Read PICTORIAL NARRATION instead.

–

After my aimless stroll on the beach, I found a new purpose for my trip in Tanjung Bidara: to go fishing for comel (squid as how the locals call it).

At close to 6pm, I sit with Shah at Balai Nelayan, a simple canteen where he hangs out with other fisherman friends (not edible). A group of them usually occupies a corner of the canteen for a few games of carom and fill the wooden eatery with much good-natured banter.

At 7:30 pm, the darkness begins to loom over the ocean and the water horizon line begins to fade; soon, the water and the skies would be inseparable.

Under the dimming daylight, Shah fixes a motor to his small-size boat while his friend, Deli, helps pushing the boat out to the water. All is set. Shah walks up the shore again and retreats with his back facing the sea murmuring, perhaps a prayer requesting for a fruitful catch and a safe return.

We set out at 7:45pm, riding against the tide and bouncing over waves. I stretch my arms wide, holding both side of the boat, to keep myself from bouncing off the shallow vessel.

After ten minutes of chopping waves, Shah stops the boat in a spot only he knows where. The engine is switched off and the wavy waters now buoy the boat that has lost its momentum. The boat moves more vigorously when Deli anchors the boat. He pulls and loosens the rope to secure the anchor on the seabed that is approximately 100-feet deep.

Five minutes later, the anchor is secured and Shah switched on the battery-operated florescent lamp that is hanging on a wooden holder with a fishing line (and a fishhook) dipping in the greenish water. Shah hooks a dead squid onto the fishhook as bait. Squid makes excellent bait for cephalopod as no two can coexist in harmony. The bait will lure the squid close to it and the latter will eventually get caught.

As we wait and rock along with the waving water, a squid zooms in fast to the bait and starts to pick a fight. ‘Splash!’ Shah scoops the squid at once with a net.

Stuck in the net, the squid activates its self-defense mechanism by spitting ink. The translucent creature is tossed into a pail. Lying helplessly in the pail, it hisses and wiggles weakly. Eventually, the hissing stops and its body turns white.

When all this is happening, I feel my head pounding and my stomach churning. I think I feel my dinner rising up to my throat too. Getting away from the action, leaning on the backpack, away from the light, I close my eyes.

I find solace in the tender, albeit chilly, breeze, and the rippling sound of the water. Indifferent to my condition, the boat continues to rock. I soon fall asleep.

When I awake, the pail is already filled with more than ten squids. The catch soon reduces. I think the squid finally finds out our trick. We move to another stop. Deli repeats the anchoring and my head and stomach spins and churns again. I fall asleep, again.

When I awake this time, Shah has caught a baby swordfish. Then I hear a ‘click’ sound and the ‘sword’ is broken; its body is cut into half. Shah uses the tail half to make bait for Jenahak or in short Jenak (John Snapper). The gill-covers of the other half still open and close. I close my eyes again, just to rest.

Shah is fishing only with fishing line tied around his toes. His fingers and toes work together to trot the fishing line every now and then. At times when he feels the tension on the fishing line, he is actually merely feeding the fish below. Hence more baby swordfish are caught to make bait.

Just when my head and stomach adapt to the rocking, lightning pierces through the clouds and the ferocious white veins threaten us with much rage. Shah estimated that the rain should come in an hour after this phenomenon and we will return to shore in ten minutes. I am happy my misery will end soon but I am not quite happy because I have not caught any comel.

The light is off and the engine roars again. The boat starts speeding and bouncing its way back to the shore. In less than 10 minutes, we are back on the shore with a bucket of squids that weighs approximately two kilos.

It is 1:00am and my head and stomach seem to have lost its bearing altogether. I wave goodbye to Shah and Deli and wobble back to the car.

My body is ready to drop but my spirits is very much lifted. Catching squids is probably not a big deal; but there is something about the unplanned itinerary. I have not had such an impromptu adventure for a long time and this is a refreshing change. Having said that, I should have taken my anti motion sickness pills much earlier.

Check out the PICTORIAL NARRATION too.

–