Bahamas bone fishWe couldn’t come to the Bahamas without a few days of fishing! Our first afternoon on Harbour Island, we wandered out into the flats just north of town and saw a huge bonefish swimming right up to us! Of course, we didn’t have our fishing gear and when we returned later the tides had changed and the flat was dry. We would have to come back again another afternoon.
We booked a couple half-days with Stuart Cleare, aka Bonefish Stuart, so we could fish areas that weren’t fished to on a daily basis. The first day, he picked us up on his skiff and took us south of Harbour Island and fished along shore and in a deep, small lagoon set back behind a couple houses. Stuart cut the engine and climbed up on the back of his boat on the large platform. He slowly, calmly poled along shore with a long push-pole. It is such a peaceful way to fish, and from that vantage point he can see down into the water and spot fish long before I could see them. We fished to a school of bonefish in the lagoon, and Evan caught a few bonefish that day.
The second morning, Stuart took us north-east of Harbour Island, to an area filled with mangroves, small beaches and perfect salt flats. Right after Evan caught his first fish and before we could release it a lemon shark started circling our skiff. It was about 4-5 feet long, and wanted that bonefish! We couldn’t just release it so we netted it and let it breath (removing it quickly when the shark came too close). Stuart spent at least 10 minutes trying to scare the shark off with his push pole until we finally found a safe spot in only a few inches of water. The bonefish could rest and build its strength where the water was too shallow for the shark. I know the shark wasn’t coming after us, but I’ve never been that close to striking distance of a shark before!
I held off fishing today and just enjoyed the morning. The weather was incredible. There were storms on the horizon but never close, and the water was calm but not hot. Evan and Stuart walked the flats fishing while I sat on the boat and read, took pictures and napped. We tried again to fish the flats just north of town but had no luck. I’m sure those fish get fished to every day of the year. We were just incredibly lucky to see the large bonefish that first afternoon - it never made an appearance again.
Excellent travel advice and service
This is my second experience working with Adventure Life. I’m sold. Jess Heuermann is an experienced traveler and provides a lot of useful information when planning a trip. These are the questions I like to ask at the outset - What’s it like to go here, there, what would you suggest, what do people report, can we add any additional side trips? Jess took the time to answer my questions and seek additional information to share with me. Petchie Colina is outstanding in helping with travel logistics and final preparations. Adventure Life has excellent guides and offers private guides and small group adventures. We enjoyed the opportunity to talk with the guides and drivers to learn more about their countries, cultures and histories. A highlight was having the guides pick local restaurants where we could share meals together. Highly recommend.
Claire Cordon
5 days ago
Our six-day tour in Iceland went smoothly with one exception. We had asked for two rooms each night. Somehow we were booked with one room with three beds. It could not be fixed at the first hotel in Reykjavik because the hotel was fully booked. Once informed of the problem, however, Adventure Life rebooked for two rooms for the remainder of the trip. As an 85-year-old traveler, I appreciated that one could participate at different physical levels at many of the stops. Iceland is a great place to visit but on the expensive side.
Mary Warren
6 days ago
Jess was very easy going and answered all our questions. It’s not easy dealing with 6 people at once but she did an outstanding job!
Diane Foster
1 week ago
Kassandra and the Adventure Life team have been incredible! Kassandra was very knowledgeable and attentive to our asks while making sure we kept within our budget. This was our first experience with a travel agent and we were blown away by the booking/initial exploration service. We will use Adventure Life again.