No Banana Rule

Why Can't You Bring Bananas on A Boat?

Have you ever heard the superstition that you can't bring bananas on a boat, and wondered where that came from? Here's the tall tale!

Many anglers believe that bananas on your fishing charter boat are bad luck, but don't know how this superstition started. There are in-fact, two reasons for this superstition.When the Latin America fruit trade developed and bananas became popular in the United States and Europe, they were shipped up whole, with all of the hands on the stalk. Of course, since they were fresh off of the fruit plantations, the stalks also carried spiders and snakes. Sailors would get bitten during transit, and therefore bananas were bad luck on board all boats! The second reason for this superstition was that the fruit carriers were always the oldest ships in the shipping fleet. If one sank, (and they did) either because of storms or mechanical failure, the stalks would float to the surface. The next vessel to follow that route would find floating bananas far out at sea and that would only confirm what the sailors felt at the time, that bananas were bad luck! 

My personal experience with Tuna Wahoo during all my years as a fishing charter captain has produced one anecdote. We were fishing early in my charter career, and the whole charter fleet was anchored up in a small area. The bite was terrible, the charter guests were bored, and the head of the charter stepped out of my cabin holding a couple of bananas. Of course now I had an excuse as to why the fishing was so bad so I explained to him the effect bananas had on sailors. I suggested to him that all would be right in the world if he took the bananas and threw them at the boat anchored next to us (a buddy of mine was running that boat!). Apparently this gentleman had spent more time behind books than on the ball field, because when he wound up and threw the bananas they sailed high up in the air but landed in the water right next to my boat. However, the cell phone in his pocket sailed about 15 feet before it hit the water. I turned to him with a straight face and said, “see, I told you bananas were bad luck!” My mate grabbed the bananas bobbing next to my boat and lobbed them over to my next door neighbor, he repeated the act to another boat. A little while later, the bite turned on, (the tide started moving) and all was right with the world. I still eat bananas, just not on the boat .

To this day, we support, no bananas on a boat rule for all our Palm beach fishing charter escapades! We are ready to catch some fish out here on Tuna Wahoo, no excuses to make ti worse! Although, I won't kick you off the fishing boat if a banana just so happens to make its way into your snack bag, but you may have to eat it before we launch ;). Rule of thumb, Keep those bananas and banana peels at home for your next fishing adventure, not matter if you're fishing with us on Tuna Wahoo or on your own Livingston at home! Don't forget to book your fishing charter with Tuna Wahoo and Captain Rich Today!