Your data.

This notice explains how SmartCOG (Pty) Ltd, trading as El Capitan Marine ("ECM", "we"), collects, uses and protects your personal information under the Protection of Personal Information Act 4 of 2013 ("POPIA").

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What we collect

• Name, email and phone you give when booking or signing in.
• Booking details: vessel, trip type, date, party size, special requests.
• Payment confirmation from Paystack, never your full card details. We do not store card numbers.
• Server logs (IP, user agent) for security and abuse-prevention.

Why we collect it

• To deliver the charter you booked.
• To contact you about your booking: confirmations, weather, changes.
• To meet legal record-keeping obligations (SARS, SAMSA).
• To improve our service. We do not sell your data.

Who we share it with

• Paystack: only payment metadata required to take payment.
• SendGrid / Twilio: to send your booking emails / SMS.
• The skipper assigned to your trip: name + party size only.
• Statutory authorities when legally required.

Cookies and analytics

We use Google Analytics to understand how the site is used: which pages people read, where a booking gets abandoned, and which adverts brought someone here. Google LLC runs it on our behalf.

Analytics cookies only run if you accept them. The banner on your first visit offers a straight choice, with nothing pre-selected, and analytics stay switched off until you answer.

• Accept: Google sets two cookies, _ga and _ga_J7WEX12RME, which expire after two years. They hold a random identifier, never your name, email or phone number. We also link this to our Google Ads account so we can see which adverts lead to real bookings, and Google may use it to show you our adverts on other sites.
• Decline: nothing is stored on your device. Google still receives an anonymous signal that a page was viewed, carrying no identifier and no way to connect it to you or to anything you do later.

Either way, we never send Google your name, email, phone number or booking details.

Your answer is kept in a cookie called ecm_consent for six months. It covers both this site and the booking app, so you are only asked once. To change your mind, clear your cookies for ecmarine.co.za and reload; the banner will ask again.

The banner does not cover the cookies that keep you signed in and hold a booking in progress. Those are essential to the site working at all and carry no advertising or tracking function.

Google processes this data on servers outside South Africa, including in the United States. Analytics data is deleted after 14 months.

How long we keep it

Booking and payment records: 7 years for tax/audit. Account data: until you delete your account, then deleted within 30 days. Server logs: 90 days.

Your rights

• Access: request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• Correct: fix anything that's wrong.
• Delete: close your account and have us erase your details (subject to the 7-year tax record requirement above).
• Object: stop processing for marketing or other non-essential purposes.
• Complain to the Information Regulator if you think we've mishandled your data.

Contact

Email - info@ecmarine.co.za WhatsApp - +27 64 621 0795.