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To escape the wet weather Sandy booked a trip to Mexico on the gulf, south of Cancun. I had my travel rod packed in a flash as we headed off.
We arrived at a great hotel, the Sensatori Hotel through Thomson's. The staff and all the Mexican people we met were very friendly, perhaps the most friendly that I have met on my travels. However, having found out that licenses from the shore were not required in Mexico, I found out that the bay in front of the hotel from the beach out to the reef had been designated a marine reserve so no fishing!!! So I quickly booked a morning session out on a big game boat fishing the deeper waters beyond the reef. Initially, we couldn't find any fish but the skipper spotted several frigate bird circling which had found some bait fish, and where there are bait fish, there are normally predators. The sport picked up and each of us on the boat caught fish. I has two Bonito (small Tuna); Colin had a Bonito and a Spanish Mackerel and Mike had two small Bonito at one time followed by a King Mackerel. This was more that we expected from a "holiday" style trip. I would like to give some advice on booking the boat but it belonged to the hotel owner and can only be chartered by guests.
So not the greatest fishing holiday but this was more than offset by the trips we made to the Mayan sites at Chechen Itza, one of the modern wonders of the world. This site was massive with several buildings on the site being restored as much as possible using the original materials. The trip was made far more interesting by being guide by a post graduate archaeology student who explained the history that had been discovered so far. From there we travelled to a Mayan village and a sink hole made by erosion of the limestone. This was all really fascinating and sandy and I thought we would like to learn more so went onto a second trip to Coba. A site found in the jungle which has not been restored. it has had paths cleared for access. This we found more interesting than Chechen Itza as it seemed more "genuine" as it was uncommercial with no street sellers etc. You are also able to climb the pyramid there (which predates the Egyptian ones). Sadly at Chechen Itza some american students climbed the pyramid several years ago, sprayed graffiti on the top and urinated on the sacred site and so all climbing was instantly banned. A sign of the times I guess. The sides slope up at nearly 70 degrees which Sandy, who is nervous of heights, found daunting but she still made it to the top where you could look out over the jungle canopy. Sandy and I could have spent all day at Coba but the trip moved on to another sink hole. Sandy went for a swim whilst I photographed butterflies and birds. Even though it was the Mexican winter, there were plenty of life to photograph. Would we go back? Yes as the people were so nice. We would like to learn more about the Mayan culture, but we wouldn't stay in the hotel. There is nothing wrong with it - just no fishing!!