Privacy Policy

Why is this policy so short?

Because the site does very little. It is a set of static pages about fishing charters, with no database, no login and no basket. The only things you can send it are the four forms below, and only if you choose to.

A longer policy would mean describing data handling that does not happen. That is misleading in the direction that flatters — it makes a small site look substantial and it is false.

No accounts, and four optional forms

You cannot create an account on Fishing Trips Florida Keys, because there is no account system. There are no comment boxes and no quote requests.

The contact form, on the contact page. It asks for a name, an email address, an optional topic and a message. What you type is what is sent — there is nothing hidden in it — and it goes to the customer system used to reply to you. It is not sold, not shared with any charter operator, and not added to an advertising audience. Nothing is collected unless you press send; the email address on that page does the same job if you would rather use your own mail.

⚠ It is not connected yet. The address it posts to is not served on the current host, so a message sent today reaches nothing. The form says so when that happens and gives you the email address instead — it does not thank you for a message that went nowhere. This paragraph goes when the plumbing does.

The trip planner, on the home page and on the best-time-to-go page. It asks five questions and shows you the whole result without asking who you are. Your answers stay in your browser — unless, after seeing the result, you use the optional “send me this estimate” box. That sends your first name, your email, your answers and the estimate on screen.

The charter matcher, on the fish species page. Same arrangement: your matches appear without an email. The optional box underneath sends your first name, email, your five answers and the list of matched operators.

Both boxes say they add you to occasional Key West trip-planning emails, and you can unsubscribe from those at any time. Nothing from either is shared with a charter operator or added to an advertising audience.

⚠ Neither is connected yet, for the same reason as the contact form. A submission today reaches nothing, and each box says so rather than thanking you.

The gift-card box, in front of every booking button. When you tap a button to book a trip, a box offers an Amazon gift card after your trip. It asks for your first name and email. If you fill it in, those are sent together with the booking link you tapped, the gift card amount, the page you were on and, if you arrived from one of our ads, the ad's click ID. They go through our own server, which keeps a copy, to AWeber, the email service we use. You then get our welcome emails, trip tips and offers, as the box says, and every email has an unsubscribe link.

A bot check runs inside that box. When it opens, it loads Cloudflare Turnstile from Cloudflare, which checks that a person rather than a script is filling it in. Cloudflare receives your IP address and browser details for that check, under its own privacy policy. It loads only when the box opens, never on other pages, and it never stops you reaching the booking.

“No thanks” sends nothing and takes you straight to the booking, and so does the link at the top of the box. If you reply after your trip with your booking confirmation, it is used only to check your gift card claim. Nothing from this box is given to a charter operator or to the booking platform. The rules are on the gift card terms page.

Cookies, and who sets them

Fishing Trips Florida Keys sets no cookies of its own. The chat widget does: it is run by a third-party provider, it loads on every page, and so its cookies are set on every page too. It is described in full below.

This page said "no cookies" until 19 September 2026, when the widget was added. It is recorded here rather than silently changed.

Your browser may store ordinary cache files for pages and images. That is your browser's own behaviour and is cleared however you normally clear it.

Analytics on the ad landing pages only

The guide pages run no Google Analytics, no tag manager, no pixel, no heatmap and no session recording. The trip matcher pages our Google ads lead to are the exception, described below.

There is one chat widget, and it is third-party code: every page loads it from the provider's servers, so the provider receives a request from your browser on every page, whether or not you open the chat. The map on the about page is the only other thing that loads from another company.

For a long time the only script in the build was an inert block of structured data. That changed when the charter calculator was added. The home page and the best-time-to-go page now carry the trip planner's script, and the fish species page carries the charter matcher's — all written here and served from here.

They run entirely in your browser. They set no cookie, store nothing between visits, and make no request anywhere unless you submit one of the optional email boxes. Apart from the chat widget, every other guide page carries no script but the structured-data block. The trip matcher pages are the exception, below.

The fonts are served from here, and once were not

Typefaces are an easy way for a site to leak visitors without meaning to. Loading them from a font service means the browser fetches them from that company on every page, handing over an IP address, a user-agent string and the address of the page being read.

This site did exactly that until recently. The sentence above about no third party receiving a request was false for as long as it lasted. The font files now sit on this site and are served from this domain, which is what makes that sentence true rather than aspirational — everywhere except the one page with a map on it, which is disclosed below rather than quietly excepted.

The map on the about page loads from other companies

There is one map on this site, at the bottom of the about page, showing the three areas charter boats leave from. It is the only thing anywhere on these pages that fetches from somebody else's servers, and it is worth being exact about what that means.

Two separate companies are involved, not one. The mapping software is Leaflet, loaded from a public code network called cdnjs. The map imagery — every square tile the map is built from — comes from OpenStreetMap's tile servers, and a fresh request goes to them each time you pan or zoom. Any server receiving a request can see the IP address it came from, so both of them see yours.

Only that page. Open any other page on this site and neither company hears from you at all. Nothing about who you are or what you looked at is sent, and the map sets no cookie.

It is here because that page argues the fleet leaves from three separate areas and that one of them is on another island — a distance that is hard to feel from a sentence and obvious from three pins. That is the trade, stated rather than buried: one page, two outbound requests, in exchange for the one fact most likely to send somebody to the wrong dock.

Booking links go to the operator's booking system

Some links here now go to an operator's booking system rather than to their own website. Following one takes you to that company, and from that point you are on their site under their privacy policy — the same as any other outbound link on this page.

This site sets no cookie and attaches no identifier to you. It does not track whether you booked, what you paid, or who you are. The exceptions are the ad click details kept on the trip matcher pages, described below, and the gift-card box, if you choose to fill it in. Commission is worked out on the booking system's side from the link the click arrived on, not from anything recorded about you here.

What that company does record when you arrive is theirs to describe, and booking a trip means giving them your name, contact details and payment information. That has always been true of booking a charter; it is stated here because the link now earns this site money, which is a reason to be more explicit rather than less.

The trip matcher pages

A few pages under /find-your-trip are landing pages for our Google ads. Nothing else on the site links to them. Some things happen there that happen nowhere else.

A script matches your answers to trips. It is written here, served from here, and runs in your browser. Your answers go into the page address, so a link you share opens the same trips.

Ad click details are saved in your browser. If you arrived from a Google ad, the ad's click ID and campaign name are saved in your browser's local storage. So is a short reference for any booking link you click. This is not a cookie, and it stays on your device. It reaches us only if you fill in the gift-card box or another email box. It exists so bookings can later be matched to the ads that led to them. Clearing this site's data in your browser removes it.

The booking window loads from FareHarbor. Once trips are on screen, the page loads FareHarbor's booking script, so a booking link can open their booking window over the page. From then on FareHarbor receives requests from your browser, under its own privacy policy.

Google's advertising tag. These pages load Google's tag. It records visits and actions such as starting the matcher or clicking a booking link, it sets cookies, and it lets Google show our ads to people who visited these pages. Google's own privacy policy applies, and you can turn off personalised ads in your Google account settings.

The chat widget

There is a chat widget on this site. It is not built here: it is provided and run by LeadConnector, the customer system this site uses, and it is the single biggest thing on this page, so it is stated in full.

It loads on every page, whether or not you use it. Its files are fetched from the provider's servers when a page loads, so the provider receives your IP address on every page you visit here, even if you never open the chat. It sets cookies at that point.

If you use it, what you type goes to the provider. Your name, any phone number or email you give, and your messages are sent to and stored by the provider on this site's behalf. They are used to reply to you and for nothing else — not sold, not added to an advertising audience, and not shared with any charter operator.

If you give a phone number and receive replies by text, reply STOP to any of them and they will stop.

The chat cannot book anything. It is the same channel as the email address and phone number on the contact page: an independent guide with no boats and no reservation system, so a chat message cannot book, change, cancel or refund a trip.

The phone number

Calls and texts to the number on the contact page go to the same customer system as the chat. It is a contact line for questions and corrections, not a booking line.

Text messages

If you give your mobile number in the chat and tick the consent box, we send text replies to your questions. We do not send promotional texts.

No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. Text messaging originator opt-in data and consent will not be shared with any third parties. Your number is used only to reply to you, through the customer system that sends the messages on our behalf.

Reply STOP to any message to stop receiving texts, or HELP for help. Message and data rates may apply. The full text-message terms are on the terms page.

Server logs

Like essentially every website, the server delivering these pages keeps standard access logs. Those typically record an IP address, the page requested, a timestamp and the browser's user-agent string.

They exist so the host can run and secure the server. They are not used to build a profile of you and are not connected to anything else.

[SLOT: name the web host once hosting is decided, and state the log retention period they actually apply]

Links to other sites

This site links to charter operators and government agencies. Once you follow a link you are on their site under their rules, and their privacy practices are theirs rather than ours.

Children

This site is not aimed at children and collects nothing unless somebody fills in one of the optional forms or uses the chat. It does not knowingly collect anything from anyone under 13.

Your rights, and why there is little to exercise them on

Privacy law gives you rights to access, correct and delete personal data held about you. This site holds none, so in practice there is nothing to request.

If you have emailed us, that email exists and you can ask for it to be deleted. Write to the address on the contact page and it will be.

Contact

Questions about this policy go to info@fishingtripsfloridakeys.com.