fishingbuddha

Best day ever today! Yep I will admit even better than catching my first tarpon bone or barracuda on the fly. Hard to believe but true.

Today we started off the day on a boat that took us to the famous Hol Chan snorkelling and diving area. Now I have been snorkelling before and love it but did not expect the amazing diversity of coral and fish that we got to see at Hol Chan. Upon arrival we jumped into the water with a guide who took us along a trench where we saw barracuda, sharks, sting rays beautiful fish and lots of coral. My underwater camera didn’t do it justice but it was the most amazing underwater scene I have seen to date.

If that wasn’t enough the next stop blew our mind as we went to an area where we got to swim with a bunch of nurse sharks. Although known to be tame some of these sharks looked to be as long as 8 ft! Not only that we were swimming within 6 ft of these beautiful sharks! So much fun! I have to say even though Rebeca reminded me to make sure she swam with sharks even though she may resist, before I could even get my fins on she was already in the water trying to get the best view of these cool looking sharks.

On the way to our next stop which was Caye Caulker, our guides tried to look for some manatee that are usually found by the west side reef. With no luck we headed to Caye Caulker where we got to explore and have lunch. This place was very cool and a must see when you are in Belize:

I would have been content with all that we have seen so far but the day was only half way done! Next on the tour was a a stop to feed some tarpon at a tarpon sanctuary. This was so cool as we hand fed tarpon from the boat. The largest one we saw had to be upwards was of four feet long!

Following the tarpon feeding we unsuccessfully searched for sea horses. I have to say if we actually got to see one I think I might have lost my mind. We searched for a while but no luck. At the same beach we got to hang out with some rays. These rays felt so cool as they would swim right on top of but it was a bit in earning being so close to these things as they converge around our feet.

Last but not least we ended the day searching for manatee one last time. I so wanted to see one but unfortunately we’re not lucky. Oh well I guess this means we just have to come back!

The day ended with a boat ride back to Portifino Resort. But as we drive the captain provided all u can drink rum punch which was so good I couldn’t stop drinking them which unfortunately led me to not enjoy my amazing dinner that night due to a full belly!

Overall today was a truly amazing day and has left me with some memories I will cherish for ever. Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker did not disappoint at all: both Rebeca and and didn’t want to leave and we constantly looked at each other in awe as we couldn’t believe how much we loved it here.

What another great day in paradise. After yesterdays tarpon adventure I was able to leave the fly rod in our hut and venture out to Belize city. We started off the day at 5 am carting to San Pedro to catch a ferry to Belize city. Note to self to make sure u know where u are going because we didn’t have internet so no Google maps. Thanks to some early morning locals we found the departure area and took off for a 1.5 hour ferry ride to Caye Caulker and then Belize city.

We were picked up by our guide in Belize City. His name was Clarence but he says everyone calls him Brown Sugar. we join four other people for a guided tour of Atun Ha which is a famous Mayan ruin where a Canadian archeologist found the jade skull.

Our tour started off checking out the north side of the city where the middle to upper class live in houses worth up to $350,000 usd. Apparently there are 400,000 people living in this city but honestly it didn’t seem too crowded. Our tour guide mentions that in Mayan times there were 2.5 million mayans living in this area.

Interestingly Belize became an independent city in 1981 so it is relatively new as an independent country.

Our drive takes us through the north part of the city and out to the country side 45 minutes away. Upon arrival we were both awestruck by the size and beauty of the ruins. Hard to comprehend but absolutely amazing.

Aside from the fact that the mayans carried each block from ten miles away, one of the coolest things we learned was related to the location of the ruins. Apparently if u stand in the centre of the field between all the temples and out your hands together you can feel the magnetic field because apparently the center area is right in the center of the earths axis. As well if u stand in certain areas and clap, the temples give off distinct acoustics which was also amazing.

We learned so much as our guide actually studies Mayan culture for three years at college. Suck an amazing experience and one that got both Rebeca and I interested in learning more about Mayan history.

After the tour we got to check out the south side of Belize city which is more like the hood. Overall it was interesting but I wouldn’t stay in Belize city if we ever returned. Not much here except public and private schools each with their own church or sometimes churches.

There was one cool place we wish we got to see which was a manatee dolphin crocodile and howler monkey look out which was along the Belize River. Perhaps if we come back we would check that out.

Our day ended with a ferry ride back to San Pedro where we enjoyed an amazing seafood diner at the Anglers Restaurant where we tried some local food , stone crab and octopus ceviche. We learned the locals harvest stone crab by taking the largest claw from the crab and returning the rest to the ocean to grow back the harvested crab leg.

Well today I went out with a guide to target some fish on my bucket list….tarpon and permit. The guide took me to the mangroves where we searched or should I say hunted for tarpon. Hunted because you quietly moved through out the mangrove shallows looking for surfacing fish. As soon as we got to the first place we saw some moving and surfacing right away. Almost like trout sipping flies off the surface. But before I go on let me back up a bit.

My guide is a true Belizian dude with a Rastafarian accent who had a Guatemalan side kick. I started off the day having to show the guide I could cast and then proceeded to give me specifics to how he wanted me to cast and retrieve and set the hook when we see a tarpon. Specifically …don’t cast on top of tarpon, retrieve constantly with smooth strips of 25 inches and most importantly when the fish bites don’t pull the rod ip like we all do with almost all the fish we catch. Now let me reiterate the scene, this Belizian Rastafarian sounding guide says when u set the hook you pull back hard and if u have to pull twice to get the hook through the tarpons plated mouth…..DONT raise the rod…we say you have to bow to the gods and keep tip down always.

He also followed up with “you can cast well, some fuckers say they can cast but they can’t which fucks everything up!”.

I think getting pumped up by an experienced guide made me feel a bit over confident going into the tarpon area.

Fast forward, we travelled through some amazing water and entered the mangrove area. The guides side kick, jumps out if the panga and tucks us against a small mangrove island. The guide peeks around the corner and says there are tarpon here. I get excited and make some thumping sounds as u frantically get to the casting platform with the guide telling me to slow down and quit making fucking noise…again in a Rastafarian-Belizian accent. He tells me to start casting and then tells me to shoot….I don’t because I felt I was already back casting and as a result my cast was shit. He tells me to pick up and cast again thirty feet between two mangrove trees. I hit it and start retrieving. He doesn’t like my strip, he said I cast too short and then as he is giving me feedback…bang fish on! I was so jacked up I set the hook by pulling my rod up…the fish jumps and spits hook. Well….my guide loses his shit….”I fuckin told u to shoot and you didn’t…and then u fucking lifted your rod tip!” He continues to throw a tantrum …”you fucking want to do u go ahead. Don’t listen to me! You do u!”

I turn to him and say I was just too excited! I saw the tarpon come out of the water to hit this bait fish pattern that was just inches below and it was just too fucking exciting. The guide responds…I know , I know. He tells me the story of bowing down to the gods in order to catch tarpon , in reference to keeping the tip down. We see more risers but no luck and we decide to move to another bay. As soon as we arrive at the other bay it was game on again. We see moving fish and he tells me to shoot a cast to the fishing moving right but fifteen feet ahead of the fish. I am on it…until the wind picks up and in my excitement I make a high cast and my fly floats down in a pile of line like I have never casted before. Darrell starts swearing and telling me to re cast. But we miss the fish. Of course he proceeds to tell me to cast lower so the wind doesn’t catch the fly. I respond by thanking him for the tips and he turns and starts telling me to cast left to fish now moving left to right. I make a few casts to these fish which are now moving towards us and one takes…..except again in my excitement I pull the rod up instead of keeping top down and pulling the line back like I was instructed. Well….that was it. The guide went ape shit crazy telling me I don’t listen and I just do me. Now some people might take offence but everything he is mad about just made me more focussed to do better. He made a lot of sense. I again tell him this is hard. When u see a tarpon chasing your fly and this is all being done just meters away from the boat in clear water …one can’t help but get excited. Darrell calms down and within seconds shouting out commands again. I see the fish, I shoot the line when he instructed me to start stripping 25 inch constant and smooth retrieves , he yells it’s going to strike and this time I pull my retrieving hand back feeling the weight of the fish, give it a second yank and it’s game on! This fish pulls line out like there is no tomorrow, darrell continues to shout out commands like keep your tip down….and if the fish moves right rod goes left and vice versa. The fight goes on and on but at one point starts darting towards us. Unfortunately I reel with my right but this reel was a lefty and at one point I thought I was going to lose the fish as it darted towards me followed with a jump. Eventually the fish tires and we land a decent juvenile tarpon. What an amazing fish! So strong and majestic.

We get a few photos, celebrate with a drink and the my guide asks “Should we move to try and get permit?” I respond with a yes. Landing bones yesterday and this morning a tarpon… of course we try for the grand slam.

I was warned that permit would be hard and we needed some time to hunt them down. We took a long boat ride through the mangroves and across most of the bay to an island Leonardo dicaprio owns. We hit these amazing flats and start piling through the flats looking for shiny flashes, nervous water or moving fish. The water was amazing but it was a bit overcast. Apparently this is not good as u want the sun out so u can see what is going on in the water. We see a ton of barracuda but no signs of permit. Eventually we see some fish feeding and try to cut them off so we can cast but the fish were moving too fast. Throughout the rest of the day we saw one flash and one school of permit but we lost them as a cloud blocked the sun and as a result blocked our vision.

In the end we were not successful for permit but nevertheless I learned so much about tarpon and permit fishing. No regrets. And although my guide was very animated it also humbled me a lot as under pressure and in windy conditions the casting, retrieving and hook setting in this type of fishery made me feel like a rookie again.

Would I come back and hire darrell again? Absolutely. He was so knowledgeable and a straight shooter which is the coaching one needed when hunting for these fish.

Belize has been a fishing destination bucket list trip and I have to say it didn’t disappoint. I am enjoying this trip a lot! Travelling around a tropical island in a golf cart, seeing Mayan ruins, eating amazing seafood, and snorkelling with sharks manatees and seahorses! Definitely a place I will return to!

By the way I know some of you are wondering what happened to Rebeca. Don’t worry, she was happy pool side and beach side reading a book, going for an exploration walk, having a shrimp burrito for lunch and ending the day with a facial. for those of u who know here…this is kinda like me doing a diy bonefish day and catching one!

Day five was kind of a free day. We had no real plans so decided to explore the north and venture out on the golf cart about one hour north through jungle and dirt and beach roads. This adventure took us to Tranquility Bay which was a super pleasant surprise. On the way there we watched fly fishing guides fishing the flats and was very disappointed with the amount of garbage, mostly plastics, washed up on the beach. Arriving at Tranquility beach was like no other beach I have seen. Palm trees lining the shoreline, reef break off shore and crystal clear waters in turquoise for as far as the eye can see.

As we get off the cart and head to the beach I am immediately shocked as I see a school of bone fish swimming in the shallows. As I frantically put my rod together I slap on a white crazy Charlie and start casting. It does t take me long to hook into one but after a bit it manages to unbutton.

Stepping into the flats is like nothing I have ever experienced before. The sand is very fine and the water is like bath water. You also have to be very careful not to spook the fish as they are super sensitive to movement in the air and in the water. After fishing the one spot I decided to move only to find a huge school of bones. In this second spot I managed to land six and loses a few more over a period of a few hours. Bones are like nothing I have ever caught. Pound for pound these feisty bullets pull and strip line like crazy and at times had me twisted up in my fly line because they moved all over the place very quickly. When u land them they feel like just one big muscle kinda of like whitefish for those of you who have landed and handled BC mountain Whitefish.

Rebeca was also able to land her first bone fish which is also pretty cool.

After my fishing experience and Rebeca’s walk along the beach we decided to get some fresh ceviche at the local restaurant and celebrate the day.

Now that we have some wheels we decided to check out Secret Beach who’s is on the west side of Ambergris Caye.

I did try fly fishing at secret beach but the weather was so calm and clear the fish were easily spooked plus there were not a lot around. After a few hours we decided to go to lunch at the Blue Bayou.

This is a cool place because u get to eat while in the water. Aside from this cool factor the food was amazing and there were fish swimming u set our table while we ate.

One of the coolest things I saw today was a couple eating in the restaurant beside us. The boyfriend was standing on the table while fly fishing. Although I didn’t see him land anything I will give him cool factor points for attempting such a feat!

Only in Belize.

After Secret Beach we decided to hit the In D Wild restaurant again for some snapper and conche and shrimp ceviche.

Later that night as I was opening the door to the hut, just as I turned the door handle, Rebeca screams out like she had been shot. As she stumbles into the hut I notice a winged bug or small bat coming in with her. As she takes cover in the bed I grabbed my food rod case and immediately started using my kendo skills to kill whatever was in our room. I also realize that Rebeca had been stung and this monster three inch black winged thing was a huge wasp. Seriously after three good strikes I was able to somewhat stun it but only stun it as it was still alive. Worried it was poisonous I ran to the front desk to get help.

Meanwhile Rebeca was in a lot of pain and we were not reassured by staff when we heard “we don’t know what that is” and “do u want to go to the hospital” and we will go look this bug up”. In the meantime I figure out it is a giant three inch black wasp and there was no worry about anything other than a nasty sting. But let me tell you…that really freaked me out. As well Rebeca was a champ as she didn’t panic and sucked it up. Bonus points to her for her toughness!

Needless to say, regardless how hot it was that night I covered up big time under the sheets!

On our second full day we decided to take advantage of the resort bikes and ride to San Pedro which was just over a ten km ride. In most hot places this would be torture but Belize has a instant wind which kept us somewhat cooler but I won’t lie….my 54 year old body felt it. Arriving in San Pedro we immediately found a cool bar called Palapa which was situated on the water. As we walk up to the bar my eyes bug wide open as I see some fish under the pier and then start to freak out as I realize they are tarpon!

I have to say I do love the beer in Belize. Both the Beliken and Landshark beer and alcohol seltzers are so good.

After walking around San Pedro we ended up checking out a market, got a massage on the beach and then rented a golf cart and trucked our bikes back to the resort. On the way back we found a cool Bolivian/Belize/Mexican restaurant and had some amazing tacos and snapper.

After lunch I had to go try some coconut rum off a guy on the side of the road which was a cool experience….and got both Rebeca and I very tipsy.

Oh yeah I almost forgot while we were in San Pedro I also tried to hit the local fly shop but only to find it was closed…very sad!

Later that night we had dinner at The Tipsy Lobster followed by checking out a place called the Truck Stop.

The truck stop was cool because there were food trucks, live bands, a pool, an outdoor movie, games area as well as a dock overlooking a lagoon. Will come back for sure to check out more action here.

So grateful to be able to experience a bucket list trip with my Rebeca. It’s only been four days and so much has happened.

First of all, Rebeca almost didn’t make it through the smal plane we took to get to this Caye. It was windy and I admit windy enough that our plane was sideways at one point taking off….but we survived!

Arriving in San Pedro at night we were picked up by our resort in a golf cart which apparently is the main mode of transportation here .

Not only was our resort amazing but our grass roof hut was also large beautiful and had the best view of the pool and beachside.

The next day we went out on a bike ride and found a cool little local restaurant called In D Wild where we had amazing cerviche and fresh snapper.

Following the bike ride I decided to make a few casts with my fly rod. The first few casts I attracted some permit but couldn’t get them to take the fly. I also saw some bones. One cast attracted something big out of the grass but it didn’t take. As I cast in front of the fish I just attracted I was able to hook into it only to find out it was a decent barracuda. Almost taking all my line twice including backing I was able to land this beauty which I ended up giving to a local. After the fact found out the bar down the road will cook it up for me.

All I can say is what a fight. My 8wgt rod was almost to small.

Got to say ….I have been on a few travel fishing trips but I have a feeling Belize is going to be like no other! This is our first full day!

Although I got skunked at least my fishing partner landed a late season coho, rainbow and bull on a local flow while Czech Nymphing.

What a great way to start off the new year!

The crew entered an ice fishing derby and Cherrywood placed first with a 5.1 lb bow. Nicely done!