Chubasco Charters — Local services in New Providence

My wife, 14 year old daughter and myself had the pleasure of doing a 4 hour charter on the Chubasco VI with Captain Charlton and Mate Kelsey. This was my daughter's first time fishing, and the team made the experience memorable. I grew up on boats and have been fishing my entire life in multiple countries. I explained to Captain Charlton that I just wanted my daughter catching fish, and he accomplished that task easily! Captain Charlton thought the best way to produce fish was to troll the reefs along the coast. We were fishing within 15 minutes of leaving the dock and hooked up within 5 minutes of setting the lines out. For the entire 4 hour trip we were bending rods. We ended up boating 5 yellowtail snappers, 2 spanish mackeral, one big mutton snapper, and one barracuda. We released a few small yellowtail snappers and lost another 6 fish. Half way through the trip, Kelsey was so busy, Captain Charlton allowed us to attach the ballyhoo to the rigs and set the lines out ourselves, which gave my wife and daughter a true fishing experience. Both Captain Charlton and Kelsey were very friendly, and spoke to us the entire trip, talking about all the Islands in the Bahamas and the culture, and their families. I highly recommend Chubasco Charters, and I can't thank Captain Charlton, and Kelsey for making the trip so memorable for us. The only downside was my daughter wants to know when we are traveling back to the Bahamas to go...

Overall it was a good experience.

We reserved a 4 hour charter, yet we received only 3.5 hours. Trying to understand why we were shorted the 30 minutes. $700 cash for 4 hours dock to dock, we expected nothing less than 4 full hours.

We caught a few mahi mahi, barracuda, and some snappers.

The two men working the boat were okay, moreso the first mate. He really worked nonstop.

The last item of thought was the business's email to us recommends giving 15-20% tip. We gave about 23% tip ($160), plus we gave them one 4' mahi mahi, the barracuda, and all the snappers, yet the captain seemed either super Bahamian chill or insulted. We couldn't figure it out. He just didn't seem appreciative of the substantial tip we gave nor of the free fish. No "thank you's" were given from them to us. We're not use to that.

So we walked away, shorted in time, spending just shy of a $1000 cash, and yet we didn't feel that what we offered was appreciated. I have emailed the owners for an explanation. They said they'd talk with the boats captain.

Update: Much respect to the owners. They found out we did come back 30 minutes early and offered a fair credit. Very professional and respected. 5 stars to them...

Went on a half day charter April 2015, arriving to Nassau on a Sunday Morning on a cruise ship. Was easy enough to locate boat and get going. However, boat was a complete hunk of junk. Totally not what was described when we booked. No functioning latrine (got clogged and unusable) or even a radio to listen to. Boat was rigged together in spots and crew was nice, but had to drag any sort of conversation out of them. They did their job, but were not too friendly. Diesel engine just blew smoke and made it very uncomfortable. Ended up trolling the waterways because they said the ocean was too rough (probably was based on what we saw) and caught some decent mullet snapper. They took us to a bar/restaurant, The Green Parrott I believe. Great staff there cleaned and cooked up the fish half blackened and half fried. Some of the best damn fish I have ever had. All in all not horrible, but not great. No creature comforts or hospitality like I have come to expect going on charters out of Key West or Port Canaveral. Proceed with caution. Should be better for money paid. Believe we were on the Chubasco...