After spending a couple of nights in Nassau – an amazing place to visit or pass through if you are heading to one of the islands in the Bahamas – we headed to San Salvador, staying at Columbus Isle Club Med for a week’s R&R.

The flight was easy, check in took about 15 minutes and we were off, within 50 minutes we landed in San Salvador. We flew with Bahamasair, on one of the most relaxed flights I have ever been on. On arrival, we immediately felt like we were on holiday, the duty free was a tiny reggae wooden hut outside the airport, we were given a cocktail and hopped in a golf buggy to take us to our hotel.

Arriving, it was a spacious, airy colourful hotel. To get to our room we walked through the hotel and bar, past the swimming pool and outdoor restaurants which lead to the rooms. Painted in colourful pastel colours with a Bahamian feel, each of the ground floor rooms lead onto the beach. At the end of the beach there is a pontoon with dive centre and a cocktail bar.

Early on in the holiday we decided to try deep sea fishing (having never been a fishing enthusiast). Every holiday I always like to try something new, so deep sea fishing we went. Getting up for a 6am start we were collected from the hotel and taken to the main port and got on what seemed to be a little speed boat, with a sun cover and a high fishing chair at the back. We were greeted by our guide who was amazing, a very chilled French-Caribbean man, who had lived in the Bahamas for going on 20 years, with long surfer dude blonde hair. We climbed onto the boat and headed out into the deep ocean. Note to self, take plenty of water with you and suncream, it is hot during the day and you don’t want to get caught out.

90 minutes later, with no land in sight and the deepest almost black ocean underneath us, we stared into the great unknown. It was time to set up the fishing rods, which in my opinion was best left to the professions. Three very strong large fishing rods that were securely harnesses at the back of the boat were baited and ready to go. Now time to sit back, relax and sail around with our fingers crossed, with any luck we would catch some tuna.

First up, my line caught a bite. It was exciting and much more fun than I anticipated, the adrenalin kicked in. Time was of the essence and I jumped into the seat and step by step was told what to do by our guide. Reeling in what I can only describe as the heaviest fish I have ever lifted, took some time. Eventually it got close and as it lifted out of the water flapping around, we could see it was only a medium sized grouper. I must stress that the boat continues to move so you are fighting the current and pace as well as the fish, who was much stronger than he looked. First fish on board and time to get out the drinks as my job was done.

A couple of smaller fish, including a small tuna were pulled up onto the boat, anything very small was put back in the sea. The next line pulled by a very heavy or strong fish, one of the group took on the challenge, and started reeling in this fish. With no idea what it was it fought for a good 20 minutes with only about ⅓ of the line coming in. Suddenly there was a huge splash and the line started coming in quickly, almost too fast to reel in. Once finally our catch was in the boat it transpired that something bigger, caught our catch. Namely a large shark, most likely a tiger shark. Leaving us with the head of a tuna fish, that was larger than any other fish caught that day.

Deep sea fishing, even for those not keen on fishing was excellent, a brilliant day out, and much more enjoyable that I had anticipated. Perfect for couples wanting to explore more than the island or their hotel and also for families. We had two girls eight and ten on the boat who loved it.

Heading back to the island we were just in time for a quick lunch, consisting of the fish we caught with some local vegetables, cooked on a BBQ on the beach and then it was time for a snooze on the sunloungers.