Cayo Frances Farm & Fly
“It sounds like you’ve discovered your soul space.” These words were spoken to me by a good friend after I described my week at Cayo Frances Farm and Fly, the warmth of the water and people, the beauty, the thrill of setting out each morning on a paddleboard for a fishing adventure, the food, the camaraderie with the other guests and just the whole vibe of the place. This friend of mine is into yoga and kale and is comfortable using terms like “soul space.” She was right, of course, but a fella like me isn’t going to just start throwing around new-agey terms like “soul space,” so I had to think about it a while to find a way of expressing this concept in a way that better aligned with my self-image. “I’ll tell you what it is,” I said after a few minutes of thought. “That place has soul, man.”
What does it mean for a place to have a soul? To me it means there is something intangible there underlying the amenities. A place with soul makes you feel something that somehow goes deeper than the experience. It makes you feel good about the world and the people around you. It makes you feel good about yourself. It feels comfortable. When you are in a place that has a soul, you understand it. It’s an intrinsic part of the experience. Picture an old lake cabin or great cafe or dive bar. There is something more to the place than just the view or the food or the booze.
Here’s the thing with soul. You can’t just manufacture it. And it has nothing to do with having your every need and desire catered to or being pampered. There is no soul on a cruise ship or at Disneyland. A place needs to be nice, sure. You’re not going to feel good about a place if you feel unsafe or notice too many rough edges; the soul is gone. But, a place with soul allows some input from you. You can build a fire in the fireplace at your northwoods cabin or mix yourself a drink. A place with soul recognizes that you are a functioning adult.
At Cayo Frances Farm and Fly, the cabins are simple and well maintained. The layout is thoughtful. The food is fantastic. But there is more to the place than those elements. It just feels right and because of that, it’s the perfect place from which to embark on a fishing adventure. The staff is hands-on enough to be helpful and hands-off enough to keep the experience real. If you want to spend a day with a guide, they know the best guides to give you a great experience, but if you also want to head off on your own, which I highly recommend, they will care about your day, set you up with the right stuff and point you in the right direction.
I’ve been lucky enough to travel and fish in some beautiful places. It’s hard to beat Belize for the number and variety of fish. Bonefish, permit, tarpon, jacks, and barracuda are all here. As an angler, I still have plenty to learn, but embrace the idea of heading out on my own, at least for a day or two. There are few places quite like Cayo Frances Farm and Fly that allow for this kind of discovery. And at the end of the day, when I’m sitting under the palapa, sharing my successes and failures with other like-minded anglers, and the warm Caribbean breeze hits me and everything just feels right with the world, well, I understand at some deep level. “This place has soul, man.”