My first fish!

The past four days in the Banyaks were straight out of a surfer’s wet dream. With perfect sunny skies, no wind, and non-stop swell, I had to pinch myself every morning to make sure I wasn’t asleep. Like the turtles in our bay the swell moved in slow and steady. The first day Ross and I had the bay all to ourselves, and were trading tubes back and forth like baseball cards on the school bus. By the end of the day we lost count.

The next two days offered double to triple overhead waves, and brought a few charter boats to the bay. Having the insider knowledge, I waited until the boat crews were surfed out and the tide was getting low before I moseyed out into the line-up.

Meanwhile, our food stocks were getting low, and with new supplies not coming for some time, Ross and I decided it was high time to try our luck at spear fishing. Ross armed with my gun, and myself with the Hawaiian Sling we set out into the blue.

I have never gone spear fishing before this trip and so my first few goes were pretty rough, but this time I was determined. 30 min. into my hunt, I stabbed a nice sized Parrot Fish, but got too excited and pulled out the spear quickly, leaving him wounded on the reef. I couldn’t stop there; I was determined to get a fish.

I took a big breath and swam down behind a large coral head. Slowly, I slipped around the corner just as a small Bayam came into view. As I let go of the rubber everything went slow motion like I was riding a wave. I watched as the three prongs of the spear penetrated the flesh and pinned the Bayam against the reef. To ensure I had a successful kill I left my spear in him for a few minutes as I bobbed up for air. Slowly I lifted him on the reef and swam back to the boat. My first fish was not the tastiest, but it’s a start!