I finished writing another eBook last week. I won’t reveal just yet what it’s about, as it will only be out around late April or early May, but I do think that it will be useful for many people out there.
The eBook writing explains my lack of blogging over the last month, that and the fact that I was on Boracay, the supposed “tropical paradise” island off of Panay. I barely resisted the urge to whine about it here on my blog quite a few times because in short, like many “tropical paradises” full of resorts, it’s nothing, but an illusion. I am almost embarrassed to say that I spent an entire month there, but I did get my work done and of course I could think of a million worse places to work in.
I’m in a different place now, a small town called San Joaquin. I’ve come here after a few twists of fate led me to get in contact with an American volunteer working in “Coastal Resource Management” in the area. As those of you who have been reading this blog for a while know, I have a bit of an obsession for things fish and fishermen related. I guess it’s because I love eating fish and admire the men who brave the unforgiving seas to make a living catching that fish. I admire them even more now that I have gone out to sea with them.
Over the past couple of days I spent an afternoon and the next morning taking a motorized “bangka” or pump boat out into the open sea, then jumping out with a couple of dudes armed with spear-guns and photographing them do their thing.
For the first time in my life I got sea-sick. Things weren’t too bad during the first trip, but the sea got pretty rough during my second outing and well, I puked, a few times. Not the most pleasant experience, but also not as bad as I’d imagined sea-sickness. I’ll tell more through the photos.
The men regularly use a long line. They usually leave it over night or over a couple of days and sometimes catch shark, tuna and other, larger fish.
The thing that looks like a raft is a “Fish Aggregating Devices”. It’s made up of the raft you see here and some palm leaves attached to the bottom of the raft. The palm leaves are what’s responsible for aggregating the fish, as they like to nest in these.
Michael is one of the better free-divers in his village, I was told that he can hold his breath from five to ten minutes. I only saw him do it for a few seconds at a time, but the ease with which he did this suggests that he can indeed stay down for much longer. In this photo Michael is a few meters below the surface, waiting for the fish to come out.
In the open sea there’s nothing, but blue water, you can’t see the bottom, since it’s about 200 meters below. I did see a few types of jelly-fish that I’d never seen before, they stung me a little, but I guess they weren’t dangerous. 
Success. Michael spears a fish. Here he is removing it from the spear. I haven’t seen any particularly big fish just yet, but I am told that about 12km from the shore there are bigger fish to spear.
The rafts can also be used for rest. The job of the other man was to collect the speared fish and to wiggle the palm leaves a little, I guess that disturbed the fish and made it come out.
I don’t remember this fellow’s name, but he was also a pretty good shot. I made this photo during our second trip out and puked just a few minutes after, as soon as I got back on board. The thing about rough sea is that you don’t get a break from the rolling waves when you jump into the water, in fact, I’d say that it gets worse. Instead of the boat getting rocked, your whole body is tossed around, as if it were in a washing machine.
You might have noticed that the spear-fishermen are wearing goggles. They’re not just any goggles, but ones made by hand, carved out of wood for a very precise fit. I actually didn't think that I'd be able to find anyone around the Philippines still wearing these, the fact that I did makes me pretty excited.
The boat that went out simultaneously with ours, checked their long line and discovered that they caught this rather scary looking fish. It was fun to see that the fishermen get pretty excited with their catch, in a very child-like manner, as if they’ve only been doing it for a short while. I guess they have a real passion for what they do.
The village of Bay-Bay (where the spear-fishermen are from) is a real fishing village and there are a few fishing methods employed by its residents. Almost daily, during the afternoons, the whole community does net-fishing off of the shore. While adults pull in the main catch, children look for (and sometimes fight over) small fish, stuck in the holes of the net.
Boys looking for small fish stuck in the holes of the net.
I photographed the net-fishing off of the shore a couple of times. It got too dark the first time for me to shoot the results of the net-pulling efforts, but I did get this shot the next day, when the net was cast at an earlier time.
The town of San Joaquin is a pretty awesome place. There are plenty of fishermen and there are a few stories out there. This means that I’ll probably stay a while and if the internet keeps working, I’ll keep you folks posted.
Beautiful pictures, I hope I get to experience something similar in my life.
Glad you got the work done, good luck with the ebook and the rest of your adventures.
Beautiful story. The goggles are extraordinary.
Something funny, this morning I went out to photograph sunrise, and I found a large old fishing boat on shore, about 20-30º tilted to the river. I went on board, trying to walk but it was extremely dificult due to the angle and the slippery metal floor. It just crossed my mind how it would feel like in open sea with the boat oscillating sideways. I almost felt a bit dizzy walking there, so I can imagine that I wouldn’t escape sea sickness.
Thanks guys.
Ruben: I took on a somewhat macho approach, thinking that I’d never get sea-sick, but geez, the sea did humble me. Me puking was a great topic for the fishermen’s tales after the boat trip though. They found it pretty funny that anyone would have this kind of “reaction” to the sea. I’m glad I was at least a source of amusement for somebody.
Ahah, nothing better than have a great laugh in the end =)
Mitchell – We share a love and fascination for the water and fishermen. Something about fishermen and farmers that I can’t quite shake. Anyways, as always I love your work and respect your hard work. Keep at it. Hoping our paths cross sooner than later. It’d be nice to swin, shoot, and puke with you sometime.
Safe journeys, bro.
David: I hope so too. Though I’d really rather skip the puking part.
What a fascinating story. You really have a way with your photographs- I could almost feel like I was there with you. Thank you for sharing.
Cool, great collection of images!
Pingback: Tweets that mention Good bye Boracay! Hello deep, blue sea! | Mitchell Kanashkevich Travel and Photography Blog -- Topsy.com
Once again Mitchell, great job !!!
I’m not that crazy about sea (just give me mountains and tones of snow and I’m happy), I don’t eat anything from it (yes, I know this is sad), and the funny thing about it is that I’ll spend 3 month in the caribbean shooting and visit my family…
So I guess I gonna have to force myself, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it anyway.
.
Happy puke guys
Ok, so I guess since your roots are in a “sea nation” you don’t have that much lust for the sea. I was born in a place with no sea or mountains and so I love both and since there was enough snow, snow is something that doesn’t excite me nearly as much.
Awesome stuff, man! I used to use a pair of those wooden goggles
They were the best!
I don’t know if I told you this but you HAVE to go to General Santos City – it’s the Tuna Capital of the Philippines. The tuna goes all over the world and is premium in the US – it’s in the markets of Seattle. I promise you you’ll get an adventure and some amazing fishermen shots there.
On a technical note: the images look pixelated on my screen (both on google reader and on your site). Maybe some settings changed?
Mitchell, this is the first time I’ve ever read your blog but it absolutely won’t be the last. I found you via someone’s twitter post and I should figure out whose it was so I can thank them. Wow, did I enjoy this! Great read, fascinating photographs. I loved every minute.
Thanks Roni.
Hope to see you around. 
Are you planning to go deep down with them? do you know how far down can you go with the camera housing?
Very nice shoots and reading Mitchell, I am sure the fact that they were surprised and in a way having fun with your puking reaction will make them remember you and for that get them more relaxed around you when you are shooting! I never considered that kind of approach
Jokes apart, I am glad you are back on action after the E-book!
All the best!
I did go somewhat deep, however, I only free-dive (no scuba tanks) and I think the deepest I have ever been down is about 7 meters. The housing should work up to 10 meters, I don’t think I’ll be going down deeper than that any time too soon.
Compliments, you know transmit emotions very intense.
Thank you from a italian photographer
Ermanno
Pingback: March Desktop Calendar and some cool links | Travel Culture and Environmental Photography from Taiwan | Craig Ferguson Images
My dad grew up in an environment similar to this. He grew up in an island somewhere in Samar where fishing was (and probably still is) the main livelihood. At that time, dynamite fishing was very popular which actually caused his early hearing loss. All I had were his stories. He would have loved to see your pictures. Thanks for the beautiful story Mitchell.
Thanks for the comment Pinky. Getting these stories out to people who are connected to something similar is great. I am real happy that you can get a sort of a glimpse into your father’s past life.
Hi Mitchell,
Its my first time to read your blog and visit your site, amazing pictures and stories as well, if I am correct you went to Baybay, Leyte, that is actually like 1hr away from my home city which is Maasin City, also a very interesting place as well, lots of untouched beaches and islands, the corals in the southern part are magnificent, actually a lot of foreigners are running diving sites in that area as well promoting its beauty, also its the place where you can see and swim with whalesharks, also in our province, there is an island there named Limasawa where the first Roman Catholoc Mass was held in the Philippines, a very historic place I tell you.
I read as well that you will be having a workshop at Tacloban City, I would love to join and see you in person, I can’t wait!
You can check this site to know more about what I was talking about. http://www.maasincityonline.com
Best Regards and Goodluck!