Another wonderful visit with old friends and new ones is coming to an end as I pack my bags and head for the ferry dock. The fishing backed off a little yesterday as the wind came around to the East and it sprinkled rain during the day. Some bait balls were found in the early part of the day, then it was mostly trolling bites for the fleet. Everyone still ended up in double digits. I wish I’d seen the sun a little more this week but I’m leaving with some great sailfish shots and no complaints. I should have these captures posted on AquaPaparazzi.com next week.
Chris Cousteau swimming with a GIANT Manta Ray. We found an area where we saw a dozen of these swimming on the surface along with schools of smaller rays. And each one of the big rays had it’s own school of Sardines in tow.
Carnival on Isla and dancing in the streets.
Andrea relaxing on the dock in-between Carnival performances.

The wind is blowing and it’s cold in the Yucatan. Locals tell me that this is the longest cold spell they can remember. The good news is that the annual push of Atlantic Sailfish is going on strong. With the brisk North wind come the sails. And this week they are here in force. And the report is that they have been here and biting very well for several weeks now. It appears to be one of the quieter winter fishing seasons in a while with regard to the transient sportfishing boats. Sad for those who aren’t here, good for those who did make it. I arrived just behind a strong winter front and barely brought enough clothes to pull it off. A brief stay but boy am I seeing some fish. If I count the sails in the spread, tailing, and feeding under the birds, I’m seeing hundreds of sails each day. The conditions are right for fishing the birds, and this also makes for some world class trolling in between bunches. I’ve fished several days aboard the newest Paul Mann boat Qualifier, and also aboard the Keen M. Both boats have put me in the meat each day.I’ve only been trying to get this shot for a few years now … a bait ball of Sardines on the move with dozens of Sailfish and Frigate birds picking away.

Frigate birds battling Sailfish for a fresh Sardine meal.

What they lack in size, the Atlantic Sail makes up for in attitude.

Every so often, one special fish comes along and displays the most magnificent rich colors of blues, green, and gold.

I’m back from the Spice Island and had a wonderful trip. While the fishing was much slower than I was hoping (that is a familiar theme with me), the rest of the trip went so well that I can’t stop thinking about how to get back there. Beautiful clean island, very green with lots of rain and abundant fresh water, and every person I met had the same warm and welcoming attitude towards tourist. It also didn’t hurt that the pampering at Mount Cinnamon Resort and personal touring from Port Louis Marina staff seemed to have no limit. I managed to get a bunch of scenic photos on the extensive land and sea tours too. I even went out on a boat that was powered by a piece of cloth, I think they called it a sail. Very strange craft, but oddly relaxing. The local Caribe beer might have had something to do with that euphoric illusion. An exchange rate of 2.7 EC to 1 US dollar worked out to be not that overly expensive for our day to day stuff. I would go back to Grenada on vacation in a heart beat. To see a slideshow of my photos, click the arrow in the bottom right corner of the image above to start the show. Or mouse over the above image and left/right arrows will appear.

This just in from the front line. Anthony Mendillo from Isla Mujeres called me this morning to tell me about Tuesday’s action aboard his charter boat “Keen M”. Every once in a while the moon and the stars align and last Tuesday was one of those days. So many things have to fall in place for it to happen: weather conditions, the ideal skilled angler, and the perfect mix of bait and birds. It doesn’t hurt that Anthony is one of the best Sailfish charter captains and the most observant student of their behavior. A nice early start put Anthony in the birds and bait at first light and his angler Nassim Joaquin went to work. Nassim is very familiar with the routine since he lives locally and charters the Keen M whenever conditions look ideal for fly fishing. When the day ended, they managed to get the release of 12 fish, and lost countless other every which way possible. The local record (and Atlantic record?) was 10 releases on fly. That was set a few years ago by another team of ace fisherman, angler Joe Zimmer and Captain Butch Cox aboard the Prime Time. Way to go Anthony!