RODMAKERS October 24, 2005 Newsletter

Remember when it was once said – ‘if I didn’t have bad luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all’?  After spending several days hiding out from Hurricane Wilma in Chetumal, shortly after reluctantly evacuating Costa De Cocos on the Yucatan coast, I began reflecting on what the at the moment seemed bad luck but may instead have been a lot of good fortune resulting from good decisions made in the 20 minutes or so at Costa prior to our departure.  Wednesday morning, just after breakfast, Mike Smith and Kevin Mark were walking out to meet their guides for another day of Bonefishing when we heard a radio broadcast that a new tropical storm was forming near Honduras and beginning its march up the ‘channel’ towards the southern Yucatan.  Our hosts, David and Ilana Randall (David a 19 year veteran of the southern Yucatan and Ilana 6 years) were concerned but thought it too early to speculate its direction and force.  At around noon the radio exclaimed the storm to be a category 5 hurricane so rapid in its growth that nobody believed the report, however, the waves over the reef some 300 yards off the beach looked like a small mountain range as they crashed and roared their fury on the corals with just a few placid waves of maybe 3 foot washing up on our beach.  Receiving consistent information in that part of the world is at best ‘iffy’.  Kevin and Mike were fishing, the tide was rising, winds were brisk, and we were experiencing tome torrential downpours.  David Randall had gone to Chetumal on business so Ilana, Mike’s wife Dale and I tried to anticipate the hell was going on!  About the time Mike and Kevin returned from fishing in the mid afternoon (very successfully I might add – Mike caught 11 large Bonefish in very tough conditions!), David showed up at the lodge.  Boats were dragged from the water, motors secured in storage, and preparations were underway for some type of approaching storm.

 

Our choices were to stay put with the assumption the information we were getting was exaggerated and we would simply be ‘brushed’ with maybe a minimal surge (besides, the fishing was great!); make a dash for Cancun where David had arranged through a friend with a small hotel near the airport that was in the process of boarding up, and hope our return flights could be re-scheduled; or to jump in their van with a driver and simply get to higher ground.   After the 20 minute or so discussion it was decided we go NOW!  David and Ilana remained behind to guard their properties and protect them as best they could.  We hopped in the Van amidst a driving rain about 6 p.m. with our driver Ramon, began driving as though he had participated in numerous NASCAR events dodging potholes, fallen branches down a dark narrow highway with jungle encroaching nearly to the center of the road – and it was pitch black with pouring rain.  We had no idea where we would end up but certainly to higher ground.  After dropping off several guides and lodge employees for them to return to homes and families at a bus stop expecting to return north to Cancun, we again on not so reliable information, turned around and headed south towards Chetumal assuming the worst would be over near the south end of the storm and not go towards where the storm may be heading.   Good luck and a good decision!

 

As we approached the first little town of Bacalar, I saw a hand painted sign on a tree in the jungle that proclaimed Hotel.  We followed the dark path that appeared to be a road through thick jungle when suddenly we were met by the hotel owner with a flashlight seeing our headlights.  After some quick negotiations ($50 cash – up front for his last two remaining rooms) we soon discovered we had come upon a delightful little resort on a lake beautifully landscaped with very nice casita’s in the jungle with concrete paths through the jungle.  Again, good luck!  We enjoyed a great breakfast in a unique setting meeting a newlywed couple from West and Blanco in San Antonio, also fleeing the storm.

 

We continued on to Chetumal hoping to get a flight to Mexico City by first going to the airport only to find out they get but 2 flights a day in and out, both in From Mexico City and both return to Mexico City.  One was Mexicana and the other some puddle jumper.  We soon found out they come in during the evening hours and return the following morning.  Only other option was to rent a car, drive to Belize City – not a good option.  After what seemed like endless negotiation we were reserved the last remaining 4 seats on the Mexicana.  The plane didn’t come in on Thursday, not on Friday, not until late Saturday allowing us to leave Sunday (yesterday) morning.  If it were not for my wife Linda and her friend Joni on this end, and Mark who speaks fluent Spanish on the Mexican end, we never would have gotten onboard.  The town was filled with people from resorts, private homes, and general tourists from as far north as Cancun.  We first were told there were no hotel rooms in Chetumal to rent but again as luck would have it, we landed in Los Cocas Hotel with nice rooms and hot showers with a good restaurant and bar (which became important!).  Hurricane Wilma stalled over Cozumel and Cancun with her tail reaching us in Chetumal, just enough to keep the plane from coming in from Mexico City.  We waited and waited for any news and visited with others from all over the world but at least we were not in Cancun . . . . . . good luck?  Last night at home I saw the first pictures of the devastation and my thoughts are with David and Ilana but suspect they did only get brushed by the storm although when with our driver Ramon, he was able to reach them by C B radio and relayed to us Ilana said they had waves flowing in and out of the dining, bar, and kitchen of the lodge, and that the bed I was sleeping on in my casita was under water.   I hope Ramon got back and the guides survived in the north.  The Randall’s have quarters on a second story above the lodge and should have been okay.

 

The fishing began slowly as always when you first arrive; Bone’s are difficult to see and are easily spooked when you get too close.  I ended my first day fishing with Kevin by making a perfect cast (luck in itself!) to a 12 – 15 pound Permit only to have my KNOT break when I pressured the fish – no tell tale curly end of the tippet, the knot broke in the center.  I have never seen anything like that before – luck . . . .  Mike and I the next day had a 40 plus Bonefish day many in the 3 to 5 pound range.  The guides were fair to outstanding, accommodations excellent, meals beyond expectations, the Randall’s and their staff superb.  Last May I asked them if they would open two weeks early for our Rodmakers groups, negotiated nearly $500 discount from their regular price only to put them through several cancellations, now with the 2^nd group requiring re-scheduling, then Wilma.  A nice relaxing fishing trip to the Caribbean turned into an adventure – bad luck or good luck?  You judge, but I assure you, this old ‘field and streamer’ has it classified as a genuine, first degree adventure, the likes of which I doubt I will see again.

 

Dennis O. Freeman
rodmaker@rod-makers.com
13457 Blanco Road
San Antonio, TX 78216
210-479-3477