Overall Rating
A once great charter drowning under new ownership...
Scheduled an all-inclusive 12-hour charter with my family for my birthday on July 8, 2022. Highlights:
Charged extra fees, not refunded differences, subjected to sexual remarks in front of my family, and yelled at by the substitute captain for not tipping enough (despite being more than the 10% he demanded). Owner started an argument as we were leaving & made misogynist remarks. Premier trip booked with a rookie deckhand with a high fish-loss rate. Mostly a good trip with some tolerable imperfections until the end. All the crew apologized on a post-trip phone call. Details below:
I came from out of state for this trip. When we arrived, we were hit with an additional $600 fuel "surcharge" & not refunded the difference on the fuel used at the end. We specifically asked to fish amberjack for this trip & were told yes during the booking but were told that morning it was out of season. Also, the captain (Mark) didn't want to go on our trip because of the heat, so we had a first-time deckhand (Jeff, who was great) on our premier experience, resulting in lost fish, tangled lines, & a lot of seat time while our group had to rotate. And he forgot to turn the valve on the toilet, so that was a not-so-pleasant experience all day. Regardless, it was a good time for my first deep sea fishing experience.
Sadly, the substitute captain (Ben) continuously talked about fish hitting his "balls" a good deal of the trip. He then made a crude sexual remark directly to me when I was fortunate to catch one of the 3 sport fish we hooked that day. After taking my rod and handing it back to me, accidentally jabbing it into my crotch (still bruised a week later). I yipped in pain & he remarked, "that's the biggest pole you've ever had between your legs!" In front of my dad, brother, & family. But we all say stupid things. It gets worse.
Now back at the dock, Mark met us as we began unloading. I was helping unload the coolers when he raised his voice to me not to slide the coolers or I could damage his boat. While the logic is reasonable, the raised voice is not. I asked him not to raise his voice to me & stated I understood his concern and would lift the coolers. Instead, he condescendingly told me "the guys" should lift the remaining cooler and reiterated his point. I asked him to stop "mansplaining" himself, & he pouted away and ignored me for 20 minutes. After a day of dealing with crude remarks & being called a "fella," minor bothers added up.
As we were packing our fish in our coolers, my uncle gave Ben a portion of the tip. Ben loudly yelled, "We're a little light!" then proceeded to stomp away, yelling about how it was nowhere near the 10% tip he usually gets and other money-grubbing remarks at an 8/10 volume. Mark saw this happen and immediately corrected Ben, who returned and apologized, explaining he was hot, frustrated that he couldn't catch us more fish, and expected a higher tip. I gave him and the deck hand a cash tip that brought our tip to an 11% total. We were shocked but figured it was best to accept the apology and end on a good note. It continued as we were getting in our cars to leave.
Mark yelled across two driveways that we needed to come to see him before we left. Mark was visually & verbally agitated, immediately jumping into an argumentative tone with my dad and, with a raised voice, insisted that my dad was incorrect for feeling upset about the fuel surcharge. I stepped in and clarified that someone else made a passing remark to Ben about the surcharge that was to be included during Ben's tip apology. My dad tried to explain some of the issues, but Mark kept cutting him off and pushing an argument. After I attempted to calmly reason with Mark (on my birthday trip, mind you), we left with a black mark on this trip I had been planning for years.
They did apologize over the phone and offered an upgrade if we wanted to come again during amberjack season. But that won't be awkward, right?
