Ending a Long Day at The Wharf With The Fishermen

Yesterday was a long and productive day which was spent cleaning up the trash around the airstrip and taking care of some work inside the hangar which was long overdue. By 5pm, I was physically drained and so decided it was time to go home.

As I started driving my scooter back to Moalboal, I noticed an unusual cloud over the Negros Island. The bottom of it was dark, meaning that the people living in that area were most likely experiencing heavy rain, if not thunder, whereas the top was bright because of the sun shining behind it. Since I had my camera with me, I thought it might be a good idea to go to the wharf of Ronda and capture this moment.

Being there felt great. The sea was calm, there was a small breeze turning a very hot day into a cooler evening and it was very quiet. I suddenly felt very relaxed and it was like my whole aching body started to let go of all the muscle tension.

As I was walking down the wharf, taking some pictures, I noticed people at the end. They were fishermen.

I joined them and tried to engage the conversation a little. It wasn't so easy because some of them didn't speak much English and since my Visaya is non existent... you can imagine. 🙂
I was however able to ask them whether or not it was ok for me to take their pictures, to which they agreed.

It appears that they come to this place everyday to just chill and maybe catch dinner. While I was there, their catch was quite meager though. They told me the names of the fish they caught in their own language but you'll have to excuse me, I forgot. Maybe some of you know what they are. In all cases, they were pretty small and would not fill many bellies. It's difficult to assess their size on my pictures because there is no reference to compare to but just to give you an idea, they were not more than 10-15cm long.

Some of the fishermen brought their own bait which consists in small chunks of sardines while the others first catch some bait from an area with hundreds of small fish, and then cut them into small pieces before trying their luck with bigger catch.

I spent quite a bit of time with them, just sitting down, enjoying the silence and snapping pictures. By the time, I decided to leave, I felt serene. What a good idea it was to go to this place. I may do so more often when the weather permits.
One last picture and let's go home!