Cancun On The Fly

April 27, 2022

Out of the dozens of sportfishing trips I've taken in my life, this one stands out as the best I've ever been on. The trip that Orlando designed for my dad and I was the true definition of backcountry fishing. Orlando offers less intense trips than the one we went ...Read More on, so let me tell you, if you aren't prepared to be hours away from cell service and even farther from the closest road, tell Orlando to design a more suitable trip for you. Orlando speaks enough English to communicate the basic fishing and directional concepts, so a decent understanding of conversational Spanish will serve you very well here, especially on the more adventurous trips. Orlando picked us up from the hotel zone in Cancún and took us north on dirt roads towards Isla Blanca, about 45 mins to an hour outside of Cancún. We loaded up in his panga and took off further north towards the numerous mangrove-covered cays that spot the area. Orlando navigated us through sandbars and mangrove canopies to warm up in an open lagoon area, and we instantly got on the baby tarpon bite. I had some good eats and runs but was unable to land anything, which was completely my fault. My dad isn't much of a fly angler so Orlando rigged him up on a spinning rig and he had minor success (again, his fault, not the guide's). After we were nice and amped up, Orlando ran us further north another hour and a half at least, and this is where the real fun began. We enjoyed some delicious turkey, cheddar and jalapeño sandwiches Orlando brought on the way. Once we arrived to our next spot, we navigated through a seemingly endless maze of mangrove canopies which opened up to small ponds where we had more shots at tarpon. You must be very accurate with a fly to be successful here (I wasn't), but it was incredible nonetheless. The ability of Orlando to navigate through these mangrove-canopied channels in his panga, sometimes only a couple feet wide, was unreal. He knows this area like the back of his hand. As the Yucatán sun beat down on us, we opted to head in. Orlando was just as glad to stay out, but we were gassed. We kept cruising through the mangrove forests and got to experience first hand the incredible biodiversity of that environment. Highlight of the trip: on the return, Orlando pointed out a structure arising from the jungle on the mainland, and my adventure senses started tingling. He parked up on the beach, and we embarked into the jungle like conquistadors. The structure we came upon was Boca Iglesia, the first church built in Central America in the early 1500's. The closest road to Boca Iglesia is hours by boat, and days by jungle. This archeological site is completely abandoned, and exploring it was truly a once in a lifetime experience. If you're looking for a true "on the edge" adventure, then look no further. If you have a satellite phone, or a GPS tracker, I would bring either (or both) if you want to go on the same trip we went on. It was by far the most rigorous and off-the-beaten-path fishing trips I've been on. Nothing else comes close. This is not a trip you want to go with just any guide, but I trusted Orlando the entire time, and cannot wait to go with him again.

March 17, 2020

We had a awesome day with Captain Alberto and his skipper. Not the perfect weather conditions but we made the best out of it and caught a sailfish and a lot of other different species while speedjigging with light tackle!

August 27, 2019

Alberto and his first mate were awesome! First we got to the marina and parked in a parking lot with surveillance and an active gate guard. Alberto came out to meet us and introduce himself, he then took us to the boat and helped us on. Alberto knows these waters ...Read More like the back of his hand and knows where the fish are... guaranteed. We hooked up on some Wahoo and sailfish, then made our way to Isla Mujeres to see its beautiful blue waters and beaches per our request. Alberto made sure we felt comfortable and had fun on our whole trip. When we got back Alberto filet’d our fish and brought it to the marina restaurant for them to prepare some amazing ceviche and filets. Overall it was a great experience, would recommend to anyone of any age.

June 4, 2019

Trip was amazing!! With fishing conditions tough because of unexpected seaweed problems he made sure that we caught fish. We caught some Bonito and a nice 25lb black fin tuna that was the highlight of the trip. Our guide was very experienced and very informative. After the trip he cleaned ...Read More our catch and recomend a restaurant that would prepare it for us. We were very impressed and would definitely recommend to anyone!!