A day to catch fish with the locals!

I was hanging on the beach, when the owner of the boat yard, Alfred, yelled “go fishing?”! I jumped to the opportunity and off we went!

Later on I figured he just wanted someone to do the fishing while he drove the boat in between the reefs! I learnt a few things! They trawl in between the corral reefs to lure the fish out and when they bite, you got to reel in fast, otherwise they go back into the reef and it’s hard to get the fish out with the line caught in the corral. That was lesson number one…

Lesson number two: only catch certain fish in the atoll. The bass here in Apataki has Ciguatera. “Ciguatera Poisoning (CP) is a seafood poisoning highly prevalent in French Polynesia. This illness results from the consumption of seafood contaminated with ciguatoxins (CTXs) produced by Gambierdiscus, a benthic dinoflagellate.” From What I understand is that fish get it from eating food from the corral. We threw two Bass back into the water, as they are “no good” here in Apataki. Alfred also told me that in Tahiti the bass is ok to eat!

I ended up catching ten snappers while Alfred navigated the boat!

In my poor French and Alfred’s poor English, we managed to have a few conversations! Alfred and Pauline came here in the early 2000. This used to be a pearl farm, but Alfred and Pauline turned it into a bit of a agricultural farm. They grow a ton of veggies and fruit to go along with their pigs and chickens.

In 2009 a British sailboat arrived and asked if they could haul their boat up, as they needed to fix their hull, and refuge from cyclone season. Alfred kind of laughed and said no… but there was a seed planted… a boat yard!!! Why not! Now they haul out 50-60 boats a year, many of which are regulars…

This must be a very lucrative business. They also offer a ton of services, plumbing, fiberglassing, painting, just to mention a few. As I’ve mentioned before, their son, Tony, runs the boat yard with 4 workers and Pauline the office. Alfred mostly run the farm!

Anyhow, my time here in the boatyard is almost over. Tony will shuttle me to the airport on Friday to start the journey to Portsmouth and London, via Papeete, Auckland and LA!

Can’t wait to see my daughter and her partner, who just got engaged! Looks like there will be a wedding next August in England💕