According to how long it takes me to cross US1, it certainly looks like our local population has doubled the past week or so. Welcome back! I have been looking forward to business picking up and spending more time on the water. Before we dive into my business updates, a couple of local tips to help us all get along. The highway is a very dangerous place and we all have to use it together. Get out of the passing lane, use your turn signal and pay attention. From 4-9pm the evening air is filled with sirens because……lots of people not doing very good on the road. Our local grocery stores will get pretty jammed up through the end of the year. We all understand lots of you traveled together, but you don’t need a group of 7 people to buy some frozen pizzas and ice cream. Reduce your footprint in busy places to help us get around easier. It really makes a difference here. maybe not where you live, but here it does.
So this year marks the first time in 14 years I have not had my entire remainder of the year booked weeks in advance and my phone ringing off the hook. It has been a last minute theme with bookings leaning more and more to last minute. I find my best trips come with planning by both sides. I have positioned myself to be ready, but the crush on our resources will create lack of supply in areas I can not just go get things that are sold out. That is where the planning comes in handy, but I will make the most of whatever comes up. My never ending anthem is the more you invest in your trip the better it works for everybody. I had a guy recently book and cancel today because there is a neighborhood called “Marathon” in a very different part of the state. Well, that is more and more common because in the information age things seem to pan out a little differently and some extraordinary unique realities unfold in my lap and I have to figure that out. Best way to have it all go well is planning and communication. I can make my half work and have been doing so since 2008.
So things work out fairly easily when the weather is perfect. Looking ahead the long term forecast has some rocky rolly weather that changes what we can do trip to trip. I can handle most weather and so can the boat. I’m taking you and your guests out for a GOOD TIME am not at all interested in torturing you, making things you can’t do and have all sorts of unpleasant bodily fluids coming out of you. The way we prevent that reality is making a plan for your trip with consideration of who is coming and what you want to do. Similar to grocery shopping, not everybody needs to come to accomplish the mission. Typically I try to focus on a plan based on what we know and fill in the gaps on the day of the trip. I have had a good handful of trips lately that were all gaps and there was not much I could do to make people have the proper trip that I intended. We essentially are speed dating and I promise you, I have my side of the date covered. Don’t be all gaps.
Depending on A, B and C the plan is pretty open. Close to the shore reef fishing has been good and getting better. As the water cools, more fish move closer in and gives us opportunities in less than perfect weather. Everything has a balance to it and so goes with fishing. If the water is too dirty or got cold too fast, no good. The deeper reef has more stable conditions and can handle some temperature swings. If is too bumpy out there, no good for you. The fish don’t mind, but you have a job to do. If you can’t do a good job in moderate seas, the fish usually will not be very forgiving. For those windy days, bridge fishing and the shallow gulf side offer protection and smaller waves. It’s very common this time of year for a reef trip to end up on the other side of the island. Not a compromise, but an adjustment based on the match I make for all the moving parts. Again, everything is a balance of many decisions designed to produce a good outcome based on my experience. Snorkeling is probably not likely for the remainder of the year. There probably will be an opportunity here and there, but it will be highly tide dependent with all the dirty water pushing around.
I look forward to having a reasonably strong finish to this year and many new adventures to come in 2026. Thank you to everybody that allows me to do this. This isn’t a job. It is a lifestyle. I am in the fun business and the entire purpose of what I offer is to have you as a guest in my care to do the activities that are fun and special to me. I think that got lost on some of my guests on some trips this year. I am a guy with a lot of local knowledge and skill and with attention to detail. I create opportunities for you to experience amazing things on my boat. It’s pretty simple. My boat is like a magic carpet on the ocean. It is the vehicle for some great days to happen with the right people in the right conditions. The wrong people, the wrong attitude and wrong agenda and I am just an asshole standing on a rug. I don’t want to be in that position ever, but it is also part of being in business these days.
Just a couple of reminders, grouper season ends with the year. All catch and release past January 1 until it reopens May 1. Captain hooks will have limited store hours on Christmas and NYE. I have to budget and figure that out, so try not to be too last minute. I have renewed my insurance policy for you to be covered for all the activities I offer. I was going to cut that, but it is important to me as a responsible business owner. It is double the cost of normal business insurance and I promise you other boats do not carry this insurance. This time of year I do not go out socially to enjoy myself with the public. The risk of getting sick from the influx of out of town germs is something that has crippled me many, many Christmas weeks of the past. With that understanding, leave any person that is actively sick and/or leaking bodily fluids at home. I have had my flu shot, but that has not been a guarantee from getting sick when I have made exceptions. Do not show up sick. No exceptions. Thank you!!!