"Are you ready to join this mind-blowing adventure?
The water is warm, around 25 degrees C and visibility is up to 24 metres"

Two years ago we found a prime location for sailfish encounters and you can now join wildlife photographer Amos Nachoum, together with a small group of only four guests, on an expedition to Isla Mujeres, a rustic island on Mexico’s Caribbean coast.

Seven days will be spent out on the water, sailing between 16 and 48 kilometres each day to the feeding grounds of the sailfish. They are generally found close to the ocean surface feeding on schools of small fish such as sardines and anchovies. Upon encountering the sailfish, Amos will lead two guests at a time on snorkel or dressed in pony tanks (small scuba tanks that allow faster movement in the water). Our trained skipper will bring you to within feet of the action as the encounters are usually close to the vessel. However the feeding frenzy is highly dynamic and the sailfish are constantly moving. To capture the most amazing images on camera and to keep up with the action takes some effort – but it is well worth it!

To see one sailfish underwater is a sight few have ever experienced. To witness as many as 50 sailfish stretching as far as the eye can see and directly in front of you a dozen feeding on a bait ball of sardines moving at lightening speed, is mind-blowing.

A short ferry ride from Cancun, the charming island of Isla Mujeres is only 7.5 kilometres long and 0.7 kilometres wide. Only recently discovered by tourists, the island retains the charm and tranquillity of a tropical paradise with many of the residents still working as fishermen.

Guests will stay at the Hotel Playa La Media Luna on the northern tip of Isla Mujeres (www.playamedialuna.com). This small property is ideally located on the secluded Half Moon Beach only a few minutes walk from a reef protected beach with calm, shallow turquoise waters, ideal for swimming. The hotel is also within easy distance of the typical Mexican fishing village of Isla Mujeres.

Built in Florida in 2000, the Lilly M is an 8-metre classic sport fishing vessel. Fast, stable and roomy she is perfect for our sailfish photography expeditions.

Activities:
Snorkeling, free diving. Scuba diving with pony tanks for speed and possible use of scooters.
Primarily the in water encounters will be while snorkeling, so you can be fast, agile and keep with the action. Only in the event when the action is stationary we will deploy Scuba. You may dive for 10 - 20 feet at the most...to be under the bait ball, while we are in deep water of 100’ & deeper.

Max Persons:
Only 4 guests

Arrive in Cancun and take a 15-minute ferry ride to Isla Mujeres. Transfer to your hotel.

Seven days of search and encounters. Typically each day starts at 0600 hours and you will be out racing after the action until around 1500-1600 hours. Evenings are for dining and relaxing and exploring the charming town of Isla Mujeres.

Return by ferry to Cancun and your homeward flight.

…clocked at 65 miles per hour running speed, the Sailfish is the speediest fish in the ocean (matter of fact in the world !) They are graceful, elegant , beautiful and powerful underwater.. Two years ago, we have found out that the best encounters were taking place in Mexico on the Caribbean side, off Cancun, on the rustic island of Isla Mujeres.

To see one sailfish underwater is an experience few people ever have. To see ten together is exciting and to see 20 is thrilling. To see 30 is electrifying, and 40 or more stretching out as far as your eye can see feeding in a frenzy on a baitball, is simply a mind-bending experience that no one to date could deliver.
To witness as many as 50 Sailfish stretching wide as far as your eyes can see & in front of you a dozen Sailfish feeding on a bait ballof sardines, moving in lighting speed is “orgasmic” visual sensation or arriving to the melting point out of joy…a feast to the eyes…

our trained skipper will bring you within feet from the action, and the sailfish encounters will happen close to the vessel. However, the feeding action is highly dynamic and the sailfish are CONSTANTLY MOVING and moving fast. In order to catch up with the action and capture the amazing images on camera, one has to kick and sometimes kick like a mad person to catch up with the action.
In our previous experience with Sailfish feeding on Brazilian sardines, all of the feeding action happened very close to the surface; the sailfish pushed the sardine toward the surface and the surface acts like a barrier that the sardine cannot escape from. The surface is another medium that fish are not adopted yet to live in, and a dark “cloud” of frigate birds hover above, ready to snap a fish or two that have jumped out of the water.
Your hard work in kicking and chasing will be rewarded. Never give up. Just as soon as you get close, the remaining few sardines are glad to see you as they are going to use your body as a shield between them and the madly hunting sailfish. That is your splendid and once in a lifetime moment to see, in an arms length away...the amazing colorful Sailfish SAIL, painted by the sunlight and the slick body changes color, with added blue neon stripes and spots.

.. Sometimes the feeding happens so close -- merely inches away from your ears or your camera, you have to be quick, fast just like a sailfish or anticipate its movement. So you listen for the swash when the sail opens up on back of the sailfish to slow its fast approach and to frighten its pray to a point of immobilization. That few seconds of shock and awe gives the Sailfish the advantage. The overwhelmed sardine slow down enough to allow the Sailfish to aim its long bill and hit the closest sardine.
Only then, when the sardine look lifeless, the sailfish swallow the sardine one at a time. What hard work for such a small prize, but delicious. After time in the water, you realize that you have moved your head with incoming Sailfish and your eyes on the bait ball...you may catch at the corner of your eye the ultimate hunt as the Sailfish takes the wounded sardine into its bill and swims away from you like you’ve never been there…the only thing that is left are your memories, your images and the pain in your legs from keeping up with the adventure.