My San Diego buddy has been fishing Cabo and the East Cape, 40 miles North, for sailfish mainly for decades, and dorado. I had been asking him to take me for years, and he finally did. This was a few years ago.
We got an expensive taxi(so-so driver, but he did stop once for cold water drinks/beer in the hot wx) the 40 miles to the famous Van Wormer's property, Calle 20 de Novembre #2, y Valentin Ruiz Gonzales, 23330, Mexico, phone 877-777-8862 or 818-224-4744. After check-in, we found our room on the back/land side without an ocean view. No problem. But the rooms/suite was no better than ,,, actually worse than Motel 6, with weak A/C and plain cheap furniture. They don't waste water on a rich thick green lawn, tho the huge 'hut'/palapa at the open air entrance is impressive. And the surrounding town is Mexico-depressing littered poor uneducated ripoff ugly safety-scary, as Mexico usual(unless you never ever leave a resort like at Cabo or PV).
There was a swim-up bar at the funky smelling beach side pool, and the big resort is right above the beach, the pier, and the anchored out fishing fleet of many boats. I was a little worried about the infamous "two step"/runs, but , heh, this is a very popular fishing hotel for "gringos".
I don't drink much, a beer or two with or after dinner usually. But i got so sick after dinner the first night with the "two step", runs/diarrhea !! The next morning we were assigned the "second best skipper", as my buddy has spent years at this resort. He was a young handsome guy and so proud that he was "#2"! We headed out east into the Gulf and it was very flat and calm and hot. We brought our own food and water; the captain and crew had their own. There was NO cooler full of safe sealed drinks of water and juices, as i expected for so expensive a fishing charter.
Finally we sight-fishing spotted some sailfish working the surface, with the radio help of some other skippers. The crew put our lines in the water and we quickly hooked up with ,and released, a couple 6-7ft long sailfish. My first, but kind of depressing they are so small these days for most fishermen. They are so beautiful, but no longer as big as the old photographs you see in the Fish Market Restaurants in California and elsewhere. It was my first time and the sailfish fight was good, but not great. Nothing to get very excited about.
Then we found some DORADO, or what they call in Hawaii MAHI MAHI, the most beautiful fish alive in the water i have ever seen with blues , gold, and greens !! And FIGHT !! Wow !! They fight SO MUCH MORE AND BETTER THAN A MUCH LARGER SAILFISH !! No one told me. And i was told they taste better than sailfish too !!
I notice the Captain was cursing at us and calling us dirty Mexican-language names all day long, not that my buddy cared; Dick was totally focused on the fishing, as usual. I grew up with Mexicans in San Jose and i know most of the swear words and insults because of my high school friends. It really bothered me that this supposedly popular ,"#2", skipper could swear at us all day, and not just the usual "gringo",,, AND DEMAND to be tipped more than $100US by each of us, EACH DAY !!
I was my San Diego buddy's guest, so i did not complain to the hotel management. And the second night, yep, i got "Montezuma's Revenge" again !!; My rear end was so sore. Darn few women,even ugly women at the resort,,, or the swim up bar. Mostly fat hairy men.
Yes, Mr. Van Wormer is very famous,,, and i have read on the Web a lot of the cookie-cutter "4 star" ratings on several hotel and booking websites. Bullshit.
The food in the big, tiled restaurant looked safe, but i was sick with diarrhea all week. The suites furniture and amenites, like tv(none),radio(none) and A/C(weak) were nothing to brag about. And the much bally-hooed fishing was weak, with only a few sailfish caught each day for a week and always released(who wants to keep such a small sailfish in such a depleted fishery?!) and a few dorado that turned ugly color when dead and out of the water(i did not trust the captain or staff to clean my fish and freeze my fish for the flight back to the States). And the constant insults and look of disgust from the popular "#2"captain was not a plus; Yes, i have been in Japan and France and they think they are the superior race too.
If i go to Hawaii again, trip #26, i may try fishing for mahi mahi/dorado. It is, in my opinion, a much safer feeling countryside, much more attractive place, much better educated populace, and much safer food. No fun going on vacation and spending hours, day and night, on a toilet.
