Welcome aboard. I'm Captain Ray, and Sunset Charters is my boat and me. No fleet, no booking office, no salesmen. You e-mail me, we pick a day, you show up at the dock at the marina, and we go fishing, or we go watch the sun go down over the skyline with a cooler of soft drinks. I've been running charters out of Miami Beach for twenty years and I keep it small on purpose: six people, one boat, one captain who knows where the fish were yesterday.

This page has everything you need to decide and to book. If it doesn't, e-mail me. I answer the same day if I'm not on the water, and the same night if I am.

Rates are per boat for the fishing trips, so six people fishing a half day works out to under $60 apiece. A crew tip for the mate isn't included and is customary if he's done a good job; 15 percent is what most folks do. There is no fuel surcharge, no "fish cleaning fee," no surprises. The price on this page is the price at the dock.

• Bait, live and frozen, whatever's working that week.
• Tackle: rods, reels, line, hooks, leaders, lures, all of it, matched to what we're fishing for. You don't need to bring a thing unless you have a favorite rod you'd like to use, and then bring it.
• Fishing license. The boat carries a license that covers everyone aboard, so you don't need your own.
• Ice, plenty of it, and a cooler for your catch.
• Fish cleaning. We'll fillet and bag whatever you're keeping when we get back to the dock, at no charge.
• Bottled water and soft drinks.
• A mate on full-day trips and on half-days with four or more anglers, to rig baits, untangle lines, gaff fish and keep the deck clean so you can keep fishing.
• Safety gear: life jackets for everyone including kids' sizes, radio, flares, first-aid kit, and a captain who checks the weather three times before we leave.

• Sunscreen. The strong kind. Put it on before you get to the dock and again at the halfway point. The sun off the water will get you in places you didn't know you had.
• Soft-soled shoes. Sneakers or deck shoes with light-colored, non-marking soles. No black soles (they scuff the deck), no flip-flops (they come off), no bare feet (hooks).
• Seasick medicine, taken the night before. This is the one people get wrong. The over-the-counter tablets work well, but they have to be in your system before you feel sick, not after. Take one at bedtime the night before and one with breakfast. If you've never been on the ocean and you're not sure about your stomach, take it. Nobody has ever regretted taking it. Plenty of people have regretted not taking it. Also: eat a light breakfast (toast, not bacon and eggs), skip the drinking the night before, and stay on deck in the fresh air and look at the horizon.
• A hat with a brim and sunglasses (polarized if you have them; you'll see fish in the water you'd miss otherwise).
• A light long-sleeved shirt for the sun, and a windbreaker for the ride out in the morning, which is cooler than you'd think.
• Snacks and lunch on the full day. There's a cooler with ice for your things. Sandwiches, fruit, chips, whatever you like. Nothing that needs a fork on a rolling deck.
• A camera. Bring more film than you think. We'll take the pictures of you with the fish.
• Cash for the mate's tip.
• Kids. Bring them. Children are welcome on every trip. I've got life jackets down to toddler size, and a kid who catches a snapper on the reef is a kid who's hooked for life. Half-days are best for the little ones.

Leave at home: glass bottles, hard-soled shoes, and bananas. (Ask any charter captain about bananas. I'm not superstitious. But not on my boat.)

The Sunset Runner is a 31-foot sportfisherman with twin diesels, a flying bridge where I run her from, a covered cockpit with shade for the passengers, a fighting chair, outriggers for trolling, a marine head (a bathroom, for the landlubbers, and yes, it has a door), a small cabin to get out of the sun, a full electronics package including a depth finder and a GPS, and the radio. She's rated for six passengers, and six is what I take. She's washed down after every trip and she's the cleanest boat at the dock, and I'll let the other captains argue with me about that.

Captain Ray B. Licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard to carry passengers for hire, and have been for twenty years. Grew up fishing these waters from a skiff before I could drive, mated on charter boats through my twenties, and have run my own since 1979. I know the reefs, the wrecks and the edge of the Stream from Key Biscayne to Haulover better than I know my own neighborhood. I've got a current first-aid and CPR card, a good weather eye, and a rule that we don't go out when it's not safe, whatever the calendar says. I'd rather refund your deposit than put you in six-foot seas.

I like families, I like first-timers, and I like the fellow who's fished all his life and wants to try something new. I'm patient with kids and honest about the fishing: some days it's slow, and I'll tell you so and work harder. I don't promise fish. I promise a good day on the water with somebody who's trying.

What's been coming over the rail this year, month by month, in general. Every trip is different and the ocean doesn't read this page.

What you keep is up to you and the regulations, which change and which I keep up with; I'll tell you what's in season, what's legal size, and what has to go back. Most families keep a few snapper for dinner and let the rest go. I clean and bag it at the dock.

Year-round, weather permitting. There's something to fish for every month of the year off Miami Beach, and the sunset cruise runs any evening the water's flat enough to enjoy it. Winter is sailfish and kingfish and the busiest months, so book early from December through April. Summer is mahi and calm mornings. Hurricane season runs June through November, and if there's weather coming, we don't go, and you don't pay.

Weather policy: the captain calls it, the morning of, based on the marine forecast and my own eyes. If I cancel, your deposit comes back in full or you rebook, your choice. If you cancel with less than 48 hours' notice for any other reason, the deposit's forfeited, because that's a day I turned other people away. Fair's fair both directions.

1. E-mail me at [email protected] with the trip you want, the date (and a second choice), how many in your party, and whether any are kids or first-timers. I'll write back with whether the date's open, usually the same day.
2. Mail a deposit. $100 for a fishing trip, $40 for a sunset cruise, by check or money order made out to Sunset Charters. I'll give you the mailing address at the marina when we confirm. The date's held when the check arrives. (I don't take credit cards. Just haven't needed to.)
3. Show up at the dock fifteen minutes before departure with your sunscreen on and your seasick pill already taken. The balance is due before we leave the dock, cash or check.

Questions of any kind, e-mail. If you'd rather talk to a person, the marina office will take a message for me at (555) 555-0142 and I'll call you back that evening, but e-mail is faster.