As a group of 4 we did the 8hr charter package on the “Ricardo”. We were offered a special price as we did not need alcoholic drinks. The boat was spacious, new and comfortable. However, unfortunately that is where the good points stop. The overall experience would not meet the expectations of a serious fisherman and the customer experience was very poor (the boat was not ready for departure on arrival/still packed up , no introductions with the crew/safety briefing, no food or water offered by the crew even though it was provided – donuts,fruit and cold water were advertised on the booking confirmation but were nowhere to be seen (we had to point and play charades with the sandwich bag and ask if we could eat them), and we were unable to ask questions about the trip, ask what was planned and even ask what type of fish we were targeting due to very little to no English from the crew).
On our trip we didn’t catch any fish, but that’s why it’s called fishing! And as an experienced sports fisherman that is the nature of the game and part of the adventure. The day started off with 1hr of trolling Penida Island (awesome photo opportunity of the cliffs and small island structure). Both trolling rods (overhead reel) fitted with a diver and trolling lure were used. We had one strike but the fish was dropped before the rod was out of the holder. After trolling we were taken for snorkelling. We were very keen to start fishing again and resumed with some bottom fishing (paternoster rig, size 1 hooks, mono line) using small prawns as bait. Based on the hook size I wasn’t expecting anything massive – however I have been pleasantly surprised in the past (catching a Golden Trevally on a long shank hook). We fished the bottom for a few hours drifting and changing spots as the current was quite strong. Using light sinkers in the strong current and no idea of the water depth – I am not sure if the bait even found the bottom. The fishing technique used was drifting over small reef rather than targeting a specific area (maybe because no GPS fish finder was available?) Next was lunch! If we had caught fish the opportunity was to cook them fresh. In our case we just ordered some food off the menu which was fairly priced. We were offered more snorkeling post lunch, but asked to keep fishing. We continued fishing the bottom with no success. I asked to move somewhere to use the bigger rods for trolling or jigging but the crew spoke/understood VERY limited to no English so they didn’t understand my request. After another 45min our group decided to call it a day and arrived back into the port at 2:30pm.
As a regular fisherman the trip didn’t meet my expectations, and that would still be the case even if fish were caught. I would have loved the opportunity to throw some poppers at structure, jig the reef or troll for pelagics rather than persisting with 15-20cm fish, for lunch, using size 1 hooks and warm prawns. We did try communicate this with the crew but were unsuccessful. The trip would be satisfactory for anyone that would like to do an island adventure with fishing been a “part” of the day not the primary focus.
In summary, the fishing experience offered and marketed was sadly not provided on the day. Which is disappointing considering the reviews already posted – via 
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