The Night of Squid

It was a beautiful evening.

I realized that I have a bunch of pictures and stuff from Hong Kong that I never posted. Although I'm no longer there, I thought I'd share some nostalgia posts.

I taught some outside private lessons, and one of my students has an uncle who's a professional fisherman. She arranged a time for all of us to go on a squid fishing expedition! It was very kind of her to arrange it and for her uncle to take us out! I had a wonderful time.

You might remember another post I did about squid fishing. The first time I went, I was with a bunch of church friends on a large yacht. It was a very fun night: beautiful weather, fun people, lots of little kids running around. Unfortunately, the only thing I caught was a fish ball (it's a popular snack in Hong Kong). that had somehow fallen into the water. No one else had any luck either. Still, it was fun.

In case you don't remember, you go squid fishing at night. Squid are like the moths of the sea They're attracted to light, so you hang lights over the edge of the boats to draw the squid. You're holding a ball of fishing line in your hand that has a four-prong hook on the end. You basically just toss the hook over the side, raising lowering your hands so that the hook is bobbing up in down in the water. With luck, the squid will get caught on your hook while swimming toward the mesmerizing lights. Oh, you also wear dark clothing just in case you catch a face full of ink from a squid that isn't too thrilled at being caught.

The squid crew.

Erica and I! She was my first student ever.

The night I went with my students, I still wasn't having much luck, but at least I caught more than a fishball. I didn't get any squid, but I kept catching these annoying little puffer fish. They're not like the pointy octopus puffer fish, but they're smaller and smoother. I'm told that the Japanese are the only people who eat them, since they're poisonous and you have to be very careful about cutting them up. I must have caught (and thrown back) at least fifteen of the little suckers.

One of my snagged pufferfish.

I was pretending I caught that squid, but I didn't.

Even if I didn't have any luck in the squid department, others on the boat did. Before we headed for home, the uncle cooked up a pan of squid for us. Now that's fresh seafood. The squid was really delicious, but I wasn't a huge fan of the mouthful of ink I got in one bite. I'm told that squid ink is a delicacy, but it's one that I'm willing to pass up.

The squid bucket.

Enjoying a late dinner.

On the way back, the uncle floored it so we were speeding along. That was a great feeling, buzzing along with cool wind and a few drops of water blowing in my face. The boat was pretty small, so we were very close to the water. In the dark, it almost seemed like we were flying. I love boats.