Rough Charter Trip Lesson -- Cap Cana, DR

Just got back from a great trip to the Dominican, most days were on the beach but we did a little ATV ride one day and another day we were 100% going fishing no matter what (we chose the "best seas forecasted day" for the week). I've done a lot of charter trips and been out in bad seas where captain offered money back to anyone who wanted to cancel before we left etc and ends up most of the boat was puking but I was always good. While I didn't yak this trip I def got a little sea sick. 9' swells 7-9 seconds apart in a 32' boat was rough, the boat wasn't really set up to handle this comfortably for the 6 people on board either. We had one guy in the group down for the count 15 minutes into the seas. Apparently that is the norm out there going from Cap Cana, DR - the reviews online report same conditions most trips whether catching fish or not (didn't look this up beforehand). We didn't catch anything but the charter does have decent reviews on catching so I can't say rough seas means no fish but wow that was an experience. I would have left the wife behind but she wants to rough it through things sometimes, I would have left myself behind if I had truly known what the seas would be like. I'll do a lot more research before just settling on going out no matter where we are. Just my little lesson, more research, I went a little too mind numbed tourist on this decision. Anyone ever been out of Cap Cana/Punta Cana?

I've payed for a couple of expensive boat rides myself! Last time I had the pleasure of fighting 9ft swells, what took 45minutes to get out, took 4 hours to get back in! as for me, vertigo and puking for hours even after getting back to shore...

I went out of the DR once, it was a little rough but we caught 13 mahi and one yellow fin tuna in 4 hours. Had something BIG on for about 15 min but never got to see what it was before I pulled the hook.

Reminds me of a headboat trip years ago out of Islamorda, Fl. It was rough to the point of having to hang onto the gunwales at times. I caught fish, but the combination of diesel exhaust and crazy up and down and side to side rolling eventually made me sick as a dog.

Saltwater is tough for sure!

I LOVE IT.. Recon cause I don't get sea sick..

Big7 said:

Saltwater is tough for sure!

I LOVE IT.. Recon cause I don't get sea sick..

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I didn't ever get sea sick either before this trip. At the very start I got nausea and was over it in a hour, 2 hours later my wife is puking. Never seen seas like this. Like said in previous post nothing like an expensive boat ride, if you go offshore enough it will happen!! Would do it again out of stubbornness probably, leave the wife back though. Worrying about her was half of it, it was an anniversary trip after all haha. We went on a "regular day", 9' swells are not regular fishing conditions FOR ME but the boat hands could've been drinking Rum all morning with no effect. Rum or beer would've had my stomach turned over.

No thank you!

The only cure for seasickness is the dock. I got invited out on a real swanky Hatteras out of St. Augustine. Looked at the weather and knew we shouldn't go, but Cap'n boat owner insisted once we cleared the breakers everything would be ducky. It wasn't, but on the way out of the 12' breakers the diesel fumes washed over me in the rear deck and I was sick as a dog for the rest of the trip. Only good thing was that the trip was free.

Reminds me of a trip I took in Cancun in 2000.
6 to 8 footers in a 36' boat.
Out of 6 people, I was the only one that fished.
Like having a private charter.
I had a blast, they did not.

I understand the cut between DR and Puerto Rico is infamous for being rough. It is also known for high concentrations of white marlin. Is that what you were fishing for?

How was Cap Cana? Was travel, transportation, and customs smooth? Did you feel safe enough to get out of the resort? Please tell us about the trip.

mattuga said:

I didn't ever get sea sick either before this trip. At the very start I got nausea and was over it in a hour, 2 hours later my wife is puking. Never seen seas like this. Like said in previous post nothing like an expensive boat ride, if you go offshore enough it will happen!! Would do it again out of stubbornness probably, leave the wife back though. Worrying about her was half of it, it was an anniversary trip after all haha. We went on a "regular day", 9' swells are not regular fishing conditions FOR ME but the boat hands could've been drinking Rum all morning with no effect. Rum or beer would've had my stomach turned over.

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I go plenty.. Third shipping lane or farther, most of the time.

Been where you go down so far you feel like the swirl when you flush the toilet.
Can only see water all around you and the sky. No horizon.

I have seen folks get sick. Don't look like much fun.

Went to Dry Tortugas for three days and two nights.
Rough sea and we caught a bunch. Lot got sick on that one for sure.
Never seen land or another boat.

Sorry you had a bad trip. I have spent a few on "boat rides".. Not much though.

jdgator said:

I understand the cut between DR and Puerto Rico is infamous for being rough. It is also known for high concentrations of white marlin. Is that what you were fishing for?

How was Cap Cana? Was travel, transportation, and customs smooth? Did you feel safe enough to get out of the resort? Please tell us about the trip.

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We had lines out for basically any target species: mahi, all billfish, yellowfin were the likely targets. They had a seasonal display to show you what was hot and I think white marlin was in Feb. As for the resort my wife choe to go high end and the resort just opened in November and was not done with the growing pains. Go with an established resort, we spent too much but my wife got a "deal" through her company and I blindly followed. We did Secrets Cap Cana, the negative reviews should be listened too, any positive reviews have never done high scale all inclusive. Off resort was only the fishing trip and an ATV trip. We felt plenty safe but never left the resort on our own. Unless you are very culturally aware and Spanish speaking I advise to have an employee of a company servicing you around. I don't think this is like Jamaica but an American tourist is dollar signs here like most tourist spots in this region, however I recall the Bahamas being much more invasive. Our resort had a private Beach in the DR. For our honeymoon in Costa Rica the country doesn't allow a resort to own the beach so it was nice to not have peddlers on the resort like we did a little in Costa Rica. I am not used to that high end stuff but I would never go with a Secrets brand again, they are not high end like the prices and for over $600/night for lodging alone I was not satisfied. I mean the AC wasn't even sufficient and we were "Preferred" which outside of lodging was nice since we could escape the busy side of the resort. Liquor was watered down according to many Canada guests, I concur, you could even taste it. Getducks.com was booked that weekend or I'd have been killing ducks in Mazatlán, Mexico for half the cost and twice the fun. Thanks to my FIL my wife has pretty expensive taste. Lesson learned. Fyi, don't do a 2 year anniversary trip/babymoon to a Zika area, it stresses the wife out. Let me know of any other questions!

I've never been seasick...well, other than that one time I stayed up all night drinking and downed a honey bun and quart of chocolate milk before I went onboard for a daylong grouper trip. Lesson learned.

I had a similar experience in Venezuela a number of years ago, and that cured me of ever wanting to go blue water fishing again.
Sea sickness is da debil!

Went out of Destin a number of years back with a men's church group. Guide told us at the dock that it was 6-8' swells but our group of 20 guys said we could tough it out. By the end of the day, there were 4 of us left fishing. Trip got cut short because a very sick diabetic fell and broke something, hip if I remember right. We came back with a pile of fish though...

I went out of Cap Cana two years ago. We were focusing on white marlin, but we ended up catching a pile of Mahi (The biggest was 29#). The seas were incredibly rough and I agree that the boat/captain was not prepared for that situation. My boat had great reviews, and we caught tons of fish. It just wasn't the safest ride of my life.

Sounds intense! how far is the run to the fishing ground?

We were returning from grand Bahamas a few years ago when it got nasty. We checked with customs at west end and everything looked good, weather was fine. About 60 miles out we see a wall of water! Should have turned around, but we didn't. We got into it and it was nasty. We had 14-16' waves breaking. Throttle up one side and dead fall off the other. Took us 4 hours to get across the Gulf Stream. Once we got out of it and the seas settled coast guard had two boats waiting on us. They had watched us on radar cross and decided only drug runners would try to cross in those conditions. Definitely the scariest hours we've ever had on a boat.

mattuga said:

Just got back from a great trip to the Dominican, most days were on the beach but we did a little ATV ride one day and another day we were 100% going fishing no matter what (we chose the "best seas forecasted day" for the week). I've done a lot of charter trips and been out in bad seas where captain offered money back to anyone who wanted to cancel before we left etc and ends up most of the boat was puking but I was always good. While I didn't yak this trip I def got a little sea sick. 9' swells 7-9 seconds apart in a 32' boat was rough, the boat wasn't really set up to handle this comfortably for the 6 people on board either. We had one guy in the group down for the count 15 minutes into the seas. Apparently that is the norm out there going from Cap Cana, DR - the reviews online report same conditions most trips whether catching fish or not (didn't look this up beforehand). We didn't catch anything but the charter does have decent reviews on catching so I can't say rough seas means no fish but wow that was an experience. I would have left the wife behind but she wants to rough it through things sometimes, I would have left myself behind if I had truly known what the seas would be like. I'll do a lot more research before just settling on going out no matter where we are. Just my little lesson, more research, I went a little too mind numbed tourist on this decision. Anyone ever been out of Cap Cana/Punta Cana?

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What boat/charter did you fish on

jdgator said:

Sounds intense! how far is the run to the fishing ground?

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It wasn't a long run at all, we were fishing in about 30 minutes if I remember correctly. It was just a 4 hour trip in total.

flingin1 said:

What boat/charter did you fish on

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It was called Crazy Gator, has good and bad reviews. I wasn't impressed with the effort to put us on fish.

mmcneil said:

We were returning from grand Bahamas a few years ago when it got nasty. We checked with customs at west end and everything looked good, weather was fine. About 60 miles out we see a wall of water! Should have turned around, but we didn't. We got into it and it was nasty. We had 14-16' waves breaking. Throttle up one side and dead fall off the other. Took us 4 hours to get across the Gulf Stream. Once we got out of it and the seas settled coast guard had two boats waiting on us. They had watched us on radar cross and decided only drug runners would try to cross in those conditions. Definitely the scariest hours we've ever had on a boat.

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That is crazy!

Enjoyed the stories from everyone, good stuff.