Reserva Estatal - El Palmar, Mexico

The other day we drove to Sisal, a small fishing village in the Yucatan. Right next to Sisal is the Reserva Estatal el Palmar or in English The Palmar State Reserve. The Reserva Estatal el Palmar spans over 50,000 hectare's which is about 200 square miles and has been protected since 1990 for its special ecosystem and habitat.

This place is special because of the mangroves, sea grass beds, tidal waves, costal dune vegatation, and its low deciduous forests surounded by wet lands. It doesnt just holds all of this vegitation, it holds thousands of special water birds like the Greater Flamingos and scientists while studying the reserve discovered 15 new species of ducks. Additionally, and most importantly, it serves as a nesting space for the endangered Hawksbill Turtle.

We went to Sisal to go fishing the next morning. We had been invited by one of my dads friends to go out on his boat. We arrived around 2:40pm and they were already preparing some lunch of fish and crab they had caught earlier in the day. It was amazing, especially the blue crab ceviche.

That night we rode ATV's through the Reserva Estatal el Palmar. We went through the mangroves and along the beach next to the crashing waves for about forty five minutes stopping at a wetlands where my dad says he saw a crocodile.

On the way back my dads chain came off its track of his ATV. It took about 45 minutes to reattach it and after breaking 2 more times it eventually worked. The ride back was super chill, even though they were millions of gnats and bugs, but the forest and beaches were amazing in the dark.

At around 5:30 is when our first alarm went off but since nobody was up yet we went back to sleep for another thirty minutes waking at six this time. We prepaired the boat for about 45 minutes and got all the gear ready and after I decided to get some casts in just for fun and had a cool blow up on a popper but no fish.

We left the dock at 7:45 to go get bait, our captan used a cast net to catch about one hundred sardines for live bait. The fish we were going for was King fish and Cobia and they both like Sardines. It was about a thirty to forty-five minutes and started trolling for King fish, about 30 minutes in to trolling my brother caught an Atlantic Bonito which are excellent for sashimi.

With no luck after this we continued fishing for another hour or so then my dad hooked up and caught a very good sized Yellow Tail Snapper. Then my brother and Mason caught two Blue Runners, which are good fried whole. As the wind started picking up we decided to pack in up, and head home for the day. They prepared the food for dinner and we said our good byes and went back home.