Fresh Sashimi

[I know the picture quality is showing up terribly in this and recent posts. I'm working on it, but until then please click on the pictures to link to a larger, better image.]

Through a series of unfortunate and fortunate events, I managed to miss almost all New Year's celebrations on Zamami. But the fruits of my absence include a plethora of American food from a military base (thanks to Meaghan and, more importantly, her visiting sister who has 'dependent' privileges), a pretty new $57 fishing lure (perhaps too expensive to fish with), and a fresh yellowfin tuna in my refrigerator.


Yesterday there was a party for people who built new houses (?) this past year on Zamami. In the afternoon there were many cultural performances at the community center to celebrate. But two days ago, I was invited to go tuna fishing yesterday. And since fishing trumps everything but my job, it was an obligation and not a decision.



[Notice this small yellowfin is hooked through the forehead.]

I showed up at the boat at 7am and we took off shortly thereafter. The cabin was smoke-filled and crowded, so I opted to stand outside, which was similar to a themepark ride. Two hours later we pulled up to a FAD (Fish Attractant Device), which is essentially a big buoy attached to a cable that goes all the way to the ocean floor. In Palau they were in 2000' of water. The cable (and sometimes an attached net) grows algae which attracts small fish which attract bigger fish. Yesterday's experience didn't fail to amaze me at the sheer number of fish (and fishermen) that congregate at FADs. Two guys used electric reels and big weights to sink their bait to 50m while I just fished with a spinning reel and one three-inch bait fish on the surface. I caught about 7-8 fish of our total 39. The fuel for this trip was probably expensive (gas = $4.94/gallon) so I just took one small yellowfin home and left the rest for the boat's owner to sell.

[One of these girls spent most of the trip suppressing her stomach contents, the other willingly fetched me bait fish. The second picture is a sashimi creation to be given as a birthday present.]