Family Tradition Charters

I would give this place 0 stars if I could. Do NOT book with them. Booked the trip 2-3 weeks in advance for a guys outing before our wedding today. They showed up 30 minutes early and there were NO charters. The captain and crew had left without them even though it was a PRIVATE booking. They were barely even sorry and NOT at all willing to help them find something else. I am VERY upset with this charter and the way they handled this situation. VERY unprofessional.

Great experience. The boat crew and staff were fantastic. The group caught lots of fish and had a great time.

Will use these guys again for sure.

Not a dull moment in this awesome experience , Dyson made sure the vibe was right and eventually brought the mackerel smack down with the fish music. Capt ernie made sure we stayed on them the whole time , we brought more than enough fillets home. These guys are awesome and provide the whole experience for the right price. Definitely made me a returning customer.

My wife, son, and brother in law had an incredible time fishing on the "Makin Memories" with Deck Hand Kyle and Captain Darryl.
They agreed to take us out on that big boat that holds 40 people. It was a split trip with us and some others I don't know. For whatever reason the others didn't come.
I was sure we would not get to go on the big boat with just the 4 of us. I was wrong!
They took us out on our 6 hour trip, we limited out on Vermillion snapper and caught well over 100 fish total.
Thanks so much for taking us out, we will be back.

We had scheduled a pontoon rental. We arrived in morning to pick up our boat when we called a woman said she had tried to contact us to let us know that they advise against going out because of rough waters. We were bummed but it was a family trip we had our 2 year old and 8 year old with us. Another boating company said yeah come on we will rent you a boat. We asked a man that was there at the marina and he was not taking his own boat out.

So although we did not get to take a boat out, we appreciate them looking out for us and not just taking our money.

We wanted to do dolphins tour and called multuple places. Everywhere it went to voicemail. Only at family tradition charter they picked up phone. It was during the day so I guess other operators was in the sea and was not able to receive calls.
That would be great idea for someone to organize call center for all surrounding tour operators because I don't think everyone can afford to have theyr own call center but if you would cooperate that could be cost effective.

After short converstaion we have chosen what package we want. (2 hour pontoon trip with the guide).
We arrived early and they have I think 5 pontoon boats and 3 or 4 fishing boats. So there is options to choose from.
Amy greeted us and we took off. Amy is co owner. It's family owned business and it's 3rd generation doing it. Now they have 2 grown up sons and helping as captains too. Our pontion was like brand new and sailed smoothly.

We did see dolphins. She also took us on the island where we stoped and was able to sweem for about 45 min. And that part of the trip was the most fun. Water there is super blue and send white. And no waives. For our 3 eyars old it was perfect.

The best part we got greeted by Ice cream boat. It was just like neighborhood truck with that music. Just boat this time.

Amy was good person to talk to told us what we see around and where else we should go.
She offered us to rent pontoon on ouw own and go on this island on ouw own. This way we can spend there more time and it won't cost as much as with life guide.
We are planing to do it this Saturday.

Cost of our 2 hour guided tour was $150. Well worth it.
Cost of pontoon with no guide for 8 hours $175. She mentioned during hot season which is starting in June this price goes up.

I would recommend it specialy to a family with kids.

One thing which bothered me is Amy was constantly on the phone. Even when we was sailing. I gues we was not that far from shoar so there was reception.
She was giving info to clients. Checking calendar availabilitys and so on. This took some of the attanchion from conversation with us. And this is why I mentioned that it would be great for them to have some kind off call center or someone else in theyr office who could handle it.

This was hands down the highlight of our trip! Matt and Ernie were so good with our 5 yr old, they made sure he was on fish the entire trip and also made sure mom and dad had a great time too. We will come back again.

This "pontoon boat" was a joke. Old, falling apart, and barely ran. There were two experienced boaters with us and both said there was something seriously wrong with the carburetor. We got a few hundred yards from the dock and it was clicking and chugging like it was going to die. We checked everything and then called the office. They said "It ran like that yesterday. Just give it a while to warm up". Ummmm... No. And it never got better. We docked at Shell Island for the day, but the ride back was just as bad. Upon returning the boat we told her what was going on- she just smiled, nodded and said it was fine. So I'm sure she'll be renting the POS out to another fool tomorrow. :/

We are a family of 4, two teens and 2- 50 something parents. We are not outdoors people and do not fish. I was skeptical. But this fishing trip ended up being the highlight of our weeklong vacation. Everything was great from Amy the receptionist who answered the phone and all our questions to Captain Leveral (may be misspelled) to Jay, the first mate. Jay was AMAZING! Basically did everything then handed us the rod and reel. (Don't know how he does it! He didn't sit for the 6 hours we were out!) Captain took us to several places to catch different types of fish then Jay fried up some fish we had just caught. They were delicious! THEN, after we got back, a crew member filleted our fish and we had an amazing fish dinner at home. Love this group! Would definitely use them again and highly, highly recommend.