Sian Ka'an - the Birthplace of the Sky
After our great trip to Playa Blanca and Punta Pajaros in 2004 we decided almost immediately to sign up for a return trip in 2005. We were looking forward to more fishing, snorkeling, swimming, and just plain relaxing on the island plus added a few days to the trip to visit the ruins at Chichen Itza and Tulum this year.
We arrived in Cancun on April 22nd and stayed at Villas Manglar, a small bed & breakfast type lodge at the south end of the Zona Hotel in Cancun. This was a great little spot to stay, very quiet and away from the crowds on the main strip yet an easy bus ride to the restaurants. They also cater to fly fishers in the area and guide just outside of Cancun for bonefish, tarpon, and permit. On Saturday, the 23rd we caught our charter flight to Punta Pajaros and began the boat and pickup journey to Playa Blanca.
This year we stayed in the Casa Redondo Suite instead of at the main lodge. Casa Redondo is about 500 meters north of the main lodge and thus requires a walk or bike ride to get to the lodge for meals and for fishing pick-up. This turned out to be great for us, we had total privacy and got to get some exercise going back and forth each day several times. The suite itself was a great room with a large bedroom area, a large bath and a shower with plants surrounding it. The deck looked out over the beach and a private trail led to the white sand beach where we never saw another person the entire week of the trip. Our company was birds, foxes, and barracuda.
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Casa Redondo Suite entrance. The bicycles were our main transportation to and from the lodge. |
Casa Redondo Suite from the beach |
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The bedroom |
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| The bath | The shower/tub part of the bath |
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| Walking to our private beach | The beach looking towards Playa Blanca |
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| El zorro. There were foxes all over the island this time, this one at Playa Blanca near the rod rack | |
Our days were split between mornings apart and afternoons together. I fished each morning mostly in Laguna Santa Rosa but also at Laguna Tres Marias out of Casa Blanca, in Bahia Espritu Santo, and in the tarpon lagoon in back of Santa Rosa. Catherine used that time to do a personal yoga retreat in the palapa and on the beach.
The waters around Playa Blanca are my favorite in the world to fish, especially after the year I had last year. The fishing this year was a bit tougher than last year because the conditions were not as ideal but I still caught fish each day and I think everyone left pretty happy with the fishing. We had low water to contend with, the guides blaming it on the Christmas tsunami, with the addition of spring tides caused by the full moon compounding the problem a bit. We also had a lot of wind so there were days when the bonefish were not on the flats or were so spooky because of the wind that they were very challenging. The tarpon lagoon was hard to get into because of the low water and the tarpon didn't seem too interested in eating much of the week but started settling the last few days. The permit fishing was hit or miss, I missed this year but one angler, Joe, hit big time and landed 6, yes 6!!!!, permit in one day.
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Starting the day at the breakfast table. I can't fish without my huevos rancheros. |
Taking canoes to the boats because of the low water |
The best fly for me was the Peterson Spawning Shrimp which the fish really hit hard the first day when I hooked up 15 bonefish in 4 hours of fishing. On my day at Casa Blanca the best fly was a small #6 Gotcha with the smallest eyes possible, we were literally on hands and knees fishing for bonefish in very skinny water which was the most fun I had fishing for bones during the week. That day started out rough then I found a banana in the cooler, ate it, and suddenly we found the happy, tailing bonefish in skinny water. For a few days the bonefish seemed keyed on small crabs and I was throwing the foam J-Crab at them and did OK with it, while others were using small Merkins.
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A typical Santa Rosa bonefish that took the Spawning Shrimp |
On the beach I spent a bit of time chasing barracuda, especially after the first day when I had a monster cuda cut right through my 40# wire tippet. A few days later after snorkeling while Catherine was getting a massage I went for cuda again and managed to land a very nice fish of about 3.5' long off the beach on my Sea Candy Needlefish pattern.
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Fishing the beach |
The result - a nice cuda |
Two tarpon were landed during the week and quite a few jumped, especially the last few days after the weather settled out a bit. I had two takes including one by the biggest tarpon I'd hooked to date. I got three jumps out of the 35-40 lbs. fish before the fly came unglued while I was busy trying to untangle a knot from my fly line.
Catherine spent the mornings doing her yoga retreat at the palapa and on the beach.
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| Sun salutations at the Birthplace of the Sky | |
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| Dancer on the beach | Triangle in the surf |
I returned somewhere around 1 - 2 p.m. and we would have lunch together then go hang at the palapa for a while before going swimming at our beach or snorkeling near the lodge where the reef comes close. The snorkeling was very good this year and we saw a lot of big barracuda, lots of snapper and other small fish, a few big jacks, and a very large leopard ray which was amazing to see up close in the water. I got to receive a Thai Yoga massage one day in the palapa which was about as close to heaven as one can get. Catherine also did a trade with Carmen and another Thai Yoga massage with Sheila during the week.
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Relaxing in the palapa |
More relaxing in the hammock |
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Catherine getting a massage |
Coming in from the reef |
Our evenings were spent in dinner with the guests and staff of the lodge and re-telling the day's fishing stories, telling old fishing stories, and talking about everything from medicine (lots of doctors on the trip) to politics and religion. The food, as always, was superb and once again I left the island gaining a few pounds. Mid-week we had Mexcian Night which involved cerveza, michiladas, and tequila along with music provided by the staff and muchas comida de mexico. This year Pupa even played all our favorite songs - La Llorona, La Cucaracha, Novia Mia, as well as quite a few others.
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Having fun on Mexican Night |
The Playa Blanca Trio - Sheila, Antonio, Pupa |
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Tequila, salt, and sombreros - need I say more... |
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We made some new friends on this trip, as well as seeing some old ones, which is one of the fun parts about taking trips like this. We hit it off very well with the new hostess, Sheila. For me, Sheila was the perfect person to talk to, she was learning English and I'm still learning Spanish, needless to say her English is way beyond my pre-school Spanish. Catherine and Carmen, both being massage therapists, hit it off immediately. The staff at Playa Blanca is always great, making sure your trip is as enjoyable as possible.
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Nosotros con Sheila |
Carmen y Catherine |
We had a small group this time around, the rest of the group was Bob and son, Rob, from Washington D.C. and San Francisco. Joe was from Savannah, GA and was the permit king of the trip, catching permit numbers 42-47 on this trip. Mike from Albuquerque, NM and Shawn from Ashland, OR made up the rest of the group.
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| Bob & Rob | Joe - the Permit King | Shawn & Mike |
On Saturday we hated to leave the island and were the last ones to go so we got to spend the morning relaxing and taking our last walk along the beach. After another fantastic lunch of ceviche and fish, we headed up the road to Casa Blanca and the the airport "terminal" across the bay for our flight back to Cancun.
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Waiting for our flight from Casa Blanca |
For more information about Playa Blanca and Casa Blanca go to the Casa Blanca Fishing web-site, you won't be sorry.
