Mazatlan

March 3rd, 2015 - Tuesday -  Mazatlan

Up early to pack my bag and get ready for our fishing tour excursion. Kelly is not a big fan of smaller boats so she is going to do a hoppa bus tour and some shopping while Kris and I get some father/son bonding time :-)

Our tour left the ship in two small vans with about 15 people all tolled. We met a couple fellow Canadian's Brian and Richard from Viking, Alberta and got talking with them on our 35 minute drive to the marina. On arrival we all split into small groups and we naturally went with our Canadian friends for a total of 4 on our boat. We met our Captain Bill and his deckhand Christian.  The Canadian’s then challenged the rest of the boats to a fishing battle and off we went in search of the big one!

Kris, Richard (front) Brian and deck hand Christain as we head out.

The view back at the city.

 It was an hour run out to the hot spot off the coast and once on site it was only about 30 minutes before we had a Marlin on the line. Richard was in the hot seat first and after a 10 minute fight had an 80 pound fish in the boat. The method of fishing is a lot different than my experience with salmon on the west coast as they actually look ahead for the fining fish then drag the bait in front of the fish…. its skims along the surface and the fish then comes up on it at takes it.

Brian, Richard and Christian with the first Marlin.

Next up was Kris and he got into a Mahi Mahi it was about 35 pounds and gave a pretty good fight for it’s size. The color was amazing and it was great to see Kris with his first big fish.

Fish on for Kris!

Up close with his catch.. a Mahi-mahi!

Both these fish were kept by the crew as we were told they are donated to the local orphanage.

My turn next and it was about 30 minutes more before we had another fish on. Another marlin and It gave me a great fight and even though the reel was much harder to action I really enjoyed the experience. Kris took pictures as I worked it towards the boat.

My fish caught on camera by Kris. Amazing!

 After a quick photo op it was back into the sea for this fish to live another day. It slowly swam away after a minute to collect itself.

My fish had a brief photo op then back into the warm waters.

Brian was next in the chair and unfortunately didn't hook anything. He did say he had caught one before but it would have been nice to get a fish on none the less. After about two and a half hours we headed back in and after arrival confirmed our suspicions… we had out caught the other boats!

Another photo op with the fish then back to the big boat…

Time for a shower and wash all the suntan lotion off!  Although the run out and back to the fishing grounds took time and the on site fishing was not as long as I had hoped, they did find us fish and that was the idea. Off my bucket list now :-)

We arrived back at the ship and found Kelly relaxing on the deck with her book. She had taken the Hoppa bus through town and then returned to the shops and market at the port entrance. She got some wifi and chatted with Lauren back home.

We then met up with Kris and headed to the Serenity lounge for the sail-away party. The DJ had the tunes going and people were having a good time socializing and telling stories of the days exploits. Clearly there was no shortage of tequila :-)

To top off the day we once again headed to Nick & Nora’s Specialty restaurant for dinner. The ambience was nice when compared to the dinning lounge and we really appreciated that. Not to say the food or service was bad in the normal dinning lounge (both were great) but we do like the slower pace and quiet… no screaming kids :-)  

Next stop was the Blackjack Tournament in the Casino. It only occurred once this trip and the pot of $500 was up for grabs. I had a good first game and was on the board for the final table for most of the night but sadly got edged out. I did try one last qualifier but the dealer got hot and took our whole table down :-) We watched as one lucky fellow took home the cash.

Off to bed as we planned our day in Puerto Vallarta with friends.