Excitement on the Beach

Monday, 11/29/10. I just had the most exciting experience. When I got to the beach this morning, I saw a boat out on the water. Then I saw a bunch of people on the beach pulling on a rope. My first thought was that the boat engine had died and the men were pulling it to shore. But as I got closer, I discovered that there was a large net in the water and they were pulling it in. I walked up closer so I could watch. It took them about 1/2 hour to get the net in and it was filled with all sorts of fish, sardines, puffer fish, a stingray, the largest angel fish I have ever seen and several jellyfish.

Jellyfish

Pufferfish

The stingray was beautiful. I could not find a picture of it on the internet but it was black and white striped. Very distinctive.

There was a gentleman there who spoke English and he was so excited to talk to me. He said he had lived in San Antonio and San Diego about 20 years ago.

Remember the Frigatebirds I talked about earlier? They were swirling overhead and the guy told me they did not eat the sardines, so they threw them up in the air and the Frigatebirds would grab them. He said these birds cannot land on the ground because their legs are too short to take off again. I asked him where they laid their eggs and he told me on the cliffs in the mountains. Of course, that made sense.

He explained that they would divide up the fish to take home to eat and some of the guys would take theirs to a restaurant and sell their portion. It didn't appear to me that this catch was enough to even divide up amongst all the fishermen, much less sell.

I have only once or twice seen another person on the beach in the whole month I have been here and on my last trip down there, I hit the jackpot. I only wish I had had my camera with me.