Miss Cape Canaveral - Unethical Deep Sea Fishing Company

Business Reply

This is a response to file number 8558. The person that wants to remain anonymous is completely wrong about what they are saying. I would suggest to this person to get the facts before they ramble about issues they know nothing about.

I remember the night perfectly because this is the first time since 1953 that we had someone jump off of our boat. If this so called complainer were on the boat he or she would know that when the man jumped off the boat we were already inside the jetty in safe harbor. The incident had absolutely nothing to do with the sea conditions. The man who jumped over board was trying to do a hand stand off the pulpit of the boat for reasons unknown. He basically put his hands on the railing and kicked his feet out and flipped over board. In fact if it was not for my captains quick thinking he probably would be dead. When the captain sAw this person doing the act of pure stupidity he put the engines in neutral. The guy went under came out the back of the boat we pulled him on board and he was fine. His friends witnessed this as well as our crew. He admitted that what he did was very stupid and even apologized. The coast guard did a full investigation and the guy admitted to what he did. We are a fishing boat the ocean is very unpredictable. The seas that night were all of about four feet. We went fishing and caught fish. Our boat is 85ft long and can handle a much larger sea. Our captains are all U.S. Coast Guard certified. If the person knew what he or she was talking about they would know that the captain is the master of the vessel and if he thought it was unsafe he would have come home. He is the one responsible for the boat and its passengers. The captain is at risk and his license is at risk. If it was to ruff he would not risk his license just so people could fish or me as the owner wanted the trip to go.

We have been in business since 1953 and have an excellent reputation. We have never had anyone fall off of our boat. In fact all of our captains have never had any violations with the coast guard. So Mr Anonymous when you put things over the Internet be sure you know what you are talking about. No wonder you wanted to remain anonymous.

Sincerely,

Tony Adams

Owner

Miss Cape Canaveral

670 Glen Cheek Drive

Port Canaveral,Fl 32920

321-783-5274

321-783-2580 fax

www.misscape.com

Miss Cape Canaveral

670 Glen Cheek Dr

Cape Canaveral, FL 32920

November 14, 2006

To Whom It May Concern:

I would like to advise you about a company who does not worry about passenger’s safety and that something must be done before someone gets killed. I am remaining anonymous because I do not want to have any part of this, I just want to be sure I do the right thing and tell the public about what is happening. There is a deep sea fishing business out of Port Canaveral called the Miss Cape Canaveral who takes passengers fishing despite the weather conditions. The reason for this, they take their money and simply issue a rain check if the boat comes back to the dock due to the weather. This is convenient for them in many ways because most of the customers who go deep sea fishing are tourists and usually won’t ever use their rain check because they do not live here. It is great for the company because they get to keep the money; however it is highly unethical because the company knows when the sea’s are too rough to go. There are buoy reports that are updated every few hours that post the wave height and wind speed.

The part that needs to be brought to the public’s attention is the fact that the Miss Cape Canaveral will still take passengers in the Ocean in a small craft advisory with sea’s over 8 feet high. That is very serious weather that should not be taken lightly. On 11-4-06 the Miss Cape Canaveral went out in 8 – 10 foot seas on a Saturday night fishing trip and a man fell overboard and was run over by the boat. Apparently, this is being investigated by the Coast Guard; however, this needs to be brought to the public’s attention immediately. The public can not rely on this company to be truthful about the weather conditions. They will do whatever it takes to get people on their boat to collect their money. In this industry, safety should be the company owner’s & captain’s number one priority. Taking passengers in 8 – 10 foot seas is not responsible. Please be sure to notify the public of this matter as soon as possible. I seriously hope the Coast Guard enforces some sort of regulations upon this company so this will not happen again. The man that fell overboard is lucky to be alive.

Regards,

Concerned Citizen