2024 Sailing Season: 2024-03-06 Fishing Expedition

2024-03-06 Fishing Expedition

Sunrise at the Boat Launch!

Today was forecast as a ‘no wind’ day, so Wyatt arranged for a fishing boat for us. Kent, Lorna, Jim, Cam, Blaine and I met our boat captain, Lalo, at the boat launch just before 6:30am, just as the sun was coming up – beautiful!

Lorna and Kent - Ready for some Fishing!

We loaded up and were off right away. We headed up the beach to a spot north of the main campground where we met Lalo’s nephew, who had another boat with a couple of other guests from ProWindsurf. Connor and __________. Lalo jumped into their boat and said he would be right back. They were going fishing for sardines to use as bait. We thought he would be "right back". I think he was having more trouble than he though he would, to catch them. We waited in the boat for more than 90 minutes… WTF??

Lalo - Trying to net Sardines for bate!

Eventually he came back, but he still didn’t have enough sardines, so we headed to the Las Palmas campground where we fished for more sardines by throwing a net into the shallow water. Jim drove the boat, directed by Lalo. We followed where the pelicans were, and eventually got enough to carry on.

We drove up the coast to the north, past the hot springs, and then about that distance again, or maybe a bit more. We were slightly past Hotel Rancho Las Cruces, an expensive resort with white buildings and red roofs.

We tried trolling, without any luck. We saw a couple of Humpback Whales while we were trolling, but didn’t get very close.

Whales!

After a while, we stopped to fish for snapper. Lalo put weights on the filing line about ½ meter from the hook so the weight would sit on the bottom. He hooked sardines, through the nose, so they were still alive and could swim around a foot or so off the bottom. If the fish took a small bite, we would get a jerk on the line, but would only have the front half (or less) of the sardine left when we reeled in our line. If the fish took a big bite, and we were able to jerk our line properly and start reeling it in, we might catch the fish. We lost way more sardines than we caught fish, but eventually each of us caught one.

Cam - Kissing the Fish!

On the way back, we spent most of the time trolling again, but the Dorado just weren’t cooperating. Just as well, as we had way more fish that we will eat anyway.

We got back to shore around 2:00. Lalo took the fish, cleaned and filleted it, and then delivered it to Wyatt’s.

Kent - First to strike - with a big one on the line!!

We were all pretty tired and sun baked. Kent, Lorna, Louise and I want to a Taco Stand in El Sargento for lunch where we could sit in the shade with a little breeze.

Around 5:00, we all gathered in the Party Palace. Charles had gone grocery shopping and had purchased the vegetables for Fish Taco’s. We drank Margaritas, and “Fog” beers, while dicing up all the vegetables. Fortunately, no one was hurt. Wyatt and Zaira looked after grilling the fish. I don’t particularly like fish, but the fish taco’s were excellent!

We had fun chatting together and to all the other guest. The Party Palace is one of those things that really makes the trip special.

Early to bed – looking forward to sailing tomorrow.