trip on your check in call. We will go where we agree the conditions dictate we have the best chance for success with the comfort of your group in mind. Everything is a balance of many different factors. My job is to put all of the ingredients together and make a recipe we all can enjoy. So, what are we catching? Ocean trips we are catching mostly yellowtail snapper with many other kinds of snapper, grouper, jacks and mackerel. Bay trips it is mostly mangrove snapper with groupers, jacks and some sharks when we elect to do so. Shark trips are also a good windy day option, but I need a heads up on that to source the bait a few days ahead of your trip. I need a lot of bait for shark trips if you want to catch a lot of sharks. We are also coming into tarpon season. They are here early and more are showing up each week. I do participate in this fishery, but I’m not the biggest fan for a few reasons. If you are not a great angler, they are great at beating you and exploiting what you don’t know. If you like more catching than fishing, tarpon trips are not the answer. I often direct guests that want to tarpon fish to shark trips and they have a great trip with multiple releases. On a tarpon trip, one release is a good trip if everything goes well. Big difference! You can find that information in more detail on my website.
Just a final few updates and things for you to think about with the changes in the economy that we are seeing. Fuel is my biggest overhead cost and chum is my second not counting insurance. My insurance company, of course, raised my premium for the year and were kind enough to send me 2 additional rate increases to date. Never heard of that before, but it is real. I can say I am one of the few charter operators that provide the proper insurance for ALL of the activities that I offer. No, we are not required to have insurance and most are only insured for what you do inside of the boat. Period.
Every component of my business has evolved into crazy out of control costs. It requires me to plan and strategize every move I make on any given trip. Poor decisions cost me a lot more money now. The more I know about your group and the more time I have to plan, the more helpful it is to me. One change I do plan to make is chum. Each trip I use a ton of chum. Usually a case of 6 blocks gets the job done on the bay side and maybe a little more on the ocean side. Your 4 hour trip will include 1 case of chum. That should cover us most of the time. On the ocean side reef trips for yellowtail snapper, chum is very important. As the water warms, more chem is required and the faster it melts. April is the month where we start going above a case of chum and if you really want to get the fish to party, we need to chum heavy. He with the most chum wins. It’s time we share the chum cost, so I’m thinking after the first case, chum is $10/block. In the big picture, that is a good value for what it can do once we have invested in building the spot with the first case. Over all, I do not plan of increasing my rates for now. Do be aware, there will be boats that will add a fuel charge once we get in this type of situation. Just be mindful of it. If you notice I’m doing a ton of running around because things are not going as planned, it would be appreciated if you added a little extra to the tip. General cost is about $5/mile for my boat. A big pivot in strategy costs me significantly. I have been doing this for long enough to understand how to keep my costs moderated in times of volatility. Other newer operations will be cutting corners to literally round out the impacts of rising costs. There are plenty of boats that undercut my rates and I know their operations bleed money because they just don’t know how to do it. You may not see it up front, but it will cost you too. Let the buyer beware. You have been told.
If you are not sure about this or that, the answers to your interest is on my website. I have a Facebook and Instagram account that shows exactly what my customers are catching pretty close to exactly when. Sometimes I get behind in my social media posts. What I do not get much of is my customers participating by posting their/your pictures to show others potential customers what my business does or what my trips actually look like. You will notice on your trip I will be constantly working to make the best result for your trip. I don’t have time to take pictures or videos, so I rely on you. I do have some videos on my YouTube account. It’s been a few years I believe since I have been into that. Making and editing mp4 files is a pain in the butt. But, you can find what my trips look like on there. Some may be older and on previous boats. Finally, reviews. I do have a solution for this. Reviews help my business beyond what I can express in words. I literally ask every guest multiple times for a quick 3 sentence review of their experience on Google or TripAdvisor. It does not happen. Maybe 1 or 2 reviews at the most a month. That’s really bad. I don’t buy or manipulate reviews, but it is common practice in the competitive market I am in. So, when I don’t get them, my search ranking drops like a falling rock. I’m generally cleaning your catch for 30 minutes or more after your trip. You are sitting around waiting for me to clean your fish. There will be a way for you to easily write a review while I clean your fish. You will prompted to conveniently help me on your time while I am cleaning your fish on my time. Your fish will be cleaned with expert care and I will get more reviews, so it will be a win win situation going forward. That is where we are at with that.
