Just to illustrate the richness of aquatic life in the sea waters behind our quarters, here's an ocean crab story I can't forget through the years.
As
I got out of our front door to fish early one morning, I saw the
newspaper delivery man who was about to leave. He was grinning from ear
to ear as I saw an ocean crab, about the size of a small plate,
securely tied to his bike. He told me he caught it crawling on the
ground just beside our quarters. The ocean crab
probably climbed over the sea wall during the night or early morning,
and was wandering on the ground when the guy saw it. Lucky fellow!
He beat me to that delicacy by a few minutes! Lesson: the early bird
catches the worm. Lol! Anyway, I felt happy for him for that size
would be enough to feed 2 - 3 mouths in his family.
That incident
just goes to show that there were crabs, and big ocean crabs at
that, lurking in the sea waters just at the back of our quarters. I
had caught a few which accidentally got hooked or entangled to my
lines. But these instances were few and far apart. 
I remember having speared a few ocean crabs,
using Juanito's spear gun, which I found crawling and hiding at the
bottom of the pontoons. I didn't have to go into the water, for it
was clear enough for me to spot them from the surface. I'd just kneel
or lie on my belly to take a good shot at them at the bottom. Some
fish would sometimes come within sight and range, and that would
double the thrill and excitement I was having. But taking the shot
from the surface is however, not accurate, as the water creates some
sort of an optical illusion.
I was curious to try everything
that I saw Juanito doing. I guess the only thing I was not able to
learn was to cast the fishing net.
[Backyard Poultry Raising Project]
