Erik and I just got back from Cancun, Mexico. We spent the week down there with our family. Us being the fishermen that we are, can't go anywhere near water without fishing. We started out with a TFO travel rod from the beach. We only had one rod between the two of us, so we would switch off every few casts. That adventure ended sooner than expected when the travel rod broke after about 45 minutes of no luck. We stayed at Dreams Playa Mujeres which offered fishing excursions during the day from local guides. This was a perfect opportunity for Erik and I to do a type of fishing we don't get a chance to do in Missouri: deep sea fishing.
Any time Erik and I get to try a different kind of fishing than we are used too, we always take the chance. We have been deep sea fishing before, but never in Mexico. We started the morning with a light breakfast at the buffet, and we made sure to not eat too much to avoid sea sickness. My dad and my cousin, Thom, also would be joining us out on the boat. Thom didn't eat any breakfast, and my dad ate light. We did however comment on how good the jelly donuts were. Famous last words.
After finishing our food, we made our way to the beach where we were to be picked up. The wind had picked up from the day before and the waves crashing on the beach were much bigger than the day before. As we waited, another group got picked up to go snorkeling off the island outside of Cancun. We wished them luck as the boat they got on was getting tossed about on the waves. Finally, our fishing boat showed up and we were shuttled out to it because a larger boat cannot beach on the shore.
After meeting our crew and our guides, we were off. Our ride was a little over an hour to our spots in 300 feet of water. About 45 minutes in, our dad began to have really bad sea sickness with the waves being as big as they were. After reaching our first spot, Thom also began to get sea sick.
The first couple spots on the reef were barren so we bounced around for about twenty minutes. We finally started to have some action. Our bait we used was live baitfish. ( I don't know my saltwater fish that well so I could tell you kind exactly.) The first few fish we lost for various reasons such as breaking off or getting cut off on the reef. Then Erik brought up the head of an Amberjack. This got the guides excited. It meant there was a shark in the area. They rigged up heavy duty hooks and wire leaders. before we knew it, we had a shark on.
Fighting a shark is unlike anything we have ever done before. It felt like we were trying to bring in a car. Time ticked on by as we continued to fight this shark. Erik and I had to switch off every thirty minutes because our arms were getting tired. At an hour and a half we saw the shark for the first time. The guides knew it was big because of how long the fight was, but seeing the shark for the first time got everyone really excited. Shortly after seeing the fish we lost about 100 feet of line as the shark took off again. We got the shark up the the boat and had the sinkers inside of the boat twice, before losing all of our progress. At two and a half hours, we finally landed the shark. It took all six of us to get the shark inside of the boat. The captain even came down to see our fish. The shark was over 8 feet long and over 350 pounds. This Bull Shark was by no means a giant bull shark, but still broke the marina record by seven inches and was the biggest fish ever caught from that boat.
This leads me into my point and the title. We all have heard the saying, "Money can't buy happiness." The guided trip we went on in Cancun wasn't cheap, but it made us pretty happy. Even though money can't buy genuine happiness, it can buy experiences that will not soon be forgotten. I wouldn't trade these memories for anything, So maybe the saying money can't buy happiness may not be entirely true, but we also have to do our part to make it not true. We will never get the chance to replace the time with our loved ones, they are often what makes a trip great. As always Love the Adventure!
-Paul Hoffman