Monday, July 16, 2012

Batam Fishing Tour (first trip)

Our first "client" for our fishing tour package came from our neighboring country, Singapore. We were excited and delighted that Mike was so enthusiast for this trip. And both me and Mike had planned the trip 2 weeks in advance. And as planned, Mike and his other kaki of 6 came from Singapore on a 9AM ferry to Batam Centre port.After a short handshake session, we proceed to a local groceries store to stock up few more things for the group, a little fuel for the mouth and lungs, and the 1,5 hours journey to the dock begins. We arrived at the dock and fill up the stomach worms with a simple local nasi lemak, and after that, the sail to Pulau Buaya starts.
me and Rizal as the captain of the day
mike and crews getting their gear ready

with that smile hoping to catch some stray mermaids
The weather was good that day, but 2 of our friend got a terrible seasick and had to rest during the journey. It may be due to their stamina that day. But the never-give-up-spirit from 2 of them awed me. Though unwell, they still endured and prepared all the fishing gear during the journey. 
Rizal and his prized queenie

We arrived at our first spot at around 4PM to fish some selar using sabiki rigs.Fished up a good amount of bait fishes and 2 big queenies courtesy of Rizal with his usual unbeatable handline technique, and we proceed to grouper and snapper spots.

Mike 5 hits in a row
And during that, we cooked up some of the fishes that we caught, including some deep fried queenie fillet with some plain rice. It's so amazing how a combination of a boat journey with fresh fish came out, it tasted so delicious regarding on the simple preparation.
chef Rizal with his queenie fillet


fried fish fresh from the sea
yummy....
The journey to next secret spot, took us another 1 hour from Pulau Buaya. The spot well known for its Grouper and Snapper. The only fatal problem we had that night was that we didn't managed to get live squids from the supplier, instead, we only have fresh baktao, some nos and live prawns. The reason was, we sail on a full moon night, which was very difficult to get live squids from the supplier. Although of all those problems, we still managed to caught up 11 groupers, and 2 good size snapper.

this one is good for hot and sour pot

this one, a plain steam with soy sauce

another one in Hongkong style

we went back to the harbour at around 9AM and during the way, we did some fishing, but not much of a worth-to-mention-fish due to a very strong water current. We arrived at the harbour around 12PM and pick up some fish for the restaurant chef to cook for us. After some washing up, I could say, I had one of the most yummy lunch after a long tiring night.

fish we sacrificed for ikan asam pedas and ikan asam manis

water, water and more water

Finally, we packed up the fish in a polyurethane box with ice for Mike and the gangs to bring to their family in Singapore. This one journey ends, and the next will begin...

want the same experience as Mike? click here for more info