Route 66 to the Grand Canyon and the2013 20Fathoms World Cup. Part 2.

Well they say nothing in life is simple and that definitely runs true for checking in for a flight out of LAX, I had the usual dilemma with AA over a second checked bag that they wanted $240 for. After some polite conversation and a couple of checks with a supervisor we came to the agreement that my spearfishing gear should be classified as, Sporting goods/ Fishing/ Thin and therefore only incur an additional fee of $40.
Having overcome this obstacle I proceeded through screening and on the the departure gate.
I bumped into Brock my dive partner for the meet whilst waiting for my flight and we caught up and discussed how we would like to dive the competition for the 40 minutes I had until boarding.

The 2 hour flight down to San Jose Del Cabo was uneventful and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the airport had undergone a renovation and had sky bridges and air conditioned arrivals halls. No longer would one endure the 200 yard walk across the baking Airfield Apron to the equally stifling terminal of old.
The modernization did not stop there, Customs and Immigration had also been upgraded and processing went without a hitch. I was met outside by my driver Roberto and once we had collected the 2 other passengers we go underway on the 2 hour road trip to the fishing village of La Ventana. One of the 2 other passengers being my friend Patti who was joining me to scatter some of her late husband's ashes, the 3 of us having dived together in La Paz in 2005.

Descending the last hill with the Ocean in the distance is a welcome sight after a 2 hour road journey from Cabo.

On arriving at Palapas Ventana we were met by Tim and Karen and allocated rooms, our baggage was then delivered to the rooms for us. After some settling in and unpacking we wandered down to the Bar to catch up with the competitors that had already arrived over dinner and a Margarita. Old friendships were renewed and new ones founded. Most of us would be taking advantage of the next day to dive the competition zone and ensure our equipment had not been damaged during the long journey to Mexico. Brock and I chose to circumnavigate the island of Cerralvo and ensure we knew the conditions in every corner of the competition zone. It turned out that the best conditions were on the South end of Cerralvo, this area does not often produce good conditions or fish but when it does the fish can be outstanding.

Day 1.
Brock and I decided to stay on the South end of the Island, we also had a camera man from the cable TV show "Speargun Hunter" filming us for an episode of the show. The Guy's name was Rob and we hardly even noticed him, he was not intrusive at all and a pleasure to work with. Both Brock and I ended the day with 2 fish, a Wahoo each, me with a Milkfish and Brock with a Torro. It took me all day to get the Wahoo I just had the worst luck, I clean missed 2 and had shafts pull out on 3 then finally landed one. Rob got the whole sequence on film and said it was one of the best he had ever filmed and the first Wahoo he had seen landed with a reel gun. All up it was a good day and we saw plenty of fish, we both knew from the conditions that we would do well the following day but so would the other competitors. It was all going to come down to luck in the end, as everyone was equally skilled.

Brock with a Torro.

Day 2.
Day 2 was a virtual repeat of day1 I landed a Milkfish and a Wahoo pretty early on in the day. Brock was not far behind with a nice Torro and an Amberjack but was having trouble with the Milkfish. They are an extremely hard to approach fish and I discovered a few years ago that to be successfull with them you must tuck your gun in under you and lie dead still like a log. If you so much as blink they will shy away, once they are under you slowly and quietly drop onto them and get them from above. Once I had explained this and my theory as to why they behave that way to Brock he had one in the bag on his second attempt.
We both saw a large Marlin and Brock had a long shot at it but fell short, one of the other competitors Francisco managed to land a Marlin later on in the day giving him a huge lead that would prove to be telling later in the event.

Francisco with the Marlin and biggest fish of the meet.

Day 3.
Day 3 was a rest day so Brock, Patti and myself decided to go into La Paz to do some shopping and had lunch at Jonathan Roldans Tailhunter Bar. If you are into fishing or just good food and service this is the place to go, It comes alive after dark and when Jonathon and his wife are in they make a point of meeting every single customer. After a long lunch we drove up the coast a little to Pichalingue, where Patti, Robert and I had dived together in 2005. It had changed alot and not exactly for the better, there were more trucks at the ferry terminal and the resort we stayed at looked tired and rundown. We then drove back to La Ventana and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach relaxing.


Day 4.
Day 4 saw us back on the water competing and again we were diving the South end of Cerralvo. I put a solid Milkfish in the boat in next to no time and closley followed up with a small Wahoo. Brock put a Torro on the board and nice Milkfish, then things went a little quiet just before midday.We put in a lot of deep dives that afternoon looking for Amberjack and Yellowtail. Our persistance paid off around mid afternoon with Brock landing a solid Amberjack and me landing a Yellowtail from a very deep dive.
I quickly backed that up with a Torro and a small Skipjack Tuna.
Back on the beach my Skipjack turned out to be 1/4 inch under the competition minimum size, still I had 5 fish for the day, the first time I have ever shot a whole days limit in this competition. The Wahoo and Milkfish didnt count towards my score as I already had presented 2 of each, but the Torro and the Yellowtail left me in a healthy 4th place with 1 day remaining.

Day 5.
Day 5 was not our day the current had changed direction slightly and brought some colder water in overnight. We spent the whole day trying to get Brock a wahoo and me a Torro and Amberjack.
I couldnt get away from the Wahoo and the Torro would not leave Brock alone. Late in the day I shot a big Torro from a large school only to have the spear pass through 2 seperate fish, each fish ran in the opposite direction and I lost them both to tear offs. I then put a shaft into a very large Amberjack only to loose it after a 10 minute fight. I had a large Marlin come in on my flasher but didnt see it until it started to peel away, I worked the flasher in an attempt to get it to come back but it had a better place to be and kept on traveling.

Early morning starts made for watching sunrises.