... sea. Deep sea. Deep enough for novice South China Sea.
Plus thunder and lightning. Whichever comes firstlah. I was too terrified and excited to notice.
Plus high waves. Plus rocking boat. Big boat with parangs and other dangerous utensils lying around...
Plus a trio of seamen who said, "Going to sea while the rain is a-rocking and a storm is a-brewing? Why not? Then we can take a shower AND go fishin' at the same time - cool huh!" (OK for the record the neither pakcik nor the abangs used the word "cool" but in essence, that's what they said... or something to that effect. Remember? I was terrified and stuff...?)
And I never did find my sea legs. And I lost my orientation (meaning I could not recall which way was the mainland once we lost sight of it, hence that sinking feeling that says if the boat capsizes and I'm thrown into the ocean, I would not know which way to swim to).
Yet there we were, two boats full of top executives attached to a billion dollar company and a bunch of IT journalists, sailing right into the middle of the spot where fishermen always go when it is squid season.
We were already partly wet the moment we got onto the boat, and the dark cloudy sky finally delivered the shower it's been meaning to bestow...
In simpler terms, after five minutes struggling to get on the boat, most of us were wet waist below with saltwater, and after another five minutes, we got the needed cleansing.
After braving a 20 minutes wild ride on the open sea, we finally anchored at a place where squids were OK with being caught without a bait.
And some actually did fell for it!
See, to candat sotong we were given a roll of nilon thread with a rod of hooks attached to it. Then we're supposed to drop it all the way down, then tug it every now and then so that passing squids will get entangled by surprise and in the end, earn the name "My catch".
The pakcik onboard said you'll feel the hook gets a bit heavier - that's how you'll know that your hook has gotten a catch. In fact as the rain subsided and we were given the roll of nilon thread, he confidently asked some of the girls onboard to tanak nasi...
Then after some time of throwing and tugging, and complaining about the possible development of uneven biceps, and wondering about how the other boat was doing (see we were separated to two spots about 100 metres away from the other)... one journalist finally, nonchalantly, indifferently, hooked a squid up.
Yours truly got so much more excited than her. After all she is one of those shy types, so if I was jumping and squeling rocking the boat then I must be exponentially happy, no?
But not long after that another reporter caught one, then another, then I did (acted cool to cover up my previous joyous outburst over someone else's catch), then another lady reporter caught a big ebek fish (This guy *barks! Literally! I mean the fish did! Did bark I mean. Really!), then more squids came up!
We went on tugging for about another hour, told bad jokes, a guy barfed, watched the sunset then finally went back to shore...
We all had to jump back into the water to get off the boat - most went straight to their rooms in order to get cleaned and dressed for the BBQ after thanking the nice boatmen, but some of us (three of us actually) stayed in the warm, calm sea water, happily paddling and ignored the call backs to the beach.
The beach was nicely lit with spotlights from the adjacent garden, so we could see how clear the water was. I was staring at my feet swishing the sand below with water at shoulder level... Then it struck me...
... that my Petaling Street watch is still strapped on my wrist, and it's still tickin'! Considering I spent RM10 on it... what a steal huh?!
* I highly suspects that the fish knew we were calling him The Fish with a Suicide Mission, and begs to differ! But seriously. To be caught without even a small worm of a bait.. C'mon...
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