Account of a Spearfishing Trip to Portugal

[hyeparis]

Hello all!
I have just come back from what was supposed to be a rather boring business trip to Lisbon, but turned out to be a hilarious experience, in which spearfishing, drinking and hysterical alternated, thanks to one of participants of this forum - Marco. (Marco I owe you more than one, as well as a trip to the Volga to shoot catfish and much more)
First I and my colleague Nabi went to Lisbon to attend a conference on maritime security for and I must say it was a rather demanding event - trying not to fall asleep as participants droned on all sorts of things related and (more often) unrelated to piracy for four straight days.
All the fun would take place in evenings and at night, of course, albeit we did sneak out for daylight sightseeing and obligatory photos in front of landmarks. You should be all thankful that these pics, including those for which I posed with my very large Caucasian cap on, drowned along with my camera off during my first day of post-conference spearfishing, and I am not going to post them, forcing you to look at them. Again, I should thank Marco because no spearfishing would have taken place in the first place without him. It took even him about one hour to locate one of the three offices where they issues spearfishing licenses to foreigners and the lady who received us at this office spoke no English. Marco also kindly took us in his car from Lisbon to Cascais when the conference was over and even more kindly drove me around to spots where we spearfished together. Unfortunately, it was raining, windy and as a result the ocean was uncalm and visibility was low so his friend had to cancel a trip on his boat to some secret spots of his. But even without that I enjoyed the experience a lot, diving off the shore in Cascais with Marco. IMHO the Portuguese oceanic coast appears to attract more fish than the Med or less spearfishers. Hence, you could find decent fish even at 3 meters!
The first day was brutal - the previous time I dived as on New Year's eve in a frozen ass river outside Moscow - so I was short of breath and lost my camera and burnt my lip and chin against some kind of a mean weed while Marco worked the stones, spearing a few decent fish, including a muletta, and a very sizeable octopus!. Also I didn't have enough weights on so I had to cling to all stones to try stay at bottom. But the next two days - I progressed in spite of the brutal hangover I and Marco) had after a loooong evening of drinking and misbehaving (I woke up next morning with phone numbers of two ladies I could not quite remember and a phone full of SMS that I sent to one of them in Portuguese - so you can imagine the fear and loathing I experienced when trying to remember what Marco could have actually taught me and I used in those SMS, given that I usually try to learn the worst explicit language first))). The third day was the best - I speared a few fish, including a Badejo and a Salema. The bigger one I got in a cave of stones while the smaller one I speared, sitting in an ambush on the bottom. I also scratched a good mulleta's forehead from a range of less than a meter - lack of practice! Marco also kindly gave up the sea bass he speared so we were able to roast them for a small dinner with some very good wine that Marco gave me as a present. (FYI: local restaurants won't agree to cook fish for you the way they do in Greece/Republic of Cyprus)
On all three days I used a 70-cm Beuchat all the time while the 1-meter Omer was collecting dust at the hotel - visibility was too low - about 2-3 meters. The water temperature was about 15 degrees so I dove in a 5-mm Picasso and felt comfortable in water. I also felt very much at home and comfortable on shore too, thanks to Marco's hospitality and the hospitality of the Portuguese people in general - they may seem a bit reserved, but if you talk to them - they smile and are very helpful. I also felt safe too in Cascais as we rambled the streets at very late hours. (The sense of safety and security was enhanced by a surveillence camera installed at the level of your groin in between urinals in one of a local restaurant's bathrooms. At least as far as I and Nabi understood the Portuguese the sign next to the camera said "video surveillance is being conducted for your own security. " I would not be able to repeat that phrase in Portuguese, but I do remember the two phrases that Marco taught me and that I think is sufficient to get by and get along in Cascais. One is Não consigo deixar de pensar em ti" - "I cannot stop thinking about you." And the other one is "Quero fazer amor com o teu burro" - I would like to make love to your donkey.
PS You can find some of the pics by Marco and me - here (the beautiful landscape shots are by Marco!)
moscowhack - Португали� (Ча�ть II) - "Quero fazer amor com o teu burro"

[Pastor]

Shit I wish I could have joined you. Never mind the SMS' I would have secured a traffic cone or two as well as teaching you the basics of Welsh

[hyeparis]

Thank you!
But What use can I possibly find for a traffic cone?

[Pastor]

Just like a policeman's helmet, things you just have to collect when you're drunk

[hyeparis]

As Don Fanuccio says, gesturing at a puppet show in Godfather, "too violent for me!" ))) I'd rather wake up with phone numbers of waitresses in my pockets than those of policemen )))

[MCerieiro]

I already miss you guys...and again i´m sorry for the Donkey...but sheep´s are hard to find around here

Great report and i´m glad you guys like your stay...

Cheers mate,

[hyeparis]

And we miss you too while I also envy you a lot. Lucky man! Cascais is a great place. I would agree to ditch my white collar job and herd sheep If I could dive into the ocean every day.)))
PS as for sheep, If I had been Welsh, I would have settled for nothing else! But, since I am not, burro is also an option )))

[Erik]

Hahaha, great story! Glad you made the best of a potentially boring time at a conference..

[fleshy]

This is turning out to be more like a reunion. I think this is the first post on here where we have all chimed in. Im glad to hear you had a good time.

[Pastor]

Scot is around somewhere too as well as slingshaft, we ought to have a refugees forum of our own

[fleshy]

I remember in the staff section before spearfishing.com went down and out for the count, that I suggested that if they hosted a wisconsin forum, they could host a refugees of spearfishing.com one. lol. I talk to slingshaft occasionally, he says he might be comming up to wisconsin this summer, so Ill be hopping to take him out then.

[slingshaft]

Hey I just wanted to chime in to say hello. Marco, where have you been? I knew you were a secret agent! Post pictures!!!!

[MCerieiro]

Hey slingshaft long time since our last talk...how are you mate?
as for the photos you can see them at the link in the and of Simon'n report, but here they are anyway.

I must say that Simon didn't get much luck with the weather...lot´s of rain, murky water and rough see in the best places, i had organized a small spearfishing trip with Carlos Osório in Sines (the place of the last CMAS Spearfishing worldcup) but the see was too rough even to put the boat on the water.

So as you guys can imagine Simon is a tough spearo and dive with any problem in these difficult conditions, his not a Med Spearo...he is an authentic Atlantic Spearo...if you know what i mean...

Cheers,

[hyeparis]

Indeed, it is a reunion and a great one!
I am glad to talk to you guys again in one place just like in the good and not so old times.
Marco, I am blushing here. I am not a tough spearo at all - it was my first true oceanic experience and I enjoyed it a lot. But I also got seasick. I speared in stormies waters in the Med, but didn't get sea sick whereas in Cascais I did. Maybe it is because the bottom is not calm either and waves kept rocking me even underwater. I don't know.

[MCerieiro]

Hi guys!

I have to say that the weather became much better after Simon left...sorry about this mate...so i have been in the water for a few days...in this time of year (Spring) there are less fish over here...so the dives are hard and a bit deeper (around -8 to -12 is enough here in Cascais during Spring).

Well 3 days of fishing and the results are:

- A few "Merlangius Merlangus" dont know the name in English
- Crab´s and one Spider Crab
- 1 Sargo and some Mullet
- 3 moray's
- Octopus and Cuttlefish

And i have to say that i made a really delicious "Fish Pasta" with all the fish mixed i will post the recipe later.

Cheers,
MC