Day Two - Tuna
I awoke and did my Qigong on the beach. A boy interrupted his raking to try to figure out what the crazy haole was doing. I’m getting use to being stared at. I’m sort of a celebrity here.
Her brother had invited me to go fishing. My real desire had been to go out on one of their outrigger canoes.… I knew Belenty’s Dad used his for fishing so the night before I volunteered to help him fish in the hope of going on a canoe. What stuck in their mind was that I wanted to fish as perhaps the novelty of riding in an outrigger was lost on them. As luck would have it the canoe was broken so we would take a small aluminum skiff. At 12, noon, I lathered up in sun block and off we went. My shipmates were her brother Asheron, her cousin Shoeless or Julius (later I figured out it was Julius but I think Shoeless is funnier so I will henceforth refer to him as Shoeless) and a young man about the age of my son Joel (20). We set off, me in the bow with the youth. We all used hand-lines save for Asheron who manned the motor.
Figure 3 Typical Canoe – this one belonged to Belenty’s father
We hadn’t been fishing for 5 minutes when I got my first bite. Shoeless and I hauled it in and discovered it was a tuna at least 2 feet long. He took it off the hook and it flopped around in the bottom of the boat before expiring. Despite my aversion to eating fish I thought a freshly grilled tuna steak would taste good. We continued making roughly figure 8 patterns as we trolled for fish in the lagoon. We spotted a bird pile and I got my hopes up but no luck yet. After about an hour we decided to head out to the ocean. In the channel between the islands I spotted several very nice homes that appeared to even have glass windows. We headed west out the channel. The seas at this point had been very calm. We continued to troll without luck and my interest in fishing was waning but not in our trip. There were few if any house on the ocean side. The jungle came directly to the shoreline. It was still interesting to me to watch the scenery go by. The crystal clear ocean water was warm and inviting. I often trailed my hand into it and would have loved to go for a swim. Eventually we headed east again pass Airok. I was beginning to think that the 5-foot tuna that I’d caught in the first 4 minutes would be our only fish. All of a sudden I glanced forward and spotted a large pod of dolphins directly next to our boat. The closest was only a few feet from me. I wanted to jump into the water with them but feared my shipmates would consider it bad form so I grabbed my cameras instead. In my excitement to capture the moment I disregarded my fishing line and it whacked Shoeless but he remained good humored about it. All too soon the moment passed and we were alone in the sea with only my 7-foot tuna that I caught in the first 3 minutes to show for our time. After trolling a while longer without luck we headed back into the lagoon past a coral head where the youth landed what I think was a rainbow runner. They called it an Edrack or something like that. My next thought was to tell Shoeless he would be next when sure enough he caught another. The others caught several more fish in quick succession. I did not catch another fish that day but was content with my 10-foot tuna that I caught in the first 2 minutes. Shoeless caught 2 more fish of a different species that were evidently not fit for human consumption as he threw them overboard. Eventually it was time to pull in our lines and head ashore with the 12-foot tuna that I caught almost immediately after throwing the line in the water. I forgot to mention that the tuna almost swamped the boat from its shear size and it took all four of us strong men to haul it in.
Figure 4 Author with Tuna – note that the tuna shrunk in size from when it was caught
I proudly carried the tuna home to give to my host family thinking they would skillfully cook it on the grill. Instead they cut it up and ate it raw. I could see it lying in its own blood and covered in flies. Belenty picked up the tail and started gnawing on it. At this point I lost any interest in eating and could barely choke down the corned beef I was eating. I might also mention that I never kissed Belenty on the mouth after that moment.
Marshallese Canoes
- Outriggers
- Change tacks by pulling down the mast and sail and moving to the opposite side of the boat
- Hobie modeled his Hobie Cats from Marshallese Canoes
- Every year on Alinglaplap a race is held with the losers forfeiting their canoes to the winner
- Back in the day they would navigate by listening to the sound of the waves against the hulls
4 Responses to “Day Two - Tuna”
 Comment by Richard Jones August 4th, 2007 at 5:34 pm |
Hmmm… some fish there Captain Ahab!!! |
 Comment by Erica August 9th, 2007 at 11:11 pm |
Can I tell you that I had to chuckle everytime you called him shoeless …… |
 Comment by caston roberts August 21st, 2007 at 11:54 am |
hi, I am from the Marshall Islands. your story is very interesting to me because it remind me of the Islands. |
 Comment by moana May 29th, 2008 at 7:53 am |
ahahahah…funny. i kno all those people u just mentioned. Julius is my uncle because his mom and and my dad’s mom are cousins so that makes him my dad’s cousin..to make it short, he’s my uncle..lmao… |