Saturday, April 11, 2020

Speachless

With most of the folks fishing on the Dragin Fly, we handle all of the details, including condo/private home rentals, VIP airport transfers,  private drivers and guides, tours and occassionally on the request of large groups, tips for the boat crews.

This was the case with a large group from South Carolina previously scheduled to fish on the Dragin Fly and Macushla out of Los Suenos, Costa Rica in late March.  These customers were prepaid in full, including tips for the boats.  When they were forced to cancel one month ago, like most of our custommers, they agreed to have their deposits forwarded to future reservations. 

 If the Coronapanic continues, there is comfort knowing that we have an emergency fund and capital available to pay the crew and the bills through these lean times.    Fortunatley for us, we are not upside down, but the same cannot be said for many in this industry who are making it through today on tomorrow's deposits. 

This week I got a call from the lead customer from that South Carolina group,  Mike.   When I got the call, I feared that his group was not going to be able reschedule.   

Mike said that he understood that their group had tips that were prepaid.   He had talked with his guys and they wanted to know if I could forward that money to the boat crews........I was speachless....   Breaking the pause Mike added that he wanted to make sure that the crews not to worry, that they were definitly coming back to Costa Rica and that they would tip them again.

I have heard of other stories from other guides who have had customers call them and cancel trips, asking them to just keep the deposit for their trip and forget that it was ever sent.

This has been humbling for all of us and when this is over I think that the people casting off the bow or sitting in the fighting chair will be just as thrilled to be there on the water as the guide on the poling platform, the captain behind the wheel and the mate landing a fish of a lifetime.

Thanks Mike for helping us all get there where we need to be.