For some, this is just an ordinary morning but for these locals who find their source of income from the vast and abundant ocean, this should be a lucky and blissful day!
Hello and howdy lovely people of this wonderful Hive community.🤗 I hope you are doing great on this beautiful day!
With a few weeks off from work for the summer vacation, it feels good to spend our morning routine actively with the husband walking or jogging around our little village but this time, we took our very playful Husky pet, Sabrina, with us walking around this little park by the sea called the Tabogon Sea View Park. With our very clingy son and daughter who's also on vacation from school, we went down the lowland area together towards this park where we could also enjoy the energizing sea breeze.
With the son and daughter whining to take a dip into the inviting sea early morning, we decided to walk towards the Tagasa Beach, a public beach located at Poblacion, Tabogon, Cebu, and gave in to their wish. Tagasa Beach is just about a 5-minute walk from the park and is much safer to go swimming there, especially for kids.
Located in the lowland part of the municipality of Tabogon, not only that Tagasa Beach caters to guests who wish to enjoy the relaxing sea breeze and immerse themselves in the refreshing seawater but also accommodates local fishermen who rest their bancas at this shore ready for the day's catch. This is also where some fish vendors come to purchase fish in bulk to sell around the village or in upland areas.
As we arrived, this lively view of the beach with some locals and a number bancas or small fishing boats silently resting at the shore welcomed us. At the sight of the sea, the children were in a hurry to take a plunge and enjoy the slack tide of the morning.
While some adults and children alike, were enjoying the refreshing early morning dip, it seemed others were just hanging out there as if waiting for something.
Looking around, I noticed that these locals were really waiting for a banca to arrive that might be bringing fresh catch from fishermen coming from their usual fishing spots in Tabogon.
The Fresh Catch of the Day
After a few minutes, a small group of men seemed alerted at the sight of an approaching boat and came close to it.
Helping the boatman carry the motorized banca towards the sandy shore, one of the men shouted, "Yellowfin!".
My curiosity brought me close to the boat and saw for myself a big fish they called the yellowfin. I was not sure of its exact size and weight but it's big enough approximately about 10-12 kilos.
The struggle catching this fish should be real as I heard from the fisherman that his fishing equipment was damaged trying to catch this size of fish but I guess it's all worth it! The owner of the boat or the fisherman himself should make money or will surely have a fresh fish recipe for breakfast from this fresh catch.
Moments later, another banca arrived, and thinking what this boatman brought made me excited. Good thing I brought my wallet with me in case we could engage in this early market at a very reasonable price, then, we will have a fresh fish soup for breakfast!
Helping the newly arrived boatman carry his boat towards the sandy shore was another group of men who seemed to be especially waiting for this fisherman. Coming close, I noticed a familiar old man I knew the fish vendor who reached our neighborhood in the upland village to sell fish.
With the fisherman's fresh catch of some kilos of squid and another big Yellowfin fish, the fish vendor looked very happy and pleased as shown by a big grin on his face bringing out the fish from the boat.
Wanting to buy a much cheaper kilo of squid and some yellowfin tuna, the husband approached the boatman and asked if he could spare us some of his catch. He, then, knew the transaction should now be between us and the fish vendor who seemed to be his regular buyer and the priority of the day's catch.
Fortunately, a cousin who happened to be living near Tagasa Beach was also there and was the neighbor of the fisherman, discreetly managed to get us a kilo of squid at ₱200.00 or $3.60 only. This medium-sized squid is sold in our village at ₱300.00 or $5.40 already.
As time went by at about 7:00 in the morning, more bancas arrived only to find out these local fishermen were also able to catch yellowfin tuna. This kind of fish must be numerous wherever these fishermen caught them. This should be their LUCKY DAY as this meant MONEY and or FOOD for them.
We hoped to get also a kilo of cut yellowfin tuna but because we still needed to wait a little longer for it to be ready, we just decided to let our craving for this fish go!
The other boatman I assumed was hired by a private individual also caught another yellowfin tuna to the delight of the owner of the boat.
And it seemed not only us wished to buy some of this fresh catch but other locals too who approached the fishermen or the boat owners for a much cheaper price!
With this early morning blessing in Tabogon, I was sure this fresh morning catch should save the day of the fishermen and their families, the fish vendors as well as the patient locals who really waited early at Tagasa Beach!
And this is all for today's blog dear Hive friends. I'm glad you reached this part reading my blog. See you again on my next. Until then....
All photos are mine unless stated otherwise.