THE ISLAND CHILDREN

This page is dedicated to the local Marquesan children.

Hinéano is eleven years old and lives in Taiohae, the capital of the Island of Nuku Hiva.

A DAY FISHING WITH MY MOTHER
Hello, my name is Hinéano and I have just had my eleventh birthday.
I live on the island of Nuku Hiva.

I remember the day when we all went camping as a family in a very isolated bay on our island.
This bay is very remote and not often visited except when there is school holidays and long weekends.
This particular bay is called ' Haahopu' , it is about 50 kilometers from our main village, Taiohae. We get there by boat or by a walking track. We often go to this bay as the sand is lovely and white and very beautiful. The sea is full of lots of wonderful coloured fish, another thing in the bay is the water is drinkable so we don't have to take bottled mineral water with us.
It is very important to shower at night, cook the dinner and wash the dishes. Washing the dishes is usually a job Aniata, my sister and I have to do. Sometimes it can be really fun especially
when we do them in the sea. We scrub the dishes with leaves and sand then rinse with sea water. The waves can be strong and carry away our dishes and we have to run really fast to grab them before they go out too far.
One day all our family were swimming very early in the morning, except mum who was getting our fishing lines ready. Mum also quickly prepared her small bag where she kept her extra fishing hooks , sinkers, small knife for scaling the fish or cutting the bait and a bottle of water.
My father, my sister and brother stayed on the beach while I went to explore the rocks. You must be very careful and make sure the rocks are stable and not to slippery before putting all your weight on them. Some rocks are very unstable due to the strong waves that constantly hit them especially when the sea is very rough.
Next we must find a good place for fishing, this is very important as well because when it is low tide and the rocks are just covered with water, the fishing lines can get stuck very quickly in the rocks and we have to pull very very hard to get them out of this natural trap. Quite often our lines snap and we have to start all over again with a new line, hook and sinker and when this happens mum is not very happy at all..
Finally we found ourselves a great spot for fishing, I found small crabs on the rocks for bait and then we threw our lines out. Straight away the fish began to bite. Mum pulled her line in had a nice red fish but it was so tiny, at the same time as Mum I pulled in the same type of fish but it was a decent sized one. I had to run backwards at least three meters to pull it out of the water, I called Mum to help but she was laughing at me standing in the position I was in. Once the fish was out mum unhooked it as I found it really hard to do .
We had a good laugh together and I was really proud of my trophy. Days like that are unforgettable because quite often we fish for hours and never get anything . My mother can stay for hours and hours, even a whole day on the rocks fishing and never comes back empty handed. Of course that day we caught other fish but none as big as mine. When we arrived back at our campsite, I gave dad the fish so he could cook them over the campfire, I kept reminding everyone that my fish was the biggest. Dad congratulated me and he also told me I was an Ace at fishing.
I felt the same as someone that had conquered the peak of a big mountain that night.
I hope you liked my story.
See you soon.

Hinéano.

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