Fishing

Angling for billfish, marlin, and sailfish is popular from March to mid-September. The best fishing is from April to June inclusive.

White marlin is popular from April to August. However, dorado, bonito, barracuda, king, mackerel, sharks, jacks, yellowtail, snapper, grouper, tuna, and wahoo are available all year.

Most popular is the open water cast of Isla Mujeres where the depths of La Crista are good for trolling while drifting in the current. Correntada, another hot spot popular with locals, is east of Contoy Island and Cancfm Point.

For those wanting to fly fish, there are places at Nichupté and Bojorquez Lagoons or Isla Blanca just offshore. The fish available all year for flies are baby tarpon, snook, snapper, barracuda, and jacks. Summer offers bonefish and permit. At Isla Blanca, there is sea trout and ladyfish.

By law, the owner of the fishing license owns the fish caught and decides what should be done with them. More recently, catch and release is practiced. If taking a charter, your package should include, captain, first mate, bait, gear, beer, and soda. The cost for four hours with six people will be about $440. A full day will be closer to $860. Some companies offer shared trips that cost $115 for four hours or $165 per person for six hours. Night trips cost $85 per person, leaving at 7 pm and lasting until midnight.

Mangrove forests are a unique ecosystem, usually found parallel to coral reefs. Because the plants like brackish, nutrient-poor water, in a symbiotic process, they clarify it for the coral. Red mangroves found closest to or in the water, trap silt and rotting leaves around their roots. As the debris turns to the soil, the red mangrove dies and the white mangrove takes over. White mangroves are salt-tolerant and have a unique root system that grows above high-water levels. Seedpods develop on the ends of these non-immersed roots and, after they ripen, fall into the ground and germinate. The above-water roots facilitate the exchange of gases. Some mangroves filter saltwater through their roots while others release the salt through their pores and leaves.