DIVING FOR LOBSTERS

On our second night anchored off Tahuata, the three of us waited until it was quite dark, and then went out in the zodiac to catch lobsters. Apparently, they are nocturnal and are most active on very dark nights.  That night there was a full moon, and so after a couple of hours, we had only managed to catch one. Celine dove for the lobsters with a handheld spotlight and a big leather glove while Frank and I stayed in the zodiac, using paddles both to follow her closely and to prevent the boat from being slammed into the rocks by the waves.  Periodically, she would dive under for what seemed like several minutes.  I could see her pool of blue light as she moved around underwater, scanning the bottom for lobsters.  When she finally got one, she came to the surface and held it above the water.  We paddled over and she tossed it in before going back to her hunting.  I was told that it was important to get them in the boat quickly, as the bigger sharks are quite active at night and get excited by the prospect of an easy meal.  It was amazing being tossed around by the waves on a tiny boat under the full moon with the jungle cliffs towering above us.  And the lobster itself was delicious.

HUNTING WILD PIGS

The following morning we got up around 7 am, had coffee, bread, and fruit, and packed our bags for an adventure.  Tei’i wanted to go hunting for wild pigs, and to take me up the valley to show me some ancient petroglyphs carved into the rocks.  Frank set off alone in his own direction with a small compact rifle, in the hopes of shooting a wild goat.  Tei’i guided me and Celine, armed with a 12-gauge shotgun, up the valley.  He showed me the petroglyphs first, almost as if to get it out of the way, so that he could focus on hunting.  The petroglyphs were interesting, but Tei’i wasn’t satisfied until I had taken several photos from a bunch of different angles.  He then nodded contentedly and gestured for us to get moving.  I have to say, I struggled on this excursion.  In my defense, Tei’i and Celine are both quite a bit smaller than I am, and were carrying smaller packs.  However, it was exceptionally hard to hike uphill in that heat, on no trail, with a pack, silently.  The pigs are very skittish, so we couldn’t make sound.  Tei’i walked quickly uphill in plastic sandals and didn’t crack a single twig, even though the entire jungle floor was completely covered with loose rocks, dead leaves, and dried branches.  I did my absolute best, and definitely had a few good stretches, but they inevitably ended with me kicking loose a rock that would go crashing down the hill, snapping a twig, or rustling the leaves.  It was all I could do to not breathe too loudly, but we were going straight uphill at a 45 degree incline for almost two hours.  At our highest point, Celine took a shot at a goat, but missed.  They never got a wild pig.  Needless to say, by the time we got down again to his house on the shore, I was a filthy, scratched-to-hell, soaked-with-sweat mess.  Tei’i looked like he had just woken up and taken a shower, and I think he was quite amused by his sweaty, noisy new American friend. 

SPEARFISHING

Frank and Celine were both proficient spearfishers, and had a selection of spearguns for different situations – which makes sense, as they depended on fishing for a good percentage of their food. On that particular afternoon off Tahauta, Frank showed me how it was done, and I tried my best, but wasn’t as comfortable moving underwater as he was, and was unable to get close enough to any fish without scaring them away.  Frank got two rather small fish, as well as a huge octopus.  I was underwater with him, watching him try to work this giant squirming thing out of a hole under some rocks.  He finally got it loose and we swam to the boat with it.  He climbed into the zodiac and killed it quickly before it could clamber over the side and escape.  When we got back to the Kaveka with our catch, we made coconut milk from scratch while we pressure-steamed the octopus.  Celine then made pasta with the octopus juice, and a sauce with the meat using our coconut milk, onions, and garlic.  It turned out to be a simple but amazing meal.

SPEARING RIVER CRAYFISH

Back on Hiva Oa, Frank wanted to take me hunting for crayfish up the river that flowed down from the mountains into the bay. Like the lobsters, these river crayfish also come out at night when it is quite dark, so at around 10 pm, I put on a pair of shoes, shorts, and a headlamp, slung a plastic water bottle (with the top cut off) on a string around my neck, and we took the zodiac to the mouth of the river.  We waded into the river up to our necks and made our way slowly upstream.  After the first bit, the water got shallower, and we each took one side of the river, carefully making our way along each bank.  Our “spears” were long bamboo shafts with seven-pointed tips, made with thin nails welded together at the base. Whenever I saw a big crayfish with my headlamp under the water (their eyes glow red in the light, making them easy to spot), I would fix my light on it and quickly try to spear it before it scurried under a rock.  It took me about 15 minutes to get the hang of it, but after that I was filling my plastic bottle with crayfish quite quickly.  Frank was very impressed and said that he had never seen anyone get so many on their first attempt.  I was startled a couple of times by the gigantic black eels that live in the river.  One of them was over four feet long and swam between my legs, brushing up against me and scaring the shit out of me when I looked down.  They don’t bite, so there wasn’t anything to be worried about, but having a huge, black eel as wide as an apple swimming between your legs in the jungle in the dark was a bit much.  On the other hand, the moon wasn’t out yet, and it was pretty cool to be quietly wading in the water in the pitch black, surrounded by the sounds of the jungle, and only seeing what my little pool of light would show me.  After a couple of hours, we had about a kilogram of the crayfish between us and brought them back to the boat. Celine was already asleep, but Frank and I poured a rum, cooked up a quarter of them in a pan with olive oil and garlic, and snacked on them while we stayed up talking until the early hours of the morning.