I've probably been to Cabo San Lucas on the tip of the Baja Peninsula in Mexico 15 times - either running the Los Cabos Billfish Tournament or hosting a Marlin University session. In all those times, I've never seen it rain a drop. This year, as my inbound plan banked over the peninsula, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Instead of a stark brown desert interrupted by spurts of green, I looked down on a verdant plain. It looked like the top of a jungle.

Once on the ground, I stepped off the bottom step into a six-inch-deep torrent of water running off the tarmac. Mountains usually visible from the airport stood shrouded in clouds, mist and rain.

On the way to the hotel, the cab driver said it had been raining on and off for 48 hours and that a tropical storm was heading right for Cabo - just in time to ruin my one chance of getting some fishing under my belt. And this trip isn't any bed of roses under the best of circumstances. I'm the committee boat (radio man) for the tournament, recording all the catches, giving release codes, relaying weights, etc. The job starts at 5:00 a.m., and I have to stay close to that radio until 4:00 p.m. Then I get to run down to the weigh scale and critique the photography skills of 60 eager anglers, who have usually just bought their camera the day before.

And since photographing a charged-up striped marlin on the leader can be a bit tricky, I see a lot of splashes, shadows and bright spots that end up as disqualified fish. Almost as many more are DQ'd because the time-and-date stamp isn't set properly. Now whose fault do you think this is? The team captain? The photographer? Nope. For some reason, it seems to be mine.

So now I get to sit in my luxurious hotel room and watch it rain, waiting for the tournament to start.

The tournament kickoff party, usually an outdoor affair right on the beach, has moved to a ballroom, and we might not be able to fish the first day - or even the second. This could turn out to be a one-day shootout for all the cake. If only I could be so lucky.