poppawahoo.com
charter fleet rebuild
Poppa Wahoo
Islamorada's storied charter fleet, the family that literally wrote the book on Keys fishing, rebuilt from a rented booking template into a site they own: trip rates published up front, a page for every trip and species, and every path pointed at the booking call.
the build story
Challenge, build, outcome.
challenge
What needed to work
The Poppa Wahoo Collective has real history on the dock and had a site that showed none of it: a generic booking-SaaS template that buried the rates, contradicted itself on policies, and read like every other charter page in the Keys, with bookings routed through marketplace listings that take a cut.
build
What was built
- Rates on the dock board: Half day $1,475, full day $2,475, published up front on a rate board that overlaps the hero, because hidden prices were the worst thing the old site did.
- A page for every trip and species: Offshore, nearshore, shark, swordfish, sunset and sandbar runs, each with its own page built to rank for Islamorada charter searches and to book.
- Heritage design from the fleet's own brand: Navy and gold sampled from the logo, a well-set serif, and a legacy section led by the real photograph of Bob Epstein with President George H. W. Bush.
- Owned, not rented: Custom code on the recovered poppawahoo.com domain. The family keeps the code, the content, and everything the site earns.
outcome
Why it matters
The site launched in the summer of 2026, so ranking claims can wait until the numbers exist. What changed on day one: the fleet's web presence belongs to the fleet, the rates are public, and a booking starts with a direct call instead of a marketplace commission. More builds like this: web design for charters and marine businesses.
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