Done Deal

I'm sitting in the Margaritaville Cafe at the Cancun airport waiting for my flight.  My previous blog didn't happen due in no small part to an intermittent internet connection.  Yesterday was my last day.  Doug Wall, my host, joined us just in time for the wind to switch to the Southeast and start to blow like hell.  We decided to give it the old college try regardless.  To use the correct maritime terminology, we got the snot slapped out of us for 4 hours in 4 to 6 foot seas, very short wave periods, and winds gusting at 25 knots plus.  I enjoyed the ride watching everyone get soaked from the air-conditioned comfort of the leather couch in the well-appointed salon.  George, the mate, raked up some really nice bonitos.  Things like weather become a lot less stressful when you've already got what you came for.

This last week has been amazing, I hope the photos do the experience some justice.  The sailfish is one of the most elegant of all the game fish and one of the fastest.  The sail has the grace of a flamenco dancer with her flowing skirt and fine foot work and the timing of a matador.  The bigger bill fish have their raw power and brawn but the sail is a true master swordsman, an artist with the bill and cape.  To see them en masse and lit up like the Vegas strip was incredible.  Life is good!

It's now back to Morehead City to get these images working and start setting up for the next trip.  Guatemala in April at Casa Vieja is looking good and then in late May it's off to the Med for big bluefin tuna (yes, there are still a few left there).  As the spring turns to summer I will be working off the North Carolina coast with some of my favorite boats and captains.  I'm looking forward to getting some shots of the great Carolina marlin fishery.  Thank you again for all the emails, comments, and Facebook messages from those of you enjoying the blog. As of this morning we are just short of 1000 visitors this week.  A big thank you to Doug Wall for the invite on his great boat, Captain Larry "The Switch" Toma and mate George for their patience this week.  There are not many fishing captains that will literally park their boat over a bait ball for more than three hours and watch while a hundred sailfish circle the boat eating bait inches from the transom and not have a single line out.  Larry, you are a strong man.

Cheers from Mexico.

Marc

In the "Can"

El Milagro Marina, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

Another great day!  Captain Larry had us in the birds before we even got to the starting waypoint.  I was in the water with a bait ball within 20 minutes of leaving the dock.  We started with low, early morning light so I decided to go with video to begin.  Here is a link to todays VIDEO.  Sorry about the sound track; it's all I could get royalty-free from YouTube.  Stay tuned for the high quality DVD version.  One shot in particular stands out, another near miss from a sail's bill. Speaking of which, I saw a sailfish today with another sail's bill broken off at the base of its tail.  This I've seen in marlin before but the first time in a sail.

Today Larry and the crew had getting into the water with the bait down to a science.  The fact that the dolphins were gone was a BIG help.  So much so that I was able to shoot 15 minutes of video, swim back the boat to swap cameras, get back in the water with the same bait ball, shoot 300 images to fill my 8 gig card, swim back to the boat, dry off, enjoy a snack, download and view my images, change lenses, and get back in the water just in time to see the last 5 sardines get eaten.  The last one took refuge around my neck.  I had 4 or 5 sails circling me, eyeing the stowaway.  Finally one sail made a move and snatched the sardine from literally under my nose.  As he passed, for a split second we were eye to eye, a few inches apart. WOW!

I have one day left with the chance of a big blow tomorrow from the southeast.  As it stands, this trip has produced images way above those I wanted. I'm stoked with what I have in the "can".  From the around 1500 images I have shot I will choose probably three for prep and printing into limited edition fine art prints which will be added to the fine art collection on my website.  I will also produce a range of sailfish posters and note cards which will be available from the online store in the coming weeks.  The video side of things is new to Occhio, but with some post-production editing I am going to try and produce a 15 minute DVD of a sailfish bait ball.  Keep coming back to the website for updates.

Thanks to the almost 700 people who have read my blog over the last few days and for all your Facebook messages and emails.  It has really been great to share this trip with you.  I've had several requests for more information on the island of Isla Mujeres itself.  Once I'm done with tomorrow's trip I will take a drive through town and try to get some local interest shots.  Today I've added a shot of the El Milagro Marina where we've been based.  Click here to follow a link to their website.

A Day Festooned with Pristine Beauty and Brilliance

The title I stole from a dive travel writer years ago.  I would laugh with friends about it and say, "What the hell is festooned with pristine beauty and brilliance anyway?"  Well today my day was festooned with pristine beauty and brilliance!  I have video to prove it.  Click on this youtube link to see the video that I shot with my Canon 1Ti.  The winds switched to the summer trades from the southeast.  When we rounded the western tip of Isla there wasn't a whitecap insight.  As we approached the "start" waypoint we could see the horizon literally covered in birds, their flying patterns very different from the herding bird wild goose chase we had been on yesterday.  As we approached the first of the feeding pods we realized that it wasn't just sailfish; there were dolphin (mammals not dolphin fish) everywhere.

The water was cold and green and. with the time of day, there was very little light.  I jumped in on the first bait ball which seem to be traveling a million miles per hour into the current and far from me.  I got in and three seconds later there was a trail of sardines, sailfish, dolphins and frigate birds headed for the horizon.  This went on and on, in the boat, out the boat, in the boat, etc.  Our practiced true and tried tactics from Friday had no effect on today's action.  It didn't take long for me to work out who the %&@# culprits were... the dolphins!  After today if I never see another dolphin it will be too soon.

The success we'd had earlier this week was based on getting the bait ball under the boat and calming things down before I jumped in.  The bait would then hang around me as it perceived shelter from the attacking sails.  But Flipper and friends wouldn't allow any sort of respite and relentlessly drove the bait into the path of other dolphins, leaving the sails to take opportunistic shots at the bait while the dolphins regrouped.

This went on for almost two hours turning my legs to jelly trying to swim after the fast moving action.  Captain Larry finally found a small bait ball far from the intersecting mayhem that surrounded us for miles.  The same culprits were there but the scale was smaller and more isolated.  This ball was also in cleaner water.  We soon worked out a new game plan:  attack, attack, attack.  I'm talking Tora! Tora! Tora!  Larry would back right into the ball causing Flipper and Company to back off long enough for me to get in and take over the bait.  The sails would soon return, I'm convince relieved that the bullies had been driven off and they could now set up the hold and strike patterns which work so well for them.  This would give me about 5 or 10 minutes where I was in a position to breath, think, and shoot without finning at high speed.  The dolphins would wait on the perimeter of visibility for the sails to open a gap and let the sardines make a run for it.  There would be a volley of squeaks and clicks and mammals would come charging in between the sardines and me and dive the ball off into the distance out of my reach.

A big leg workout but worth all the effort.  Watching the interaction between the mammal and fish predators was amazing.  Unfortunately the dolphins would not allow me close enough to photograph them. After jumping in with them the first few times it was obvious that these were not bottlenose dolphins.  After looking at the video, I'm going to guess that they were rough tooth or steno dolphins. After three or four hours of getting in and out of the boat my legs gave up. I put on the long lens for jump shots and sat back as the crew put out lines. Almost immediately they were into a triple sailfish hookup. Life is good.

Back at the dock early, cold Dos Equis in hand, it's a great end to a day festooned in pristine beauty and brilliance!

Herd a' Birds

Click on any image to enlarge.

Early morning light on the water, combined with a choppy sea is sharp and ominous.  Traveling into the rising sun, the sea this morning looked ink black.  The forecast held steady for a brisk NE wind which was chilly to say the least.  Has anybody told the person in charge of weather that it's March in Mexico?
We rode the chop the 8 miles or so to our usual start waypoint and on cue Captain Larry and George, the mate, spotted the birds.  We made the mile or so correction to follow them but never seemed to arrive at the point where they were working.  This was going to prove a common trend today.

No sooner had we found the birds and arrived,  they would pull skyward and start circling in high vertical columns that O'Hare traffic control would be proud of.  They became like mirages in the desert, what appeared to be a mass of frigate birds in the distance evaporated before our eyes as we approached. As someone on the boat described it "this is like herding birds".  We did get an opportunity for a quick jump in, finally finding a small bait ball.  I was able to keep up for a few minutes then BANG every sardine, sailfish and bird was gone, Harry Houdini style!

Giving up on chasing the birds from the water we laid a spread of  ballyhoo rigs and started trolling towards the frigates deciding that if they were there when we got there, bonus, if not no worries.  It didn't take long to turn up ACDC on the stereo... suddenly the sun came out, the birds circled above and we had 3 sails having a block party in the spread to the sounds of  Back in Black and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap?  Either way rock 'n roll seem to work, I highly recommend it!

We released 3 sailfish around midday.  This gave me an opportunity to break out the long lens and take my camera out of the housing to try for a few jump shots.  These are the shots the the fishing magazine editors are always after.  I on the other hand am normally dangling off the transom, with my camera housing pleading with the captain to let me get in the water.  It's a steep learning curve and although I got a few keepers, I have a long way to go.

We finished up this afternoon with the conditions getting better and better.  In fact I'm sitting on the boat right now with the sun setting,  a very gentle breeze pushing the El Milagro hammocks around under the palm trees at the end of the dock, cold Pacifico in hand...life is good.

"shudda been here yesterday"

We woke to a fresh Nor'easter and 90% cloud cover.  After yesterday I knew that anything from here on out would be a bonus.  Before we even rounded the western tip of the island the wind started plastering the fly bridge screens with heavy spray as we headed into the 3-foot wind-driven chop.  We joined a few early boats who had all hooked up in multiples but instead of trolling lines we were searching for birds to lead us to the bait balls.  It was slow going.  There were two small pods of sails, bait and birds, but on slow days they become hot spots for a lot of the boats in a very small area.  From miles away you can see these "armadas" circling a bait ball like a scene from Waterworld, waiting for their turn to drag lines through the strike zone.   If certain boats are around there is no way for a diver to get in the water with out ending up like a frog in a blender.

This morning the birds were few and far between, so the possiblity of a "private" bait ball was non-existent.  Late in the morning we decided to pull lines and try for some jump shots.  We dropped three sails early with lackluster strikes--more sniffing than eating.  Then by midday it went dead.  We could see "shoppers" kicking tires between the baits but not interested in eating.  All the while we marked massive fields of bait on the sounder as shallow as 20 feet.  Today was a classic case of "shoulda' been here yesterday".   I'm very pleased we were.  I did get a few pix of "Rebel", a Ritchie Howell Carolina Custom on the run past us.  They certainly build some beautiful boats in North Carolina, that flare and tumblehome make me homesick.  More tomorrow.

Game On!!!

I woke up really feeling the pressure this morning.  What if this and what if that?  Captain Larry had us out around 8 AM with a light NNWesterly blowing.  Twenty minutes from rounding the island's west tip, I settled into one of the fly bridge chairs with a long lens and expected to wait.  Two minutes later we spotted birds and ran the last mile or so to catch them.  The next hour was like a cardio work out. I would jump in a few yards from the birds and sail's backs tearing up the surface and seconds later they were gone.  Back in the boat and chase the action only for it to happen again, and again, and again.  I could get close enough to see the sails and just make out the bait ball and they would seem to intentionally herd the sardines away from me into the current and light.  After I rolled through the marlin door in the transom for the 10th time and lay exhausted on the deck, Larry suggested a break.  While I got my breath back he stalked the school following the birds, barely at idle.  Soon enough, as we have seen so many times in the past, the sardines took refuge under the hull.  With things seemingly under control, I leopard-crawled back through the hole in the transom like a sea lion leaving a warm rock.  Below the boat were easily a hundred sailfish biding their time waiting for the boat to move so they could reengage the large silver ball of bait under the hull.

Larry kicked the Fish n' Fool into gear and moved off the pot.  The game was back on.  This time the bait was using me a home base.  This is a question I have about bait balls: how can they tell the difference between the enemy and a friendly?  We've seen this in many destinations with many different fish around the world. The next hour plus was spent in the middle of the bait and a combination of scuba and free diving. each giving the camera a different perspective.  I got "hit" for the first time today by a bill from a sail.  It was more like a soft sweep across my forearm, thanks to the wetsuit it was nothing, caused by a last minute change in direction from the fish (and my sitting the the middle of its food source!).  Still interesting enough to realize that they are not in 100% control of those sharp pointed bills at all times.  Of today's encounters the biggest thing that hit me was sound-- the pop and swoosh of a strike and the crackle of a sardine being crushed in a sailfish's mouth.  There were other big things like flank markings and colors and their relationship to the amount of sun light that was present.  Bright silvers and contrasting black flanks in the cloudy dark early morning, giving way to dull browns and drab greens as the the sun became brighter, but this is a whole new blog subject.

I consider myself very blessed and lucky to be able to spend this time in the water with such incredible creatures and remain driven by that fact that EVERY encounter brings some new understanding for me.  I will post  a few pix from today but stay tuned for the full gallery at the end of the trip.

Made It!

It's been a long day!  I left Morehead City just after 5 am, drove the 140 miles to Raleigh.  There was a power outage at RDU so almost missed my connection in Charlotte.  Arrived to, I would estimate, around 5000 people in the arrival hall in Cancun.  Immigration took almost 2 hours!!  My luggage is here, I made the 6:00pm ferry across to the island and life is good.  There is a stiff wind from the NNE but fishing reports are promising with lots of  sail hookups and lots of bait balls seen today.  I'm charging camera and strobe batteries and going to bed, feeling the pressure.  Weather is going to be the big game changer over the next week?  We have an 8:00 am departure, I'll start the Spot tracking once we are underway.  Great to get all the feed back today.

Sailfish in Isla Mujeres

Well, it's that time of year again. As gail force winds drive freezing rain against the window of my office in Morehead City, North Carolina, my floor is awash in camera housings, strobes, chargers etc, etc. It's winter which means one thing, the sailfish are balling bait off the island of Isla Mujeres on the Caribbean side of Mexico. It's never a given, powerful winter weather makes finding a bait ball and getting in with it far from guaranteed. Never the less you have to watch the weather, try and find a window and let the chips fall were they may.

I leave Morehead City tomorrow morning at around 4:30 AM to run a few errands in Raleigh and make a midday flight to Cancun from where I will catch a ferry across to the island. I'm in Isla as a guest of a good friend, Doug Wall, on his private boat a 45' Viking sportfisher named Fish n' Fool. Doug invited me back this year after a very successful trip last year. It's good to have friends in low places, low latitudes that is. I'll be going out with Doug's captain Larry "the switch" Toma and mate George, a formidable fishing team on a formidable fishing machine.

While I'm in Isla I will be updating my blog daily with news happenings and a behind the scenes look at what it takes to try and get the shot. You will also be able to track me from early tomorrow morning with my Spot GPS tracker that sends a signal every 10 minutes to a satellite which updates on this web page. The Spot technology will allow you to see exactly where we are working in real time. You can subscribe to my blog (click on the "follow" button on the top tool bar)or just keep checking back here for updates. There is also a link to the Spot in the tool bar on the right of this page called "GPS Tracking Map". I look forward to your comments.

Thats all for now, see you on the water!