Meet Captain Rio

His story

Raised on this water

Rio grew up in Key Largo, which is a useful thing to know about somebody who is about to take you fishing. There is a kind of knowledge you only get from three decades of the same coastline — which ledge holds hogfish in March, how hard the tide has to be running before a spot is worth stopping on, where the mahi show up first when the water warms.

He moved down to Key West in 2008 and spent ten years as head captain and crew on the schooner Jolly 2 Rover, running trips with up to forty passengers aboard, before leading Damn the Rocks Charters and eventually striking out on his own.

Along the way he became a serious competitive spearfisherman and freediving guide — and in 2016 he took first place in the Hobie Cat Race to Cuba, which is exactly as unhinged as it sounds: a small catamaran, ninety miles of open ocean, and no cabin to hide in.

Why it's always him

Plenty of charter companies are really a booking desk with a roster of freelance captains. You book a name and get whoever is available.

There is one boat here and one captain. No subcontractors, no rotating crew, no chance of showing up to meet a stranger. That's a deliberate constraint on how much work Rio can take, and it's the entire reason the trips are as good as they are.