Fishing in Bourewa, Fiji

I miss lunchtime at Bourewa. Besides gazing out into the ocean while eating, I had the occasional pleasure of watching the Fijian villagers fish at the nearby shallow reefs with their horses. What a sight! To see the horse streak across the shallow waters to the turquoise blue reefs.



I will post those photos in the next post, but first up are the photos of the fishermen. When the time came for me to take my lunch break, I immediately grabbed my camera and waded out towards the fishermen.



They were very welcoming and encouraged me to get closer to them so that I could take better pictures (I had only my wide angle zoom lens). The boys even posed for me and I love the first picture.



After posing for me, they went on their way and I snapped a few more pictures before heading back to shore to eat my lunch.



I see groups of them, all men, heading to the reefs to fish nearly everyday. Sometimes they come by horseback, and other times by foot. The horses were a sight, especially when they run across the waters. Coming from a place where the only time you can see a horse is either at the zoo or at a racing track, seeing horses this free is an amazing feeling.



The reefs nearer to the shore were almost all dead. The Bourewa beach is a beautiful sight but during low tide, it is not ideal for swimming. Further offshore, you can see a strip of beautiful turquoise blue with the waves lapping at the fringes. Gazing at it everyday while there is a memory that I will always keep with me. And one of the things that I missed most.



Sometimes you can see many groups of men, all the out at the reefs, fishing. From where we sit at the beach, they looked so tiny, that sometimes I had a hard time distinguishing whether they were fishermen or just boulders.



I wanted to wade out into the reefs but it proved too far. Now......if I had the horse......