A student invited us to go "dry net fishing" with her family today. So this morning we loaded up into their cargo van and went twisting and turning along a mountain road to a small harbor of clear water. The kids immediately jumped in, clothes+shoes, throwing smooth rocks and finding all sorts of snails at the water's edge. Then a small fishing boat let out his net in a circle, enclosing all the fish in the harbor in it. Jason and Sebastian helped to pull the nets up, while I held struggling Nico, determined to get back into the water. All sorts of creatures managed to get swept up in the nets including lion fish, sea slugs, stingrays, squid, and octopus. The edible ones were put in a crate, the others were set free by the children.
Despite the occasional rain, the barbeque was set up and the fish were put over the flames. The squid and octopus were immediately sliced for sashimi, the octopus' skin still shifting. In the midst of the feast, that also included the famous Goto beef, we walked down the rickety dock to look in the stunningly crystal clear water. Schools of neon blue and black and white fish swam beneath us, octopus crawled across the rocks with tiny translucent jelly fish swimming near the surface.
Later inside, a man was telling Jason that he had never been to America but he'd been to Hawaii twice. Jason commented that Hawaii was very lovely and the man replied, "Hawaii? It is nothing next to Goto". I think I believe him.
