Los Órganos

The sheltered beach town of Los Órganos is largely untouched today by commercial tourism, but that was not always the case, as the area was once a haven for big-game fishermen and celebrities on the hunt to hook a record.

Just twenty kilometers south, the town of Cabo Blanco garnered significant attention when Houston oilman Alfred Glassell Jr. caught a 1,560-pound black marlin, claiming a world record in 1953 that stands to this day. Footage of his two-hour wrestling match with the fish was used in the 1958 Hollywood version of The Old Man and the Sea.

Ernest Hemingway himself, along with the likes of John Wayne and Marilyn Monroe, would make their way to the area in hopes of catching a “grander,” a thousand-pound marlin. Sixteen were caught in these waters in 1954 alone, and over the course of two decades, the area would produce more than fifteen world fishing records.

Today, the once-elite fishing clubs have disbanded, while celebrities have been replaced by surfers, smaller game fishermen, and an increasing number of women casting their lines. But if the volume of boats at sea is anything to go by, plenty of ambitious sea folk are still venturing out in hopes of reeling in a big one.

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