Santubong, Kuching Fishing again

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When: August 2023 Weather:Hot 30C

LeicaQ, Samsung Ultra21

Pre-covid in 2019 we last did this fishing trip out of Kuching in Sarawak State, East Malaysia heading our of the Santubong river into the South China Sea where we were hit by a terrible storm 5 hours out at sea. Amidst the rough seas and seasickness we aborted the trip and swore never to go again. Time though wipes out unpleasant memories and we 9 intrepid fishermen (and women) ventured out again on the same route…only we ended up 10 hours or about 200 km from the shore….we kept fingers crossed for calm seas….

our home for 3 nights at sea…the fishing boat Nemo 2….sleeps 12with a crew of 5…
santubong river terrain
the river was calm as we headed into the sunset
the sunset was stunning
the fishing started the next morning…
a type of snapper
catfish galore
This was the first time I’d ever seen a hammerhead shark up close….this was a juvenile which we released…along with a few other ‘normal’ sharks
there were lots of red snappers…a wonderful food fish….small ones like these and bigger ones 3x the size…they were cleaned and gutted immediately by the boat boys and put in the freezer
as night descended, the tenggiri or spanish mackerel started biting….we did quite well, catching about 40 of them over the two nights

By night the fishing was more comfortable, but also much more interesting as these other critters started emerging and circling our boat…

numerous dolphins circled the boat
coming right up to the boat
spouting water from their nostril
just wonderful encounters with numerous dolphins entertaining us when the fish weren’t biting
but there were rather more dangerous creatures around too….sea snake…
you wouldn’t want to fall into the sea with so many sea snakes around!
Remoras or sucker fish were plentiful
as were crabs
Crabs and remoras in the dark night sea
on our final night I noticed these luminescent blue lights in the sea…..presumably plankton?
jellyfish
Fishing in the south china sea
all in all a great trip with great weather and an excellent catch…
Tenggiri, red snappers of different sizes, groupers of different sizes and catfish…

After docking back in Santubong, the fish were dropped at the packing plant for shipping back to Singapore…..overall an excellent trip with a day’s rest and recreation in Kuching at the end.

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