Tours and Tickets by Coconut Reef Power Boat Tours & Charters
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Review of: Deep Sea Fishing Half-Day
JP and Randy delivered a fantastic trip. Learning some island history on route and even caught some fish!
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Date of experience: May 2022
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We did the full day deep sea fishing, Craig was great with communication(had to start a little late for a bad starter on 1 engine) but we were still able to get out. JP and Randy were great guy to fish with and very professional. The water was pretty rough (girlfriend got a little sea sick) still ended up with a 13lb Mahi. We came in a little early due to the weather so they reduced the price for us. I would definitely recommend fishing with coconut reef. Great people to deal with and the Blu Bi U is a beautiful unique boat.…
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Date of experience: April 2022
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Review of: Deep Sea Fishing Half-Day
Pros- Long in coming fishing charter with my son and brother-in-law. Craig (owner of Blu Bi U) was very friendly explaining everything before embarking and fantastic time on boat with PJ and Randy. Lots of laughs sharing jokes and fish stories. Both were exceptional at setting gear and keeping multiple poles with bait and empty lures in the water. Reading bird action, JP guided to area of our first catch. Perhaps it was my son chumming the water. A little rough going outbound against the wind but that's always a possibility for a fun time on the water. Things calmed down on the return leg. Cons - They advertise in TripAdvisor "Free cleaning and preparation of your catch (emphasis on "your catch") but immediately on first greeting on the dock we were told by JP, and shortly after by Craig, that we don't get to keep "our catch" but will get some of it. JP informed us that no other fishing charters on St Maartin let customers have any of their catch as his reasoning for why we get a minimum portion. And to "help maintain the business in slow times". This was sprung on us last moment before we on-boarded notwithstanding having booked this charter months in advance. Not cool. We didn't pay this price for a boat ride or even to reel in fish for someone else to keep. Our catch included two Mahi Mahi (19 lb & 16 lb) and a much smaller Bonita and only got to take home half a filet of the 19 lb Mahi and the Bonita (not nearly as good as Mahi Mahi) . JP kept the other 16 lb Mahi and remaining half of the 19 lb Mahi plus another Mahi Randi caught. Randy also reeled in his own 22lb Mahi. So of the three Mahi caught we only get 1/2 a Mahi. Considering the cost of this trip, we were looking forward to all of our catch along with the experience of catching. Big negative!! I would have easily given 5 stars otherwise. JP smokes quit a bit which added to the nausea. I didn't comment which admittedly I should have but felt a guest on his boat.…
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Date of experience: March 2022
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Response from ccnicholls, Owner at Coconut Reef Power Boat Tours & Charters
Responded Mar 29, 2022
Dear David L, Thank you very much for choosing Coconut Reef and taking the time to share your feedback. We very much appreciate that you shared the 'good' bits along with the bad. Please allow me to address the 'cons' as best I can, with all due respect. Your feedback is important to us, and rest assured, we will take all necessary steps to improve where we can. Keep Your Catch: In hindsight, this could be stated more clearly. We will be updating the tour description going forward. In our defense, our Catch Policy is fully documented in the Booking Confirmation Email you received upon confirmation of your reservation. Our general policy on the catch clearly states that guests get to keep a reasonable amount of fish for one or two meals. Our catch policy goes on to explain how the rest of the catch is distributed. If the confirmation email contains anything you are not sure about or would like to clarify, we are more than happy to explain or make alternative arrangements/accommodations. The Confirmation Email was sent to you less than 24 after receipt of confirmation. If you did not receive the confirmation, you have our sincere apologies. We apply 'reasonable' limits on what guests keep from the catch but in this instance, we could have been a little more generous. Please pardon our lapse in judgement. In our defense, we operate a Fishing Charter, where we offer the chance to experience the sport of deep-sea fishing. We are not offering our guests an opportunity to stock their freezers. Yes - we do keep some of the catch for ourselves. Some we keep, some we sell. Any proceeds we make goes back into the business to help mitigate our operational costs. I agree completely, the cost of a fishing charter is expensive. That is because it is an expensive sport. 6 figure equipment costs, 5/6 figure annual maintenance costs, safety equipment, inspections, and so on. Our margins are slim and we've had to survive a few additional challenges over the last couple of seasons. We keep our prices as low as we possibly can - we are not in this game for the money but rather because we enjoy what we do and sharing it with others. I do apologize about Randy pulling in that Mahi and not handing it over to one of your party. It was in the heat of the moment, a Mahi hooked on a hand-line and all over in less than a few minutes. He erred on the side of getting the fish on the boat rather than losing it. Still, it should have been your battle to win or lose. Lastly, the smoking issue. I do very much apologize for that. Not good. We will be taking steps to rectify that situation. Not that you should have to, but yes, had you mentioned it on the day, I'm sure JP would have been completely obliging. In closing, again, I would to stress that we do take your feedback very seriously and will take all necessary steps to improve our service. Happy travels, The management and crew at Coconut Reef.
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Review of: Deep Sea Fishing Half-Day
We had high winds so we didn't go far but caught small Bonito, Black fin and then, Bang! a 30lb.+ Yellow fin tuna.. Wow, that fish wore me out. Better yet, we got it in the boat before the sharks got to it. Needless to say we will be eating raw and seared tuna for days, sharing with the crew and giving that big head to locals. Capt. JP and mate Randy worked hard putting us on fish and were as pumped as me when we landed the Yellow fin.…
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Date of experience: March 2022
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We had a great day on the water. Very well run boat very relaxing atmosphere. Engaging staff made it a very memorable day. Will be our go to fishing guide.
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Date of experience: March 2022
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