Boat Dockage St Augustine Fl

New speedboat service has them lining up in St. Augustine

When people think of St. Augustine, they generally think of the attractions it's had for years: the Castillo de San Marcos, St. George Street and many others in the historic city.

Now they can think of thrill rides, too. Earlier this spring, Philip Alia launched his El Conquistador speedboat ride, which he calls part tour, part extreme experience.

The 60-minute tours on his 33-foot, 14-passenger boat leave St. Augustine Municipal Marina five times a day Wednesday through Sunday. Admission is $39.50 for adults and $29.50 for children, although costs are slightly lower when tickets are purchased on the Internet.

On smooth ocean water, it can top out at speeds up to 65 miles per hour - which feels much faster on a boat that it does on land, Alia said. On the rivers, it's limited to 43 miles per hour, but that feels fast, too.

The boat is powered by twin 340-horsepower diesel engines, which bring the performance of a NASCAR stock car to the water.

Alia lives with his family in north St. Johns County and owns the Vivid Media Concepts ad agency. He said he got the idea for the attraction during a visit to New Jersey, when he saw how much his sons enjoyed a ride on the "Silver Bullet" speedboat there. After another ride on the boat on a subsequent visit for Nicholas, 10, and Austin, 5, Alia said he was sold on the idea to duplicate the business in Florida.

"We looked at Amelia Island, Jacksonville and St. Augustine," he said. "We chose St. Augustine because of the visitor numbers, it was close to home and its access to the ocean."

Alia purchased the speedboat, which is smaller and faster than the Silver Bullet. His wife, Janine, dubbed it "El Conquistador," and its paint scheme and twin 1500s-style helmets complete the look. The boat draws no electricity from the dock because its batteries are charged by solar power; mufflers keep the engine noise down.

April 9 was the business' soft opening .

"Business definitely has picked up since Memorial Day," he said. "On Sunday, for Father's Day, we added a sixth tour because we sold out of all the others. In the future, I'm seriously considering adding a sunset cruise on Friday and Saturday."

The tours run at about 50 to 60 percent of capacity on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and more on the weekends, he said.

Alia expects the business will soon be out of startup mode and in the black.

"We haven't made money yet, but we have a very strict budget we wrote when we designed a business plan," he said. "We hope to get out of the red in the next two weeks.

FL Keys or Venice, LA -Better Fishing? - The Hull Truth - Boating ...

I have seen a number of discussions on this website which has the better fishing. I am just finishing up 5 days fishing the Keys just north of Marathon and I have spent a fair bit of fishing time in Venice the last six years..I will admit I only had the use of a 24' bayboat in the Keys and really did not know what to do, but I have lived and fished just north of Miami and appalachicola and owned boats in each location plus i kept a boat in Venice. No doubt the water and the women are prettier in the Keys. The run to the fishing grounds is shorter in the keys. But if you are strictly comparing fishing success, there is no comparison. The Keys compared to Venice is like comparing the Dead Sea to a fish hatchery. Granted, I could only venture about 12 miles offshore, but in probably a total of 12 hours slow trolling live ballyhoo and trolling naked ballyhoo, we never had a strike. We fished the gulf side off and on and never caught anything but pinfish. We fished around the bridges with live pinfish and live mullet and never had a bite. We bottom fished a fair bit with live pinfish, live shrimp, and squid and caught a keeper mangrove, a mutton, and one yellowtail. I know I am sure no expert on Keys fishing. But a fist time boat owner with a snoopy rod would catch more than that in Venice. The keys are really fun but aren't even in the same league as venice LA...it is the fishing capital of the WORLD....the only thing that keeps it from becoming another Miami is it's so far from anything, both restaurant close at 7pm and you better have a clue about boating when running up and down the mississippi in the fog....fishing the keys has tons of options but there is a learning curve...for family vacation...keys...for hard core FISHING...Venice baby!.... Last week in Venice, after we loaded the boats with some hefty Red Snapper and Mangrove Snapper, cleaned fish, got more ice, gassed up the boats for another day on the water, etc, my Uncle was sitting on his houseboat dock at night catching bass with a plastic worm. 2 years ago, my boat came back to the dock with bass, redfish, trout, flounder, and red snapper on one trip out. Now I do like scuba diving in the Keys but have not had the opportunity to fish it yet.

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