Is attempting a charter service to Bimini or the Bahamas in any way feasible?

Trying to figure out what I can do if I am at some point able to retire from the tool & die / machine shop business and get out of the cold North.

We have been discussing trying to live aboard in the Florida Keys or the Caribbean.

I know there is a fast cheap ferry (at least one) that runs back and forth to either Bimini or the Bahamas.

Just wondering if there is any market for some kind of slow boat charter service down there on some kind of a Hatteras (or other). My gut feel is it would be hard to keep booked.

We did find a 60ft Hatteras that does sunset cruises out of Naples and had a good talk with the owners. They seemed to keep busy doing it.

Just looking for ideas and thoughts on the subject.

Bimini isn’t what it used to be since Resort World Bimini Bay bulldozed and concreted the northern half of the island… we don’t even stop there on the way to the Exumas.

It is also very hard to book anything in winter because of weather. From November thru may, you typically have 2 or 3 good days followed by 4 to 5 days where the Gulf Stream gets kicked up and you re not going to be crossing. This means the odd of being stuck over there with guests eager to come back are pretty high

The charter market in Miami has changed quite a bit over the last 15 years or so. It s extremely busy but the problem is the quality of the clientele… we used to do a lot of day charters with a Johnson 70 we used run between 2008 and 2016. It was great. Nice guests, upscale etc. around 2015/2016 we started noticing a change. For the worst. And it has been all downhill ever since. After the 70, we started running an 84 Lazzara and started focusing only on Bahamas charters in the exumas. We re now running a 116 Lazzara and also only do exumas charters or day charters here in Miami but only with guests we know.

The Red Flu mess has made things far worst with people getting all that money from Uncle Sam for staying at home. Or coming on to party in Miami. If you don’t mind having rowdy drunk obnoxious people from Atlanta, Baltimore or Chicago partying and twerking on your boat, you can be busy….

On the legal side, you can only take up to 6 guests on a non inspected charter boat ran by the owner. You can take up to 13 as a bareboat but the owner (or owner of the LLC) cannot be the captain or even be on board.

Couple more thoughts:
Naples is an upscale market where the folks running that boat will not half to deal with the ghetto crowd on the Miami market..
The keys are more family oriented and probably better suited for sunset cruises or dinner cruises

Bob, I'd hazard a guess that you would ruin both your boating and your life.

Thanks Pascal, good info!


Jim, I could see the extra wear and tear on a boat, but ruin ones life? Please explain ;)

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Originally Posted by Bob Quinn

Thanks Pascal, good info!Jim, I could see the extra wear and tear on a boat, but ruin ones life? Please explain ;)

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While my life experiences are no boating related, I do know many people that ruined things they love by trying to make a living at it. If you just kinda like boating or don't really need the money then go for it.

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Originally Posted by Bob Quinn

Thanks Pascal, good info!


Jim, I could see the extra wear and tear on a boat, but ruin ones life? Please explain ;)

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Liking sausage is way different than having to make sausage. Oh yeah, Google up “Charter Boat Joe Cool Miami”.

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Originally Posted by Retired1

Liking sausage is way different than having to make sausage.

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Interesting analogy. I do agree.

We finally agreed we did not like the people wanting to charter. so we stopped doing river cruises.
Found a niche in off shore services. To many family members who had to go, got sick on calm days.
We finally gave up on drunks and pukers.
This was 20 to 15 years ago.
It has gotten worse. Now you have to have an endless bar and loud music. Worrying about some drunk or puke falling over is not worth it either.
Some have a repeatable business and no new customers. Bless those ships. Starting cold these days,, in south Florida,, Insane..

Well now I know what Jim R meant. Very good points.

I think it's best to just boat and stick with things I know.

Nice fantasy but not realistic.

Just thinking about what to do when I can retire, which means really semi retiring.

I can do programming, and die/tooling design. I guess I could do that from a boat LOL.

Can't bring the machine shop aboard haha.

In a previous life, I was a commercial photographer. I loved photography and was reasonably good at it (not great). Doing for a living ensured that I never had fun with it, shot a lot of boring subjects (factories, for example) and was too busy and tired to do what I liked, which was landscape photography. I gave it up, went back to college, got a second degree in biology, and went to medical school.

The great thing about medicine as compared to a hobby turned into a living is that no one is a part-time or occasional doctor. You are either in it or you aren't. There's plenty to improve about medicine, but at least we don't have part-timers or dilettantes.

Bob , if you keep your boat, you will never retire, there will always be something to do !