Robbies, It ain't just fish!!
Written: Nov 12 '02 (Updated Nov 12 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: A unique stop for fifteen minutes or rent a boat
Cons: Nothing really
The Bottom Line: I live in a seaside town but this place is unlike anything I have ever seen or experienced.
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| popsrocks's Full Review: Robbie's of Islamorada |
This past spring my wife an I were in the Florida Keys in April. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we returned again in August with some of our children.
Getting to it
One of the places we wanted to share with them was Robbies. My wife had read about it in a travel book. It was stated as a great place to take kids and see and feed fish.
We stayed in Islamorada at a local Hampton Inn Hotel that I did a review about and highly recommend. A you leave Islamorada not far from marker 85 you cross one of the forty or so bridges that connect the keys from Key largo all the way down to Key West. As soon as you cross this bridge while heading south make an immediate right turn into the parking lot of Robbies.
Park your car. Try to get under one of the trees so it keeps the car out of the sun and cooler while you are adventuring. Head north in the lot and go to the docks on the right hand side. This takes you to a little shack that opens in the mornings at eight and closes at seven pm.
As you go into this little shack you will see all kinds of fishing, boating, and snorkeling gear. It's a beat up old looking place with the character of an old sea town fishing shop. Hey, that's what it is!
Some background and a fish story
Actually Robbies opened in 1976 and as the story goes Robbie saw a fish in the water near his place one day. He thought the fish was in shallow water so he went to push it out further. Upon investigation he sees the fish's jaw is torn open. The fish is a tarpon. he puts it into a holding tank and calls up the doc. OL' Doc comes over and sews up the jaw with some of his wifes sewing needles used for curtains. Now this is supposedly the first fish with stitches. The story goes on to say that Robbie named the fish Scarface. Over the next week he nursed the fish back to health and then released it. The greatful fish kept coming back. Robbie was in the fishing business and at the time cleaned fish at the site. The tarpon got himself some free meals and then brought a friend or two. As the years have gone on more and more tarpon followed Scarface to Robbies docks.
Feed the fish
You can benefit from this tale even now. Just go up to the guy in the shack, give him two bucks, and take the bucket of the fish he gives you outside to the docks.
As you walk out you will see other people with buckets in their hand throwing small baitfish into the water. At first you may just hear some splashing. Upon further investigation you will see huge two foot to five foot fish weighing from one to two hundred pounds. These fish are immense!
Tarpon have their mouth turned up towards the top of their heads. You see them lurking below. As you take a fish and start to throw it you will see the tarpon follow your hand and then dash with a big slash to the baitfish. There was a very daring young guy probably in his late teens who would lay down on the dock and slowly bring his hand down to the water with a baitfish in it. He moved very slowly looking into the water while watching the eyes of the fish. The fish would be waiting like a tiger ready to pounce. As the hand got closer still. SNAP!! The fish opened and snapped shut his mouth over the fish in the guys hand. The guy didn't get bitten but let me tell you, "It sure was close". He kept doing this over and over.
I can see why these tarpon are regular visitors. There are plenty of people feeding the merchant with two dollar bills getting another bucket and then returning for more again. It is actually very habit forming. We all just kept saying, "Just one more bucket."
You can pull up and feed the fish at anytime the place is open. It kind of struck me funny that this place didn't open till eight o'clock.
Rent a boat
One morning we were there at eight sharp to rent a boat. Yes there is more to Robbies than just a bunch of huge tarpon swimming about.
Robbies also sets up Party boat fishing of the Captain Michael. Robbies also rents fishing equipment and bait. They have boats to rent too. 16 footers to 30 footers. They had about ten boats for rent when we were there. You can rent for the day or up to weeks at a time. These guys will even deliver your boat to the hotel you are staying at. You do have to reserve early. Sometimes they get very busy. We could have rented a boat directly from our hotel The prices at Robbies were much better.
They have great guys working out on the docks. Very friendly. They give you all included safety equipment. They showed the kids how to wear life preservers. They had no problem wearing them.
When we went back to the Keys in August we decided to rent a boat for the day. We were a total of six. We asked about the twenty four foot pontoon boat. It was in our price range of eighty dollars for the day. We had to be back by five o'clock. That seemed early to me but we had a full day anyway. we packed a lunch and had a great day.on the boat.
If you want to learn a bit about how to use the boat tell the guy you never did it before. You may get a little more instruction than I did. For me it was just, "Put the key in here, turn the key, and then forward for getting the boat going in that direction and then back to reverse.
The guy helped us into the boat, then immediately wished us luck, took up our line, and pushed us out to sea. Well out to the bay. I have taken out boats many times before. So into foward I go and the boat continue with the tide going backwards right for the sea grass. I'm trying hard to control the boat. I take it out and then back into gear. I throttle up and I throttle down. I'm still drifting the wrong way.
The guy who saw us off sensed trouble and came out with a small skiff to pull us out of the sea grass we were just about to ground ourselves in. He throws a line and pulls with his boat. The line snaps. I couldn't believe it. He then comes up with another idea, he will try to push us in with one of his boats.
He pulls the skiff aside and tries pushing us out to no avail. Thankfully he finally got us back to the seas again after he went in a got a bigger one. He promised us that if we had any trouble at anytime he would personally come out and get us.I promised I would look to see if the engine had the blades in the water.
Back to the tarpons
They are all under you at the dock and there are ten, twenty, thirty and probably even much of them all competing for the fish in your bucket. It's really wild seeing them fight to get to the food first. The other tarpon are not the only competition. There are pelecans all over the place trying to get a bit of the baitfish.
Robbies charges one dollar to see the fish and two dollars to feed them. Be sure everyone who goes out pays two dollars for the bucket. They go fast and if one person really just wanted to "see" the fish well fine. Go out and then give the bucket to someone else.
The boat we rented was on pontoons. It was a perfectly flat deck that had places to store things. It was extremely roomy for the six of us. The guys at the dock give you good direction as to where to fish and rent or sell any supplies you need.
We did get a couple of fishing rods and fins and masks for two of our kids that didn't have snorkeling gear. We took the advised directions to the lighthouse area a couple of miles off shore. The lighthouse was a great marker. We had a fantastic time seeing all kinds of fish, fauna, and flora.
This was the first time we had a boat on a nice reef area and could spend all the time we wanted. It was fabulous. The reefs have places you can tie a line to so you don't have to drop anchor over the reefs.
After we completed our day we returned the boat. The guys were right there to greet us and secure us to the dock.
Yes Robbies is known as the place where you can feed fish but it's more than that.
Recommended:
Yes
Best Suited For: Families
Best Time to Travel Here: Anytime
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