Sunday, March 29, 2009

Bahamas again














Sorry for lack of posting.  I have been very busy and involved with Silvertail Destinations two new bonefish lodges in the Bahamas.  I went back for 3 weeks recently to help Gil get the Water Cay lodge ready for the first slug of customers that were due the last week of March.  There were some setbacks as there always is in the bahamas but in a nutshell we got all of our tasks completed and the lodge looks pretty spiffy.  From refrigeration to fixing a sagging dock to painting the main room a foo foo tangerine color that warms to the cool lighting we put in.  It all looks great!  The lodge has 3 new beavertail high tech skiffs which enable the 3 guides led by Sidney Thomas to get into the ultra skinny backwater around the Cay.  
Working at Water Cay put me in the position to become the american manager at Ragged Island starting Oct 1.  It is a great schedule for someone who doesn't enjoy being on Cape Cod in the winter.  Hey nearly all mammals migrate south in the fall...Why shouldn't I? ;)) 
Ragged Island is a unique place.  It has sugar white sands on the west side of the island and deep bluewater a half mile off the beach on the east side.   I'm talking bluewater that has never seen a sportie or express...For fly and light tackle anglers this will be a HUGE HUGE plus to booking a week long bonefish trip.  It is my job to figure out this fishery so that anglers will have a good chance of hooking bones in the am and yellowfin in the afternoon, then retreating to the lodge to knife into some sushi with a kalik in the evening....;))
We are buying a lightly used 27' Contender for the bluewater program.  It is just the perfect boat for 2-4 anglers on fly and light tackle pursuits.  
I am slated to head over to Ragged soon to check out the facility, meet who I need to meet and wet a line or two and hopefully come tight with some of these offshore creatures.  
On the home front it has been a slow season booking charters.  I have asked around and it seems the same everywhere.  I did 90 trips last year.  The most I have ever done.  I don't think I am going to see that this season but certainly hope for at least 60.  It takes a set number of trips to break even before you make a profit....
I think were all hoping the economy starts to jump back soon...The soup line keeps inching closer every week!! LOL
Till next time...

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