In February 2015 I stayed in Cancún for three days snorkelling with Sailfish. I had never seen a Sailfish but this was a good time of year to see them as sardines are present off Cancún and Sailfish love sardines.

Snorkel Day One. The sea was rough, very rough and I did not see a single Sailfish.

Snorkel Day Two. Mixed fortunes.  The sea was much calmer and we found some Sailfish albeit in small numbers. Unfortunately the lens I had been recommended to use, my 60mm macro lens, was a bad choice. Indeed pretty hopeless for such a subject. Still I now knew that my 10-17mm Tokina lens would work well so I set that up to use the next day.

Snorkel Day Three. The bad weather returned and snorkelling was cancelled. Instead Gabriel Lopez of Solo Buceo Marina took us for two dives. The first of these was the C-55 Juan de la Barrera wreck. Intentionally sunk in 2000 for divers it was badly battered by Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The dive was highly enjoyable with warm, clear water, large Eagle Rays majestically cruising around the wreck, big stingrays resting on the sea bed and inside the wreck, a large Nurse shark. The second dive was a drift dive on an unnamed reef with plenty of small sea life. Back on board the Silver Fox from the dive I could see the wind was really picking up, the sea turning rough - our skipper had to battle to get the Silver Fox back to its Cancún mooring.

En route to the airport. I left my hotel well before dawn, travelled out to sea in the dark with my luggage and at dawn slipped into the calm ocean water. My luck had turned, I could see a small group of Sailfish and this time I had the correct lens to shoot them. Having finally got some Sailfish shots, we raced back to land as I changed out of my wetsuit - I was confident that arriving at Cancún International Airport in a dripping wetsuit would not have been favourably received!