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Deep sea fishing at Half Moon Cay--I'm still laughing

classicwhaler

By classicwhaler,
in Private Islands

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classicwhaler

classicwhaler

Posted
Posted

I'm laughing because I can't believe how bad it was! Sailed on the Zuiderdam on Jan. 2, arriving at Half Moon Cay the next morning. Tendered over to the island and straight to the fishing boat for my deep sea trip trolling to catch wahoo, king mackeral and other game species. We got maybe 100 yards from the dock and both (yes, that's two) fishing lines went in the water. We trolled out to about 200 yards from the beach and then back and forth. And back and forth. Both lines trolled on top of the water, none at mid-depth or deeper. There was one other fisherman with me (Tim from Texas). The mate appeared to be asleep the whole trip, and the captain never said 10 words until I went and stood beside him and engaged him in coversation.

 

I have over 45 years experience deep sea fishing including tournament fishing. We never fish less than five or six lines in calm water at various depths to maximize our chances, and move to more promising fishing areas as needed. This boat only had three rods total and no depth finder. In the two hours we fished, the captain might have burned $10 in diesel.

 

We ended up catching one two-pound bottom fish when the captain finally stopped to a drift over a reef and bottom fished. (a yellow-tail snapper)

 

I've had great fishing excursions with HAL in Alaska, so I know they can find qualified skippers. They need to work a little harder on their own island excursions.

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hensghan

hensghan

Posted
Posted

We were on that same cruise with you and the weather that day at Half Moon Cay was not conducive to much of anything else other than perhaps fishing, yet it appears even that was screwed up. From what you report occurred, HAL needs to be informed of the lameness of that particular excursion on that particular day. I don't know what you paid for your fishing trip but, whatever it was, it sounds like you were scammed. I wouldn't be surprised but that HAL might make that up to you on a future cruise since I believe HAL is more or less personally responsible for all excursions at Half Moon Cay. If I'm wrong about that I'm sure someone will soon correct me.

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classicwhaler

classicwhaler

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I submitted a feedback form while on this voyage outlining our concerns and observations. I would always encourage HAL sailors to use the feedback forms for great or lousy shore excursions. It would be nice if HAL offered me a future credit, but that was not the purpose of my posting---just want future cruisers to know what to expect if they're considering booking this shore excursion.

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Typhoon1

Typhoon1

Posted
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Use the online feedback form to let HAL know about your unfortunate experience. I complained about an onboard experience on our last cruise, and received a letter good for a free bottle of Merlot on our next cruise.

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rangeley

rangeley

Posted
Posted

A few years ago I booked that same excursion for my then 22yr old son who is an avid fisherman. He did not catch anything. They actually went around the corner from the beach which my son said was like a different ocean. He said it was so rough he could barely fish. And as on your trip, the mate also slept! They didn't do much of anything in the 2 hours. I complained on our feedback form at the end of the cruise, but never heard a word from HAL. HAL claims they read every form and maybe they do, but does not seem they do anything about it if 3 years later the same things are still happening. Good luck

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Sanlin

Sanlin

Posted
Posted

We did this same trip last March and it was fabulous. DH caught at least 4 fish - a 25 lb mahi mahi and 3 or 4 very large barracudas. This excursion is a slide show on my screen saver. The other man on the boat caught the same amount. We were taken far away from the ship and the captain and mate were helpful and excellent. Sorry it didn't work out for you.

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PaganView

PaganView

Posted
Posted

My dad booked a fishing excursion on his Zuiderdam cruise at HMC and waited around for maybe an hour but no captain ever showed up.

 

At least you got a boat! :D

 

Luckily, HMC is such an amazing island that although he was VERY disappointed about the fishing, Dad enjoyed the day anyway.

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Stakeout

Stakeout

Posted
Posted (edited)

geez.. sorry to hear that ....and what you went thru.. a bummer...

 

we were just on HMC on Jan 7th on the Maasdam's New Years cruise... I've been out with the Captain there.. Capt Jolly ( heavy set gent walks with a limp) ...more times than I can count over the years...at times they stick a mate with him that is so-so.. so he lets me rerig if and when I want to if his regular mate isn't there ...especially if a female mate is out there with us...

 

I've been s/w fishing a good many years both in the northeast since I was a kid and out of the Little River Inlet area for the past 19+ years.. got rid of my last boat a 27 Albemarle a few years ago..and before that 30' and 32' flybridge Luhrs.... no more offshore boats.. living with a 12' Carolina Skiff... I fish just about everyday mainly from the surf and backwaters around Sunset Beach these days with a bit of sweetwater LMBass fishing thrown in at local golf course lakes/ponds.. that's what us retired people are supposed to do...

 

Jolly is good .. at least to me he is... I never book this time of year because the conditions and fishing are not the best by any stetch... the best time to fish at HMC is in April-May... plenty of Mahi at that time.. Oct-Nov a-okay also.. sure ...there have been times all I've caught there were 'cudas.. and even got 'the skunk' one time.. but what the heck.. anything to make the rod bend is fine with me... the key to fishing there is finding that one lone Frigate bird.. a few gannetts thrown in never hurt.. Mahi will be under than lone Frigate ( called Warbirds in the Bahamas) as you might have been able to tell.. most people who fish that charter have no idea how to fish saltwater or never have fished it....

 

been to that island at least 25 times... used to bring my fly gear and flyfish the back lagoon for bonefish with Capt Larry on his bonefish charters... before HAL ruined it and started putting jet ski excursions back there.. so no more bonefish trips are run there..

 

here's a few pics in my SmugMug gallery from last May when we were there on the Maasdam-- its last cruise in the caribbean for the season... plenty of Mahi that day..

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/Sports/Maasdam-Half-Moon-Cay-Fishing/10976071_3BQEW/1/767135934_BANqR

 

best fishing on any of these cruises I've ever done was on a roundtrip Canal cruise on the Maasdam on the Pacific side of Guatemala... Puerto Quetzel Guatemala... 4 1/2 hour Sailfish charter.. the best of the best.. Feb 2008.. all catch and release by law using circle hooks--same-same as in Costa Rica and Panama .. there's four pages of pics in this album

http://stakeout.smugmug.com/Sports/Sailfishing-Puerto-Quetzel/10109131_WZMRy/1/694463827_Wj6Z9

 

they canceled that same Puerto Quetzel Sailfish charter on another roundtrip Canal cruise early last year on the Statendam.. disappointed as I wanted my wife to go on the charter and catch her first Sail.. in fact HAL canceled 5 sportfishing trips on me on that particular cruise( or was it 6)

 

I'll be on an offshore-charter fishing in Cabo on our next roundtrip Canal cruise in three weeks back on the Maasdam.. just gotta hope the whales have left the Cabo area not like they were when I did my last charter there in Feb-2008.. it was like watching sprinkler systems going off there were so many

 

on this past cruise also fished the backwaters in Grand Turk...just a small 'cuda and a bunch of small yellowtails.. I never was there so I wanted to fish it...they had decent flyfishing gear but way too windy for my flyfishing skills...I knew what it was gonna be like even in the backwaters this time of year...they cancelled the offshore trip that day on some folks who had signed up because of high winds..

 

good luck with HAL:D

Edited by Stakeout
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  • 4 years later...
gspangen

gspangen

Posted
Posted

I will be in HMC the first week of April with a carnival cruise. I really would like to catch some bone fish. I'm a well experienced fly fisherman, but don't want to waste my time if the fishing is that bad. I'm really looking for suggestions here on what options I might have for the most success. I can bring all my own gear and flies. We're also stopping in Grand Turk and Freeport, if there is a better option on one of those islands

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kjw869

kjw869

Posted
Posted
I will be in HMC the first week of April with a carnival cruise. I really would like to catch some bone fish. I'm a well experienced fly fisherman, but don't want to waste my time if the fishing is that bad. I'm really looking for suggestions here on what options I might have for the most success. I can bring all my own gear and flies. We're also stopping in Grand Turk and Freeport, if there is a better option on one of those islands

 

 

 

Just a note. The OP posted this information over four years ago, so hopefully things have gotten better at HMC.

 

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Ken

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kpgibbs

kpgibbs

Posted
Posted

This may be a dumb question, but what happens to the fish that you catch? Is it catch and release? If I caught a huge fish I might want to keep it to mount it. But then I guess there is the expense of shipping it.

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  • 4 weeks later...
lkatze2

lkatze2

Posted
Posted

hey gspangen

 

I too will be going to half moon cay at the end of April. I have never fished half moon cay, but I did fish from shore at CocoCay(private island of Royal carribean). I will give you some tips from my trip to coco cay. I am an experienced fisherman for all types of fish, so i brought a telescoping rod/reel combo to coco cay. I did some previous homework on the internet and found out that there was a good bonefish flat on the other end of the island away from the swimmers. I also found out that RCL does not allow fishing from shore for various reasons, but I was going to do it anyway. I took the first ferry over so as to avoid people. I stayed away from the swimming area and went to the flat on the other side of the island. It was a spectacular flat. i waded out into about two feet of water. I ended up catching several bar jacks and hooked up with one bonefish that almost spooled me. I had to chase it as i waded through the water. It was a blast. All sight fishing with crystal clear water. By the way, I was only hasseled by the workers as i was leaving the island, at the x-ray scanners. They did nothing, just told me fishing was not allowed. I also only fished for about 1.5 hours, since i had to spend time with the wife.(funny story, I did not have any bait, so I had to use cooked shrimp for bait that i got from the previous dinner, the bonefish hit the cooked shrimp, but the jacks hit lures)

 

I will definitely be bringing my rod to Half moon cay. Follow what i did and you should catch something.

Please do me a big favor and post your results as soon as you get back , it will help me greatly.

Thanks

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