Candat Sotong at Pulau Kapas, Terengganu

This was the first time I joined any fishing activity. What's more, staying overnight at an open sea. 

Literally, candat sotong means fishing squid.

This was also the first time I ever drove myself to Marang after 10 months working in Kerteh. Thanks to Waze, I made it to the gathering point 1 hour before departure to Kapas Island.

At the gathering resort, Semarak Bayu

Pantai Kelulut they called it

Why not just name the beach by the resort name?

Once everybody gathered, we departed to the jetty by bus.

The view from jetty

Everyone boarded on one of these fishing boats and there we went to the sea.

Going out to sea on evening was fantastic because I really love sea breeze gently blowing past my face and the best thing were, the weather was good and the sea was calm.

Thought I will be joining this program alone, ended up meeting some course mates and friends from university.

The sea views were undeniably breathtaking. 

I am the King of the boat!

Watching sunset at sea was really a different experience. The sunset was extra beautiful, don't you feel?

This was Kapas Island  but we were not stopping here.

We continued to go and stopped somewhere in the middle of the sea. That was where we stayed the whole night.

Finally the first catch of the day by one of the elderly fishing enthusiasts - 3 little bad luck fishes!

That was my first time seeing how people fished. Seemed simple enough for them, but I was sure they took years to master the skills.

And not long after that..

Squid!

Take a closer look at it. It had a white and transparent body alive, and dead in purple-black yet reddish form. I guessed that was one of its survival features, to change color to suit its surroundings and temperature, more of a kind of camouflage, making it easier to hunt for preys.

The sky started to turn dark and the boat swayed relentlessly in the seaway, making some of us a little bit seasick. I did not feel the seasick but I was really uncomfortable with how the boat over-swung with the waves. The feeling was like, you were in the middle of sea, helpless and definitely homesick.

But soon after I was overwhelmed with joy. Yes, I got my first ever squid on hook! A small one but it was okay for me. I thought I broke its cavity, it was struggling violently but showed no signs of life after I held it for pictures. I pressed its body too hard I guessed.

But looking at what my friend got, she definitely had some lucks tonight. Not just one, but several of this size.

The whole night I was throwing out and pulling up baits repeatedly to see if I got something down there because I just cannot feel something biting my bait. I must say it was really tiring and that pissed me off. People said fishing required a great deal of patience and I finally realized how true that was.

Not long after that, we all had sleeping mode on and off. With our fishing rod in hand, we just lied down and closed our eyes. Very lucky that the rod did not fall into the sea. The sea breeze was fierce, and lightning keep flashing in the distance. I was thinking that storm might fall upon us. The T-shirt the organizer provided for us was really a tough one, I was reluctant to change at first, luckily I did. It was made by nylon, long sleeve, and enough to protect me from coldness to the bone.

Looking rise to the sky, countless stars were shining as if they were comparing whose light was brighter. Somehow I felt as if the stars were saying hello to me. To that extent, I really missed my home, my bed and my family. I wished they were all here to experience the same sight of me on the same boat. And if they were here, I will be on cloud nine. Every single thing I have done with my family I feel is a bless from GOD to me. I want more of that definitely.

More and more fishes and squids were on the hook. For me, none, as I expected.

The boat owner was kind enough to offer us some grilled and fried fishes and squids he caught. I think he cooked them when we all were sleeping. He shouted us to wake up just to eat. Despite the dizziness resulted from the half sleeping mode, I tried the grilled squids and the taste I must say was extremely sweet and juicy. The freshness of the food was so irresistible! I will put double thumbs up for that.

Reading about squids on internet, it said that squids are the most intelligent type of invertebrate. Not sure why they said squids are intelligent, but I don't think so because I saw people hooking them so easily. The best way to cook squids can be stuffed whole, cut into flat pieces or sliced into rings. I love both flat pieces and rings of squids. The tentacles of it I am not interested, but I always wonder why squids have this kind of a plastic-like thingy on its back, some sorts like a backbone to support the body. Transparent in color, beak and gladius (pen) they called it. Not edible, but I almost swallowed it just now.

Wikipedia said squid is a good food source for zinc and manganese, and high in copper, selenium, vitamin B12 and riboflavin. So lets just eat them more.

In the middle of the sea we still ask each other what was the time already. It was really kind of hard to know the timing when we are at sea.  11.30 pm, 1.30 am, 3.30 am, 4 am, 5 am were echoed. hahahaha, really can't wait to be back to land already.

The treasure of the night was that I saw pretty much sea creatures lingering around the boats. Crabs, squids, fishes, sea snake and even swordfish. The boat owner said if we were lucky enough we can see dolphins!

The scent of rotten fishes wafted in the air, not to mention the sepia/ ink many squids squirted on my face and body. The sepia/ ink/ liquid, sticky and disgusting, some transparent, some are black in color, stained on my tablet, cloth, and the small bag I used to put my tablet. What I wanted badly was just a bath!

Finally at around 4.30 am, we moved back to beach. I was not awake except for the first 5 minutes when the boat started moving. The engine sound was just too loud.

Look at what they caught the whole night. Enough for 100 person to eat.

And we were going to eat them all in the afternoon. BBQ Style!

When we reached the resort by bus, I remembered it was almost 7. Lucky enough to have seen the sunrise by the beach and had a good swim with friend. All the fatigue were temporarily washed away.

The sunrise was really beautiful, wasn't it?

Good morning!

Swim

 In the afternoon, here it was the BBQ.

Photos before everybody headed home.

Till we meet again, cheers :D

Good bye Marang, we will meet one day again for sure.

By the time I left Marang and headed back to Kerteh, I was really exhausted.

Reaching Kerteh was already 4.25 pm. Settling down was already 5 pm. I actually put an alarm at 6.30 pm, thinking that I might just need a short nap and woke up for dinner and football. How to miss one of the title deciding match, Liverpool vs Chelsea at Malaysian time 8.45 pm. I even promised Alvin that I will be going to his house to watch it.

Ended up how?

I woke up at 1.48 am the next day, thought it was just 7 or 8 pm on the same day and missed every single thing I planned before going for that nap. Even the alarm. Damn

Saw 2 missed calls from Alvin and whatapps from him asking what time was the match. Oh man so guilty yet very satisfied nap/sleep I have had.

This was a really awesome candat sotong program. I will join next year again.

See you then again squids!