The good: My friends and I had a pleasant afternoon cruising around the inshore harbor with our captain Luis. Super chill and nice guy. Communication with the company before the day was responsive and easy. They, like many fishing charters in PR, offer morning and afternoon slots. The rep I spoke with several times, Natalie, said the afternoon offered good fishing, as I was concerned that only morning was a good time. Also, $600 for seven guys four hours fishing isn't bad. The boat was a bit cramped with seven plus captain but was still comfortable and fairly new.
The bad: I called an hour before we were scheduled to meet and asked if there would be ice for the cooler I already knew they had. The rep confirmed she'd have the captain grab some more. I'm glad I called because we would have been iceless otherwise. They had a morning charter earlier and seemed to not have reupped on any beverages and such for us (minus whatever straggler beers and waters were left).
When we reached the meeting point the boat pulled up with both men seeming confused. We were a group of seven but they said they could only take six. I said I was clear about our group size when I booked, and that their rep said it was fine. She said they could only charge for six so the seventh was free. Luis and Ricardo (the other captain who didn't join us) deliberated away from us a bit but then we all boarded and got on our way. Awkward start to the day but not a big deal.
We then proceeded to spend over an hour bait fishing with no success. We were surprised that the bait fish were not already in the live well (I know this isn't always the case but all seven of us were surprised by this and we've all done charter fishing). With a chunk of the afternoon gone and no bait fish, we trolled with lures the whole time. We did not have a single bite the entire day let alone catch anything. Luis definitely seemed committed to finding fish and even stayed out a little later with us but to no avail.
Fishing has such days so that's less on the company obviously, but the unpreparedness with the bait fish, expectation from the rep that the season and time of day boded well, and confusion that began the trip all suggested that the company mailed in our experience. With a little better communication internally and more attentive preparation for our group, it could have been a much better day. I'll be looking elsewhere for my next fishing experience in PR. read more