Spearfishing

On Friday night after frisbee, I was invited by Jirka and Phil to go spearfishing the next day. Jirka is a dentist and his coworkers had scheduled a boating trip out to the rock islands to spend the day on the beach and in the water. Saturday morning we left from M dock on a boat the same size as the dive boats. Besides Jirka, Phil, and I, there was nine Palauans on the trip. We were supposed to leave at eight, but this being Palau we didn't leave the dock until nine. With relatively calm seas, the boat driver was able to go fast and we quickly left Koror behind. We went down the west side through the islands until we passed by Little Toi. We turned east along Big Toi and then ducked back into a secluded inlet where the beach on the small island of Ngchus awaited us. I had been through the area a few times before but had never stopped at the beach. Once when I was with my sister we followed a spotted eagle ray through the small inlet. Like some of the beaches, on Ngchus Koror State maintains a shelter that includes a barbecue area.

After unloading the boat, the women stayed at the beach to barbecue meat while the men went spearfishing. I had never been spearfishing, but I was looking forward to the opportunity to try it. We took the boat out into a large part of the lagoon opposite the seventy islands. Our Palauan boat driver stayed with the boat, but the two other Palauans jumped in along with Jirka. They had an extra speargun for me, so Phil explained how to load and fire it. The speargun looks like a rifle but instead of the barrel there is a spear attached to a fishing line. It is fired by releasing two rubber pieces of hose. Loading it seems complicated at first, but Phil explained it well and I was able to get the hang of it. The trickiest part is getting the rubber hoses into position because it takes a good pull and a lot of strength. Once I had put on my mask and fins, I jumped in and began the hunt.

Spearfishing is just like snorkeling, but with a rifle. The fish are aware of spearguns and if you point the speargun at the fish they will scatter. There is trick to keeping the gun still until you fire, but being a beginner the fish mostly ran away from me. At the first stop, I shot at a few fish and I think I hit one, but I didn't spear anything. Underwater the rubber hoses are a bit slippery and it was a little difficult to get the gun loaded. When I returned to the boat, the two Palauans had each caught a half dozen and Jirka had caught two. Phil claimed he caught a large invisible fish, but I didn't see anything.

At our second stop one of Palauans lent me a glove to wear that made gripping the hoses much easier and I was able to load and fire much quicker. Soon after I began swimming I saw a few parrotfish. I was able to get close to them and get the speargun in position. I fired and speared a small parrotfish in the middle of its side. Spear fishing is far more violent that catching a fish while casting. While casting you can release the fish after removing the hook, when you spear a fish there is no releasing because it dies soon after its speared. After I speared the fish, I returned to the boat and gave it to the boat driver. The experienced spear fishermen put their catch on a string attached to a float so they can continue to fish. I was happy to get mine off the spear because when I swam away from the boat I saw a small whitetip shark that I am sure would have loved to have had my catch. I swam about some more, but did not come close to spearing anything else. Spearfishing is not easy and takes lots of practice to know how to approach fish and fire without them running away. Back at the boat, each of the Palauans had caught another half dozen each. We returned to Ngchus to have lunch.

Back at the beach there was a barbecue lunch awaiting us and Phil and I grabbed some food. Some of the fish were put on the fire and prepared for lunch, including the parrotfish that I speared. They gave the parrotfish to Phil and I to share. I enjoyed eating it, especially because it was so fresh and because I had speared it. The spear fishing experience is very primal because you are out on the hunt bringing back the food to eat. While we ate, Jirka took his speargun out from the beach and speared four fish. After lunch it was relaxation time. Phil took a nap while Jirka and I went exploring. By that time it was low tide and we could walk out of the little inlet and see the lagoon. We stopped to look at some interesting little hermit crabs exposed by the tide. When we returned, Phil got out his frisbee and we began tossing it around. The Palauans enjoyed it and we played catch for a while. The inlet is small enough that we could throw across it to the small beach on the other side, so I swam across and we had fun throwing it over and into the water.

Phil, Jirka, and I wanted to try spear fishing once more, so we went out into the deeper part of the inlet. We were not out for long when a school of silvery fish appeared in front of me. I didn't really aim, but just fired into the school hoping to get lucky. When I fired, the school scattered except one fish that I had speared. It hit it right above the eye directly in the brain and twitched momentarily before dying. I couldn't have hit it better had I actually been aiming. I took it over to Jirka who put it on its float. My beginner's luck having run out, I didn't come close to snagging anything else.

It was getting late in the afternoon and it was time to leave. We packed up the boat and sped off towards home. They took us on the scenic route and at that time of day the sun hits the islands at just the right angle that makes them shimmer. We made it back to the dock just after sunset.

Saturday night was the PPR members dinner. One of the perks of the membership is that every three months they give us a buffet dinner. The food is excellent and I know a lot of the members, so they are great parties. It was a great way to end an adventurous day.