This adventure started one day on a beach hunt. We were headed south to find a good surfing beach called Playa Marbella but we were not having any luck. We stopped at Playa Lagarto to take a look around. Lisa went out exploring with the kids while I chilled in the van with napping Eliza. After a few minutes, I noticed some locals chilling in the shade near the beach. I thought this would be a great opportunity to practice some Spanish. I went out and sat down and asked if either of them spoke English. Neither did. This is basically a dead end for me because I know so little Spanish that I can really only practice with those who speak enough English to walk me through phrases etc. One of the guys somehow thought that I needed someone who spoke English. So off he went to find a translator. He came back with a 20-something-year-old named Fabricio. He spoke about as much English as I do Spanish so the conversation was very limited. What did come out of it was something very exciting: he invited me to go spear fishing with him! This was on my list of things to do while here in Costa Rica, so I was very excited to have found someone that could take me.
Playa Lagarto would be just the place to meet this guy. It is a pretty rocky beach with very little waves and a bunch of fishing boats pulled high onto the shore. Fabricio and I started chatting back and forth on Whatsapp to try and determine a time that would work best to go. Between bad weather and other family outings, a week went by and no spear fishing. Then McMillans came to visit for a week so I wasn't able to go then. Finally, the miracle came. We were driving through Playa Lagarto for what would be our last time when Lisa suggested that I stop and see if Fabricio was around and if he could go fishing the next day. I stopped and ran over to his house and lo and behold, he was right there and we set it up for the next day at 8 am! I couldn't believe it. If Lisa wouldn't have suggested that I stop, it would have never happened.
I showed up in the morning pumped as all get out! They were sharpening spears and taking the boats out to the water. I really had very little idea of what to expect and unfortunately couldn't ask. I just watched and followed the best I could. Down on the beach they were rolling a boat to the water. Their methods were very primitive, but they worked. Instead of having a trailer with a giant tractor like they might have up at Bear Lake, they just had two sets of rubber buoys with a rope between them. Picture a car axle but the axle is a piece of rope and the wheels are the rubber buoys. They would roll the boat down the shore until the back of the boat was off the "axle" and then they would move that axle to the front. Two other guys were carrying the motor down to the boat on a big long stick. Something reminiscent of when C3P0 and Luke are getting carried to the village by the Ewoks. I was pretty sure that Fabricio and I were not going in the boats, but just walking down to the shore and then out to snorkel. I enjoyed watching them get the spear gun ready. It was also a pretty simple set up: like a giant rubber band gun that shoots a 1/4" steel rod. The rubber band just looked like a piece of rope and a bike tube. The rod was pointed at then end with no barb and a small groove on the other end to latch to the trigger mechanism. The other hunting tool he brought was another 1/4" rod bent into the shape of a hook. I wouldn't find out what this was until later.
Off we headed to the beach. As we walked, I tried to ask him what we would be hunting for and how deep we would be diving. I didn't understand what type of fish he said and it sounded like up to 3-4m or 9-13ft. I figured I could handle that. He also mentioned that there was better fishing at a place called Playa San Juanillo. We just happened to have been snorkeling there the day before, so I offered that we go back to my van and head over there. He seemed very excited about this idea and little did I know that going to San Juanillo would change the outcome of the whole experience.
When we first started snorkeling/fishing, I wasn't really sure what to do. When you snorkel, you just leisurely stroll along and look at fish and look even closer to find things like sea horse, octopus or lobster. Hunting is a different story. Fabricio was all over the place. I was just doing my best to stay near him and not slow him down. Straight away he found a couple of lobster under a rock. This is where the mysterious metal rod bent into a hook at the end came into play. He reached that under the rock, gave it a yank (in this case, about 30 yanks) and out came the lobsters on the end. It was a lot of work to get these two lobster, but he finally got them. He carried his mesh snorkel back in one hand and kept everything that he caught in there. As we swam along, I saw an octopus so I went up and asked him if they catch and eat them. Yes, yes they do. A few minutes later, I found another one and pointed it out to him. He handed me the hook! Oh boy! He motioned that you have to get the hook in quick and yank quick. I did so and found my hook stuck in the hole with the octopus. Having seen him battle with the lobster for quite some time, I decided I would do the same. Yank..yank, yank, yank, up for breath and down again. Yank, yank, yank and nothing. I tried this a few more times and then motioned for him to have a go. He did with no luck so we went down, grabbed the rock that the octopus was under and pulled it up. The octopus darted out, shooting a cloud of ink as it went. He grabbed it by the head mid swim and finished the job. (Skip to the next paragraph if you don't want to hear the gory part.) Once he grabbed the octopus by the head, it was still putting up a fight and wrapping its tentacles all around his hand and arm. He peeled it off, got the straight end of the metal rod, jabbed it through its eye and made scrambled octopus brains. Then he turned the head inside out through its funnel or siphon, tore out its guts and and let them drift away to feed the local fish population. He then right-sided the octopus head and stuffed it in his snorkel bag. Simple as that. Now trust me, at this point of my spear fishing excursion, I was just as shocked as you might be right now. I'm not a killer! I don't even kill spiders in my own house. I just let them run loose or catch them in a cup and let them go outside. Seeing him butcher an animal that I was over the moon at having seen one snorkeling just one day ago was pretty rattling. I was even thinking, "I'm not going to show him any more animals that I see." We swam on, business as usual and I had to remind myself that this was not sport fishing or trophy hunting at all. This was Fabricio wanting to feed himself and his family or needing to sell some seafood to make money to provide the necessities of life. After having these thoughts, I determined that I could go on and that I wanted to have as many cultural experiences as I could and, well, here I was having one.
Game on. Next he speared a fish and then gave me that chance to shoot one as well. It was now apparent why there was no barb on the spear. The fish we were shooting were small enough that they could not carry the weight of the metal and would just sink to the bottom. Then you would grab them and put them out of their misery by the same eye-socket method mentioned above. My chance finally came again to get an octopus and this time I was successful. I got the octopus out without having to yank a hundred times. I grabbed it by the head, and it was wrapping its tentacles all around my forearm and up to my elbow. They are SUPER hard to get off, but with a lot of effort and a little help I got it off. (Then I copied what he did. I jabbed through the eye, gave it a little scramble, flip, rip, and off to the fishies!) Wow! This experience was unreal! We saw a sea turtle, a 36" ray, 2 smaller rays and a bunch more fish and octopus. When all was said and done we (mostly he) got 4 lobster, 12 octopus, 5 fish and 3 giant conch shells.
We took the whole bag of loot onto the rocky shore and dumped it all out to wash and organize. As we washed, he grabbed one of the conch snails and showed me what I could eat. I dug in right then and there. Has there every been fresher seafood than that? Literally right out of the ocean just 2 minutes before! It was a little tough, but pretty tasty. Then came the lobster. There was one lobster with bright orange growths under the tail (I believe they were young eggs). Fabricio rinsed it and started munching! Crunch, crunch, crunch. Little fins and all. So of course, I did the same on the other side. I was surprised to find that it actually was pretty tasty. A couple of other things that I've had fresh out of the sea taste like sea water. This actually had a different and good flavor that I would definitely try again given the chance. I was just so happy that not only did we catch such a bounty, but I was having an experience with a local spear fisherman and not out on some generic fishing tour. Fabricio had truly blown away my expectations!
We loaded all the food back up and headed back to his house. We were trying our best to communicate with our few overlapping words that we knew. I wanted to find out what he would do with the food and how much money he might make. I wanted to know if it was a good or an average day. But alas, mostly silence or misunderstood questions. I also wanted to see if I could somehow let my kids taste or at least see an octopus. An hour later, this miscommunication ended up with his sister cooking up half of the food and me and Fabricio sitting before a bounteous feast of seafood less the octopus! I was sad that they wasted it on me because I was super happy with my experience and felt the food would be better put to use feeding his family. Nevertheless, the spread was before us and I enjoyed every bite! The snail was better fresh in my opinion. It cooked up a little tough. The fish was delicious and the lobster was divine. I had so much fun crunching through the shell and sucking on the legs just like Fabricio. I felt like a real Tico.
Even sitting here writing about this on the blog, I can't believe that I got to have this experience! I am so grateful for Lisa prodding me to go check just one last time as we passed through town that day and for Fabricio being so kind to let me tag along on the most AMAZING day of fishing I could have EVER imagined!
Check out the size of that Conch shell! Isn't that incredible?
Preparing the Lobster. In the bottom right corner, you can see the pieces of snail all cut up.
Lobster is ready to go. Now on to the fish! I think that's the one I shot:)
A meal fit for a king, and this is just the first of 2 plates full of food!
Here it is. Aren't the octopus wild!? Top: 4 Lobster Top left: Snails and a pile of octopuses Middle: 5 fish Bottom left: 2 of the octopuses Right: A conch shell
The lobster. Oh was it divine! Best day ever!
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