Our next stop was Mantaray Resort, but we didn't
get there until late afternoon and from a dull start it had turned into a
beautiful day. We met up with the lads who were also staying at Manta that
night. They ran two hour game fishing trips every afternoon but because the
ferry was late I missed it for that day, which I was very annoyed about when
they came back in. The boat pulled up and they'd caught seven fair sized
Spanish mackerel and a big Giant Travelly, when I got talking to some of the
staff they told me that the day before the boat had brought back a 55_kg
Dog Tooth Tuna and three Sail Fish the previous week! The best thing is the
trip only cost $60 so I signed Mel and I up for the next afternoon. Manta was
the only place we had to pay extra for food, $77 each per day, it was well
worth it though they gave us entrées of freshly caught sushi and every thing. It
was a pretty chilled one that night, the staff did the usual song and dance
show and we just hung out with the lads by the bonfire on the beach. The
weather was really crap the next day and it had been raining most of the night.
So nothing really happened apart from watching a few films and generally
chilling out. Luckily the weather cleared up in the afternoon just in time for
the fishing trip. I was full of hope that it might be time to catch a big fish
but it wasn't! We even saw some schools of Tuna breaking the surface which
usually means a hook up but nothing. We did how ever get four strikes in one just
before packing up. I grabbed a rod and immediately got snapped off, the two
other fish that got hooked up managed to come off and the only fish that stayed
on gave a good fight all the way to the top then just as the skipper tried to
gaff it the lure came out and nearly took our heads off! So not a very
productive trip in all but I'm kind of getting used to it. Another good meal
that night and another antisocial mood from Mel and I, everyone was playing
games and we were sat on our bed watching a film. Mantaray Resort is only a
five minute boat ride to the channel where we'd been swimming with the
Mantarays, we had a voucher to do it again so when the Manta drum sounded we
all hoped in the boat. This time we only saw one and it was a bit of a scrabble
as there were so many people there so I'm glad we had the chance to do it
twice. We'd been told how nice the reef was just off the beach so when we got
back we went to check it out. They had marked the best bits with yellow boys,
which lead along the edge of the reef, there was some really interesting
formations and coral bommies not to mention the fish of all shapes and sizes.
After a quick shower it was time to head off to our last island Beachcomber.