Playa Blanca - Third Times a Charm

March 2007

Equinox Sunset at the Ruins

After our great trips to Playa Blanca  2004 and 2005 we didn't return in 2006 due to concerns over the damage by Hurricane Wilma in late 2005 but were ready to return in 2007 for more sun, beach, and fish.      

Travel to Playa Blanca

We arrived in Cancun on March 16th and again stayed at Villas Manglar, a small bed & breakfast type lodge at the south end of the Zona Hotel in Cancun.   After a dinner at Jimmy Buffett's Margaritaville, the Cancun branch, we headed back to Manglar for the evening avoiding the Spring Break crowds up in the hotel zone.   We awoke to a nearly perfect morning at Manglar.  Catherine did some yoga while I just relaxed before breakfast.

Yoga on the dock	Villas Manglar

We caught our ride to the airport at 9:00 a.m. and met up with the Casa Blanca staff there.  After a nearly perfect ride in the 5-seater where I got to ride co-pilot we landed at the airstrip and headed over to a cold margarita at Casa Blanca Lodge.

Boat ride to Casa Blanca	By our coconut friend at Casa Blanca

Wreckage from the Spanish Galleon

After a brief stay at Casa Blanca we caught the truck down to Playa Blanca and our room for the week at Casita Uno, where we stayed our first year there.  Pretty much immediately we un-packed our bags, took off our clothes, and headed for the beach.

Catherine heading to the beach

Days of beach walks, fishing, and swimming

Our days were split between mornings apart and afternoons together.  I fished each morning mostly in Laguna Santa Rosa but also in the Tarpon Lagoons south of Sacrificio, the lagoons in back of Santa Rosa, and in Bahia Espritu Santo.  Catherine used that time to do long beach walks up to Punta Estrella (about 10-12 miles round-trip) and to do yoga.   In the afternoon we had lunch either at our room or outside at the lodge and then spent the rest of the day at the beach or hanging out at the casita. 

Fishing

The waters around Playa Blanca are my favorite in the world to fish and I've always had good success there.  This year the wind was a factor every day but we managed to always find a way to get out of it and found fish each day.  I spent 3 mornings fishing for bones in Santa Rosa and landed 35-40 fish, mostly all on a pink legged Peterson's Spawning Shrimp.  I spent one day at the special Tarpon Lagoon where a 1/0 Marquesa Sunrise was the fly of choice.  I landed one baby tarpon, jumped two others, and had shots at several really big fish in the 60-80 lbs range.  We spent another morning searching for tarpon at the lagoons in back of Santa Rosa with not much luck, only spotting two tarpon all day. 

Geared up and ready to go

I spent one full day at Espritu Santo, with the intention of fishing for permit.  We worked a very long flat on the other side of the bay, starting where I got my first permit in 2004.  About half way down this long flat we spotted some fish near a point and headed over there.  We waited for the sun and saw a huge school of bonefish move into the water behind the point.  Then 3 permit appeared in the school and we setup for a cast.  I got off a cast in front of the fish but a bonefish intercepted the #1 Raghead crab pretty quickly.  With the 10-weight I horsed in the bonefish, released it, and we took off for the permit again.  We ran into them a bit further and I got a nice follow from the lead fish but no take.  About 2/3 of the way down the flat the permit again we coming toward the boat and I got off a few casts.  The lead fish began following the fly and as I was watching him close a second fish darted in and took the fly right out from under him, the fight was on.  After a pretty good battle I landed permit #4 and my nicest one to date.

The boat launch at Espiritu Santo	My permit, this is #4 all with Rene

Realizing that it was 10:30 a.m. and we'd landed a bonefish and permit already we decided to finish off this flat quickly then go look for tarpon the rest of the day.  We motored to the lagoons in back of Punta Herrero, had a quick lunch, and started the search.  Around 12:30 I saw a fish on the corner of a mangrove, we positioned the boat and I got off a good cast.  The fish followed the Marquesa Sunrise and hit, I figured that was it, my first Grand Slam.  As soon as the fish turned though and I saw the black stripe I knew I hadn't made it yet, instead I landed my first snook and we were one tarpon away from a Super Slam.  We spent the next 2 1/2 hours searching all over for tarpon to no avail.  Finally at about 3:00 just before we had to head back we saw two tarpon in a back corner and unfortunately these were big 40 lbs. fish not some little baby like I was hoping for.  I managed to get 2 follows on 2 different flies but no take before the fish disappeared and didn't come out again.  We fished a bit longer and saw nothing so had to head back.  The Super Slam was so close but I did manage a trip Super Slam and my first snook so I was a pretty happy fisherman. 

Beach Walking

Catherine spent the mornings doing yoga and a lot of walking on the beach.  Several days she walked all the way to Punta Estrella about 5-6 miles to the north and back.  Several other days she walked down to Punta Tupac where she found a lot of very nice shells. 

Beach walking to Punta Estrella	The "Sea-Monster" along the way
The gardener's palapa	Resting at the palapa

Afternoons at the Beach

I returned somewhere around 1 - 2 p.m. and we would have lunch together then go swimming.  The snorkeling was very good this year and we saw quite a few big barracuda, lots of snapper,  big schools of jacks, and a lot of tropical fish on the coral heads.   The good palapa was destroyed in the hurricane so only a smaller palapa was on the beach which wasn't as nice to hang out in so we mostly stayed on our beach area. 

Hanging on the beach after swimming
Reading at the casita	The makeshift palapa replacement

One day we had a huge rainstorm that lasted for a few hours keeping us housebound.  Other than that we had sunny skies every day and nearly pefect weather.  The rain did bring out the mosquitos though (pinches mosquitos as we called them) so we had more than a few bug bites this year.  

Rainy afternoon	Island bug repellant - burning coconuts
Heading to the lodge for dinner

Sunrise/Sunset

Every day we got up early for sunrise and stayed outside for sunsets, most of which were pretty spectacular.  

Sunrise on the beach
Sunset at the ruins

New Friends

We had a very small group this year, exactly one other couple.  Pete and Sandra where there to permit fish and ended up with 3 fish for the week, Sandra got two of them, Pete one.  We quickly became friends and spent time at breakfast and dinner each day.   

Pete and Sandra

We also enjoyed the company of our great hosts, Max and Claire, and the ever friendly staff at Playa Blanca, especially Nito the waiter/bartender. 

The Adventure Home

On Saturday we started our long adventure home which ended up requiring 11 vehicles and 24 hours.  To get to the primary flight in Cancun involved a pickup ride (1), a boat ride (2), a small plane ride (3), and an airport van shuttle (4). All of this went off without a hitch.

The island's bus service	Panga to get the airstrip
Here comes our ride to Cancun	The Saab for the flight

The flight to Cancun was very nice aside from a few bumps and we got good views of Punta Pajaros and Santa Rosa lagoon.

Punta Pajaros where Casa Blanca is	Laguna Santa Rosa

After arriving in Cancun we hoped an Alaska flight to LA (5), ended up stopped at a dead terminal near the beach which required a big bus (6) to the International Terminal.  Since our direct flight was canceled we had to spend the night in LA which involved a shuttle ride to the hotel (7) and back again to the airport in the morning (8).  Then a flight to SeaTac (9), a shuttle ride to the parking lot (10), and our own Outback home (11). 

For more information about Playa Blanca and Casa Blanca go to the Casa Blanca Fishing web-site, you won't be sorry.