Excellent experience overall.  Boat was comfortable and perfect for fishing, excellent captain and crew, great food and cold drinks.  We went out hoping to catch Yellowfin Tuna -  captain Andres and Arixa made it happen, with two 40-50 lb beauties in the boat by the end of the day.  For an amazing fishery like this, the catch was unremarkable, but between what we saw being caught on other boats trolling nearby (nothing), and what we were hearing over the VHF radio (other captains having no luck), I was more than happy with our catch. Highly recommended!

Also, if the bite is slow, the massive schools of spinner dolphins are very entertaining.  Better than Planet Earth, and live.  We were surrounded by hundreds of dolphins all day long.

Was trying to target sail fish. We trolled for a few hours in multiple locations without a bite. They tried multiple rigs and lures buy had no luck. The captain did give me a heads up when we started the day that the sail fish bite hadn’t been good lately. While monitoring the radio all day the captain heard of a good tuna bite happening and asked if I’d like to head to the spot, trolling or pull in and go right there. I said pull it in and get there fast not wanting to miss it. We arrived and started casting and trolling for tuna. Got 2 tuna and then at the end of the day a really nice Mahi. Overall extremely satisfied with he trip and crew.

Andres and his first mate Arixa are top notch, from the moment they set up a panga boat for you to get to their boat, to the moment you get dropped back off on the beach.

No charter can 100% guarantee fish and Andres is very forward with you about expectations based on what you are looking for. But it IS up to YOU as the customer to make your intentions clear. He isn’t going to lead you astray and sell you on lies. I cannot stress how important that is in a charter, as I’ve been on over 10 charters in recent years.

I booked the 10 hour trip by myself to really try and hit my big three of tuna, mahi and any species of billfish in one day. They found me success and we managed to get a big eye tuna and a nice sized mahi to the boat. I messed up twice, once by holding the spool and breaking off a (likely) tuna, and not getting a proper hook set on our first bite and the fish spit the hook. Didn’t know what kind of fish that was. Had fresh sashimi on the boat, which is something I’ve always wanted.

We had another tuna run at the lure, but didn’t take it. Saw a marlin run next to out boat, about 100 yards out too as we were trolling on the way back in, but you can’t just magically make them come to your rigs, life happens. So close to my big 3!

They kept me full on food and plenty hydrated with a good assortment of beverages, which was greatly appreciated as the temperatures were high.

They will do whatever you want within reason. If you just want to sit there and be handed a rod, you can do that. If you want to work some rods, they’ll let you do that too!

They were polite, entertaining and show what good hospitality is.

Arixa is by far THE best first mate I’ve seen on a charter. She could run circles around some of the people I’ve met. Certified badass of a person and first mate. She could teach a class on how to work the rigs and hook fish.

If you are looking for a hotel on the water, this isn’t your boat. But the best part about it? We were running with all the massive sport fishing vessels, catching fish all the same….at a fraction of the cost. If you care more about fishing than saying you got on a big fancy boat, stop thinking about it and book this charter. One thing to note, if your party is over 3 people, it may get tight on the boat, so your party needs to be on point with how you are walking around the boat so to not get in the way of the captain and first mate as they work hard to get you on fish.

Additionally, tip your captain, first mate and panga drivers, especially if they treat you well! After all, this is a service industry and if the service is good, show them your appreciation.

Andres and Arixa, I can’t wait till I come back to Costa Rica and we make that trip out to the Sea Monts.

I booked this somewhat last minute and off-season. Had the itch. I was floored by how much fun I had. I have way more money in gear/bigger boat at home to do the same thing, and just had the Costa Rica itch. I might sell my stuff and keep coming back for this trip. Andres speaks great English if you need that. He listened to the radio the entire time. Andres was attentive and paid attention to what I wanted to do. I asked him who the boat belonged to. He quickly answered, “Sir, today this is YOUR boat.” Then be made good on that. Andres was an absolute delight, kind of a really tan, bi-lingual Santa Claus delivering big fish to all the good boys and girls. I want to invite him to come fish with me at home!

Mad Marlin is a little 23 foot walk around, but she is actually much larger than she is. She rode well in 2 to 3’s. She had 2 Yamaha 115’s for redundant reliability. My years of wrench turning and checking out the boat’s condition say it is well maintained.  The radio, raw/fresh washdowns, outriggers all worked. The gear provided was middle weight Shimanos mostly, capable of most anything they would run across here. It wasn’t ready for a grander marlin, but neither is my overweight self.

Alexa was a great deckhand. I saw a 110 pound 20 year old girl when I boarded and did not expect her to work like a pair of caffeinated gorillas. She ran up to a 6 line spread no problem and cleaned fish in the dead time. The boat stayed clean no matter how much fish I piled on.

All in all, I was really impressed. The boat was a bit small, the gear was a tad light, but the damn crew pulled it all together so well that I had an amazing time and piled on all the fish I cared to catch.

Thank you Andrea and Alexa. Puro vida!