Kedua-dua anak lelaki Ariff dan Soffian tak dapat ikut sebab kerja. Ariff, malam tadi apabila dapat tau saja kami pergi memancing, muncung la sekejap sebab tak bawa dia. Macam mana nak bawa. Jadual kerja dia orang tak tentu hala.
Kami keluar rumah pukul 8 pagi. Stop by kat Air Hangat for breakfast. Saya seperti biasa, dapat karipap atau sepera 3 biji dengan kopi kosong dah cukup. Sophie kata lama tak makan nasi lemak Langkawi, jadi dia ambik nasi lemak. Sara dan abah makan roti canai.
Perut dah penuh , cuaca pun elok, kami terus ke Tg. Rhu. Dari Air Hangat ke Tanjung Rhu ambik masa lebih kurang 7 minit saja. Jadi, kami in no rush. Kami sampai 1 minit sebelum pukul 9. Suami saya bekerja dalam sektor pelancongan, saya juga dulu terlibat sama, jadi kami dah biasa punctual. Anak-anak dah terbiasa dengan jadual kami, jadi dia orang pun terikut sama tepati masa.
Bila sampai saja disana, boat-man kami dah menunggu. Salleh namanya. Dia kata umpan tak dak lagi. Kena cari umpan dulu. Kami tak kisah, ikut ja apa dia kata. Selepas 15 minit Pak Leh nampak satu sampan pass by bot kami. Dia minta beli sikit ikan kembong buat umpan. Nelayan tadi tu, ambil lebih kurang 9 ~ 10 ekor bagi Pak Leh free. Dia tak nak ambil duit yang kami bagi Pak Leh suruh bayar. Kalau kat market dah tentu-tentu dalam empat ringgit harga dia. Budak-budak perempuan ni dan abah dia gelakkan saya sebab saya kata sayang nak buat umpan, ikan punyalah elok masih berlendir dan mata pun hijau lagi. Sayang saya tak bawa cooler box.
Dah semua siap, Pak Leh pecut bot melepasi Tg Rhu Resort, Four Seasons dan Kedah Cement. Dah agak jauh ni. Mana dia nak bawa kami memancing? Selalunya boat-man akan cari tempat yang agak-agak dekat dengan pulau sebab kata dia orang kawasan macam tu banyak ikan kerapu. Bot berjalan terus. Saya tengok jam hand-phone. Dah setengah jam, tak sampai-sampai lagi. Pak Leh tengah rancak bersembang dengan suami. Lepas tu, saya dengar dia kata Pasir Tengkorak. Did I hear right? Betul ke ni? Dah sampai Pasir Tengkorak. Dah jauh ni.. Pak Leh macam tahu fikiran kami. Tanpa diminta, dia kata dia selalu kalau nak memancing pergi dekat kawasan sini. Banyak ikan. Kami pun diam.
Selepas tu, saya nampak pula Hotel Andaman. Untuk mendapatkan kepastian, saya tanya dia Andaman ke tu? Ya, jawab Pak Leh. Ooii..dah jauh ni..Selepas seketika baru dia berhenti sambil melabuhkan sauh.
Okay dah boleh memancing. Pak Leh jerit sikit dari belakang bot. Kami dengan semangatnya mencapai sorang satu rod. Sebaik saya mata kail sampai ke bawah, tak sampai 3 minit. Pancing saya direntap. Betul ke ni ataupun tersangkut. Cepat-cepat saya kampulkan rod saya nak tengok apa yang saya dapat. Wah ! Betul -betul saya yang pertama dapat ikan. Kerapu pulak tu. Tak la besar sangat tapi kata Pak Leh, besar-besar tu yang sedap makan.
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Kami berpatah balik ketempat mula-mula saya dapat ikan. Pak Leh try lagi sekali labuhkan sauh dia dan kali ini sangkut.Angin pun dah berkurang dan air semakin tenang.
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| Sophie dengan tangkapan pertama |
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| Sara action lebih macam dapat barracuda |
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| Inilah boat man kami, Pak Leh mengawasi Sara |
Tempat terakhir ni memang lubuk ikan.Sara yang dari tadi tak dapat seekorpun, dah mula dapat. Baru nampak ceria sikit. Tadi masam macam cuka. Tapi Pak Leh the best. Dah nama pun orang laut kan? Setiap dua minit (betul, saya tak exaggerate) dia dapat ikan. Setiap dua minit dia dapat ikan. Saya kata kat dia Bang Leh ajar kami macam mana nak dapat ikan macam tu. Dia kata kena jampi sikit. Saya tak tahu lah dia melawak ke betul ka. Tapi Pak Leh memang hebat. Yang tak sedapnya, ikan kecik pun Pak Leh ambik juga. Saya suruh dia buang biar ikan tu besar. Dia kata boleh makan. Sedap besar-besar tu. Jadi, saya dan Sophie dalam diam-diam ambik ikan yang kecik2 tu dan buangkan semula kedalam laut (yang mana yang masih hidup) apabila Pak Leh tak nampak.
Lebih kurang pukul 1.00 tengahari baru semua ready nak balik. Agak sayang juga sebab hari tu memang kami boleh dapat banyak lagi. Tapi disebabkan keletihan kami beredar awal. Dalam perjalanan balik, Sara meminta dari Pak Leh untuk membawa bot. Pak Leh biarkan dia bawa sambil duduk disebelah memberi panduan. Separuh jalan Sophie pun nak cuba juga. Selepas tu tukar lagi. Kali ni Sara bawa sampai penghujung.Yang bestnya Pak Leh dengan penuh confident biarkan Sara bawa sampai kejeti dan labuhkan bot tu kat tempat yang sepatutnya. Ehmm..budak ni bagai dikata lah, senyum sampai ketelinga.
Inilah hasil tangkapan kami hari Jumaat lalu. Best sungguh. Sampai rumah saya terus siang ikan-ikan ni semua . Esok tengahari tu saya ambik 4 ekor yang besar dan masak sweet n sour. Petangnya pulak kami beli sikit satay, pasang api dan bakar satay dengan ikan hasil tanggapan kami cicah air asam. Habis semua, licin..
Lepas ni tak tahu nak plan apa pulak. Cuti sekolah masih panjang lagi. Fishing lagi?
Wassalam,
Rose
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GONE FISHING
Last Friday we went fishing. Since Sophie is around, we thought of doing something that all of us like. It came down to fishing. The two girls sweet-talked their dad a day earlier and great! He agreed. Come to think of it, it has been quite some time since we last went fishing.
Later on, my husband called our frequently-used boat operator to arrange for our fishing next day. We agreed to leave at 0900hrs as it will be a whole lot cooler than later in the afternoon. Langkawi was about to go into dry season. Usually from December until somewhere in March or April.
The two boys can't make it as they were working. The big brother was mad at me for not waiting until his day off. Children are funny creatures. They get to go anywhere, do anything without us asking too much, but the moment mom and dad are doing something, then there will be questions like "how come I didn't know about it or why can't you wait for me?" Sigh....
Friday morning: We left home about 8 o'clock. We stopped by at a little village for breakfast. Great breakfast!
The air was crisp and cool and the road was almost empty since it's a weekend here. This is heaven. From here to the pier took about seven minutes. We reached the pier a minute before nine. My husband is known for his punctuality. So do I and the children. I guess working in service line had trained us to respect the time without knowing it.
Upon reaching, our boatman was waiting. His name is Salleh. He stood up and gestured us to follow him to the waiting boat. He said we had to find some baits along the way. Fine by us. We were not in a hurry. We stepped into the little boat and Salleh zig-zagged his way out from those docked boats at the pier.
After about 15 minutes we saw a passing boat with his catch. Salleh shouted to the guy and asked to buy some fish for our baits. They guy pulled out about 9~10 mackerel, put inside a plastic bag and gave it to Salleh. He refused the money we offered.
The girls and their dad were laughing at me because I was mumbling about how fresh the fish were. What a waste it had to be our baits. It was still slimy. I should have brought along my cooler box. Silly me.
Now we are ready to leave. Salleh sped off passing by Tanjung Rhu Resort, Four Seasons Hotel dan Kedah Cement. Where is he taking us? We were going further than we used to. Usually boat-man will find a place that is closer to one of the smaller islands. The boat is still moving. I stole a look at my cell-phone. Already half an hour and we're still looking for the right place.
Salleh was happily talking to my husband.
Then I heard him saying Pantai Tengkorak (Skull Beach). Did I hear right? This is far. As if reading my mind, he offered an explaination by saying he normally comes to this place for fishing. Lots of fish.
Our boat-man still searching for the right spot. Turning to my left, I saw Andaman Resort. Just to be certain, I asked Salleh if that building is Andaman.He nodded. Okay, I thought we were going for fishing but it seemed like we were cruising in a fishing boat.
He stopped after a while. He yelled from the back of the boat. Now we can fish. Hearing that, all four of us threw our rods into the sea enthusiastically. Not even three minutes, my hook caught something. Was it a fish or my hook got tangled with something else. It was a fish. A palm sized garoupa.
Just as we were about to warm up, Salleh again had to change our spot. The current is too strong and the wind too. The anchor didn't reached to the bottom or something, I don't really understand.
He moved the boat again. Sophie and I felt a little tipsy and nauseous. I hadn't had a sea sick since I don't know when.
When he got to another spot, everyone was busy throwing their rods again. I stopped. I don't feel good.
After about 10 minutes, Sophie got a fish. I don't know the name in English. Things got better when almost everyone got some fish.
Overall, Salleh was the best angler. He caught fish every other minutes. I am not exaggerating. He truly was good. There were a few types of garoupa we pulled up. Salleh gave funny names to that garoupa. Now we realized he was a funny guy.
We caught a good number of fish this time. A bucket full. I was feeling tired and call everyone to go home. Reluctantly they pulled up their rods and get ready to leave. It's a shame we had to leave but I really didn't feel up to it any longer.
We left at about one o'clock. Soon as we got home, I started to clean the fish with the help of the two girls.
The next day, we barbequed the fish together with some chicken satay and a plain fried rice for dinner. They cleaned up the whole meals within minutes. Ahhh..blissful..
Until next time.
Rose 21st.Nocember '12
