El Pescador — The Curious Life Of A Fisherman Named Pancho

Deep in the heart of Baja, Mexico lies a mysterious Bay that is nothing short of prehistoric. A place lost in todays modern times. An oasis of madness. A place where desert meets ocean in a calmly confrontational way.

It is only fitting that this is the land Pancho calls home, for only could a place like this forge a man like Pancho. A man who finds whales with his ears and wind with his eyes. Predicting the next days weather simply by heading up to high ground for a look across The Bay. Reading things beyond perception. Feeling the nuances of a place that can only be felt through knowledge gained over a lifetime spent in it’s presence.

Most of us have lost any and all connections to mother nature. Long gone are our animal instincts. Senses dulled by the safety and security technology affords us. Pancho is not most of us. He has not been victimized by the creature comforts of modern civilization. A life lived free. Days spent on the water. In the wild. Feral. A life lived here connects a man to these lands and waters in ways we simply cannot understand. To say this man wields a sharp sword is an understatement.
Pancho is the captain you never question, whether you understand what he is doing or not. More often than not the only thing you do understand is that Pancho understands. And that is enough. Operating on a higher plain, with a direct line to Neptune, what Pancho says, or doesn’t, is what goes.
I remember one day in particular, when I had first met Pancho. We were cruising The Bay for hours, covering miles and miles without seeing much, when out of the blue Pancho abruptly stops the panga, points to his ears and quietly says, “Escuchar.” Listen. With the motor off we sit. Five minutes. Ten minutes. Wondering what we are doing. Fifteen minutes. This dude must be tired, I think to myself, why else would we be stopping. Twenty minutes. And then, 20 feet from our boat, a blue whale! The largest animal to ever live! 100 feet long! Manifests itself with a booming breath as if showing up for a reservation only Pancho could make.

No matter how many times this type of thing happens, it never ceases to amaze me. It’s magic never wears off. Why did he stop there? Why now? How did he know? In the age of information we spend our time permanently connected to the internet googling everything, and more often than not learning nothing at all. While here, far out to sea, without a single bar of wifi, a deeper connection is made. Sometimes it’s better not to know. Knowing he knows is enough. https://youtu.be/V5OrbuSc8RI