Solies cont.
We appeared to be one of the few there that opted to mainly self cater but
that meant largely cooking what you could catch along with say rice or pasta
& maybe dried vegs (which were surprisingly good) or greens from the market
nevertheless we ate well on the likes of fresh fish, sashimi, mantis shrimps, cray,
coconut crab etc. with meat unless canned as good as unavailable.
A small range of goods were available from a tiny store where staff could buy basics
like canned meat/tuna etc but basically it was a case of making do with what you
could gather together. Brought a bottle of wine early on from the restuarant but after
paying about $NZ48 for a bottom of the range aussie white that had been kept upright
in warm conditions for who knows how long decided would go without from thereon &
stick to beer @ $NZ5 for a small can. We kept an ongoing supply of husked drinking
coconuts in the fridge that were always ultra refreshing & enjoyable as a pre dinner
tipple topped up with rum or vodka. Most guests however seemed to opt to eat in the
bar come restuarant where starters were about 4NZ$18 & mains $30 to $40 but imo
with much of a sameness to the meals ie main ingredient plus rice or pasta & bit of
salad would become a bit tiresome. As we were told would happen the heat made our
otherwise "healthy" appetites diminish considerably & were often content with just one
meal a day with corresponding benefit to our waistlines.
Now for the important bit ... namely the fishing. Fishing could be had off the jetty or
on the lagoon flats but would be mostly, long toms or small trevally if anything however
largish fish could often be seen from the jetty along with the ever present sharks but
seemed to be very elusive to catch except maybe at daybreak when one of the staff
who was an early riser did fairly well with a handline scoring an occassional sweetlip
( great eating ) or suchlike.
Basically to have a better chance of somethin decent meant hiring one of the three boats
along with a driver & travelling a considerable distance. The methods could be broken
down into about four types namely :- bottom bait fishing in maybe 200 to close to 300 mtrs
deep which required quite an effort to even wind up the 6 oz sinker let alone a sizeable fish.
Then there was conventonal trolling which seemed to produce mid sized fish unless making
the 20 mile return trip out to the fad (weather permitting) where there was a good chance
of skippies, yellow fin, wahoo, mahimahi or a sailfish but altho might be wrong am inclined
to think on average were smaller size than might be expected elsewhere. We did not go out
to the FADS but Stu & Cliffe did neither did we try the estuarine river fishing for the likes of
mangrove jacks etc. that would have suited sw fly but had to be mindful of our budget as
hiring the boats was certainly not cheap. The final method was casting poppers oto the edge
of a reef then wind in furiously in the hope of a strike. I was particularly looking forward to
getting a hookup by this method altho it was not to be, even tho the driver said I had a GT
following on one occassion. Being newbies we were somewhat limited by the distance we
could cast however Paul the driver took over Adrians' rod when he tired of casting was
lobbing it almost to the horizon nevertheless likewise never managed to hookup. My casting
improved somewhat & was landing it amongst schools of fish that would cause an erruption
of activity but they obviously were not in the mood to strike.
OK now to the cost of hiring a boat etc. which as mentoned was far from cheap largely due to
petrol being about $3 50 ltr & has to be brought in from Brisbane so if trolling or travelling a
distance the cost escalates. here is a breakdown of our four trips.
to be cont.
When you cry, feel pain or sadness, no one notices your sorrow .... BUT
fart just ONE time !!!!!!!!!!!