Captain Bob.             4-24-18.     4-28-18

What a voyage it was! Cynthia and I knew that our limited experience as lake and river boaters on our 30’ Sea Ray was not nearly enough for us to step up to a bigger boat (trawler) and making such a important decision without exploring Trawler school for more experience and knowledge.

Thank you, Captain Bob, for sharing your vast knowledge and wisdom regarding trawlers. Selecting the right model, size, buying, surveyors, handling and most of all the trawler lifestyle.
We are now convinced we are going in the right direction. Captain Bob you did it through a well planned, well executed and fun, exciting program.Thank you for an experience of a lifetime.
We’ll never forget rule #4 “Wake Management” and we’ll keep an eye out for your cook book.
We’ll be in touch,

Steve & Cynthia T.

I really felt like we learned quite a lot, our days on board were very special as well. Great stories to illustrate all of your points we are now ready to charter a trawler. Your food was amazing. Thank you so much.

Don & Mary
West Chapel, FL

Captain Bob

Thanks for a great time! Trawler school was awesome. You’re an excellent host, chef and knowledgeable teacher, but most of all your fun to be around! I’d like to hire you as our chef on board our trawler when we find one.

Enjoyed the wild and sea life, all of your informative lessons covering from A to Z. We found your school very informative and helpful. Thanks for a wonderful time on the Mermaid.

Cheers
Brett & Betsy
Modesto, Calf

Captain Bob is truly an amazing and gifted Captain and teacher. All the hard lessons we did not want to learn on our own were made easy and now we have found ourselves ready to take the big trawler step.

We had a chance to practice handling a 40’ trawler in a relaxed and comfortable atmosphere. The places we visited were so beautiful we cannot wait to charter a trawler and go cruising.

Would we recommend trawler school “HELL YES”
Thank You
Kathy & Mark
Winneconne, WI

Captain Bob!

Thanks for a wonderful training charter, we are overwhelmed of all the information you taught us. We handled the Miami Mermaid by ourselves 95% of the time on our own!!! We highly recommend your trawler school and for what we received for 3 days, 4 nights was well, well priced and worth every penny of it. Keep up the good work Captain.

Trawler Scholars
Liz & Marty
Abingdon, MD

Captain Bob,
Thanks for a great trip, the perfect blend of recreation, education & good humor. You taught us important lessons that validated some of the information we dug up on our own. Best of all was the hands on trainings that gave us confidence in power boating. We are ready for a transition from our sailboat to a trawler. We definitely are well informed and prepared to find and buy a trawler Captain Bob your classes were very informative on that subject and we fell comfortable finding and dealing with brokers or private owners.

Mark & Michelle
New Bern, NC

Hello Captain Bob

What a beautiful 3 days onboard the Miami Mermaid! Captain Bob lived up to all the reviews we read: we received an education and experience of a lifetime. The weather and anchorages were exceptional. We are filled with true confidence in seamanship. We are excited to test out the wonderful world of Trawlers with excitement and knowledge.

Great job Captain Bob we won’t forget you!
Doug & Julianne

Captain Bob,

Had a wonderful learning experience. You covered everything we came for plus a lot information we never thought of. Your hands on training really gave us full confidence to charter a trawler on our own. Captain Bob lets you take full control of his trawler! You only see him during class and at dinner. It’s like we were on our own. He is a wonderful host and great cook. We will miss the beaches and wonderful anchorage”s of South Florida

Good luck
Frank & Cathy
Bevercreek, Ohio

12-26-2017.       12-30-2017

What a pleasure the last 3 days were & thank you Captain Bob. After flying in from Afghanistan to meet my wife Loretta, who flew in from South Dakota to meet me (it’s been 6 months since we been together), and this turned out to be just the adventure we hoped for and more. I have done a lot of reading about trawlers and everything you taught us either reinforced what I read, changed my mind on some other things, it gave me additional information I had not read.

Because Captains Bob’s philosophy is “keep it simple”, most of the things I read was a waste of time, hands on training is the only way to go. The class on thinking about  buying the right trawler gave us the insight of what trawler buying is all about.

We had such unexpected experiences you just can’t plan for, and it added so much more to our Trawler spectrum. What a shock it was to look back and see we lost our dingy in tow. Captain Bob got on the VHF and broadcasted an all out bulletin to be on the look out and a minute later a fisherman calls back and we retrieved The Dingy Ling about 2 miles back. Knowing The Captain, he may have slipped that into the class. He puts a fishing line out during one of his classes— the rod went wild— oh my god we hooked up to a 1,000 lb Manatee on 10 lb  test fishing line! Wait a minute, the captain ‍️ said, they do not eat fish bait but grass only? They eat about 2,000 lb of grass a day fortunately it just wrapped around it’s tail and came off quickly but the manatee started to eat the grass on the side of the Mermaids boat for a half hour. Captain called his diver that cleans his bottom and told him he has been replaced. HA Ha.

I arrived the first night and was having my Glenfiddich 12 year old scotch and a cigar, and out on the back deck is a blow up doll named Wilma— that was a little creepy for me.

We were up at the helm 2 days later, and all of the sudden the captain was yelling “woman over board!” we went immediately into our woman over board drill and saved Wilma. Now for the rest of the story! It was very creepy because.. ready for this, my mother’s name was WILMA! Enough said about that.

Our grandson, 11, flew in and the Captain let us bring him aboard for an hour to drive the big mighty Miami Mermaid we took pictures. He was a little creeped out taking a picture with Grand Ma Wilma. We are leaving right now heading to Jamaica. Be back in Afghanistan in 11 days for another 6 month tour. Can’t wait till we retire in 3 years sell the farm and live aboard a trawler. Life does not get any better than that.

Trawler School is a must on your bucket list.
Had a great time God bless America
Happy New Years
Your new friends
Dennis & Loretta
Somewhere in South Dakota 6 degrees below Zero or in an undisclosed place in Afghanistan???
Hello Jamaica