Day 2:
We left dock at 6am this morning in search of more sailfish. The sun broke through for half an hour on our way offshore, which was fantastic — until she was swallowed up by a sky full of clouds. As Anthony so cheerfully exclaimed yesterday, “Come to Mexico! Bring a snow jacket!”
That sounds extreme, but it has actually been quite cold for a tropical beach destination. On the water, we’re wearing big boat jackets to keep warm. In the water, we’re wearing 3mm wetsuits, and I even put on a hooded vest after I started shivering.
All of this would have been much different if the sun had been out! We’ve been hoping for the perfect combination of wildlife, water clarity and sunlight, but we’ve only been able to get two of the three during any given jump. The water had less sediment in it today but was considerably more murky, and the sun didn’t come out until the sailfish disappeared.
Still, we had fantastic action and managed to come back with some decent images. Most of the bait balls today were large and fast (usually correlated), and due to his quads of steel, only Tony was able to keep up with the moving fish for long periods of time; Sterling and I used the boat to keep up — luckily, Rogerio and Juan are incredible and gave us perfect drops every time.
A baitball of sardines runs frantically in an attempt to avoid predation by sailfish. Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) with a sardine in its mouth.
An Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) drives a school of sardines up to the surface. Isla Mujeres, Mexico. echeng100118_0243895
Atlantic sailfish (Istiophorus albicans) chase a medium-sized baitball. Isla Mujeres, Mexico.
This sure doesn't look like a pelagic crab! We're 30 miles offshore. Poor thing!
