Poppa Wahoo: the 55 foot Hatteras that leads the family.

Fifty-five feet changes what counts as a fishable day. When it comes up out of the east and the small boats start turning back, she is still riding level with a cup of coffee sitting on the table. Twin 1250 horsepower diesels move her out at a 22 knot cruise, and more to the point they move her out there in weather that would end somebody else's charter.

Down below she is a real sportfisher: air conditioned salon, beds, galley, and a head, with a fighting chair and flybridge topside. The spread runs on outriggers and downriggers, tuna tubes and live wells keep bait frisky, and Starlink, radar, and sonar keep the captain a step ahead of the fleet.

Why she exists

In late 2024 the Epstein brothers found out their father was terminally ill. Bob had spent a lifetime writing about Florida Keys fishing for the Miami Herald, and what his sons wanted was one more day on the water with him. So they went and bought a boat for it.

They did not make it. Bob saw a photo of her from his hospital bed. "He knew about the boat," Brian told the Keys Weekly, "and then he said goodbye." He passed on January 14, 2025.

They named her Poppa Wahoo, for the nickname everyone on the Islamorada docks used, and rather than sell her they put her to work. One boat became four, and the fleet carries his name on every transom. Every trip she runs is the trip they did not get to take.

What she runs

Deep sea half days ($1,475), three-quarter and full days ($1,975 / $2,475), the 5 pm evening shark trip ($1,000), and the fleet's signature overnight swordfish expedition ($3,500), where her berths turn a fishing trip into a sea voyage.