Fish-Tale launches maiden voyage of Estero Bay Express
The maiden voyage of the Estero Bay Express experienced a spectacular sunset cruise complete with leaping dolphin, an eagle in flight and a curious manatee to excite the invited Fort Myers Beach business people who witnessed it. The free promotional trip, which carried the passengers to roughly a mile offshore of Lover’s Key State Park, was launched by Al and Kathy Durrett, owners of Fish-Tale Marina at Santini Marina Plaza.
“I hereby name this vessel the Estero Bay Express,” said Al Durrett during the christening. “May God Bless her and all who sail upon her.”
Capt. Sam Arcure and First Mate Bill Cushing made up the crew aboard the 45-foot-long, 15-foot-wide pontoon boat. The 49-passenger vessel, which cruises at 20-25 miles per hour, was powered by 500 horsepower with two twin Yamaha motors.
“This is something I’ve wanted to do since I rigged the first one of these boats in the service department with a pair of Yamahas in 1989,” said Al Durrett. “I swore up and down that I’d have one of these boats before I got out of the business. So this year, my wife, Kathy, and I decided to try this. We’ve been building this for the past four or five months. It’s a boat that was built up in Tarpon Springs for commercial use. You can enclose them, and you can make two decks out of them.”
Durrett said he would like to have another boat next season for fishing if the Estero Bay Express pans out this season.
“These boats are certified by the Coast Guard to go 20 miles offshore which no other boat in this area is able to do,” he said. “That enables us to do a lot of different things with the public.”
Not only are the Durretts aiming to have sunset cruises, the Fish-Tale Marina owners have plans for dinner trips to Cabbage Key and luncheon trips to Tarpon Lodge. Both rides include a two-hour boat ride to Pine Island Sound with an eco-tour on the way back.
“We’re going to go around to condo associations to set up weeks for these trips,” said Durrett. “We are going to try to market the boat that way.”