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I had to return to reality eventually, leaving Vieques Island behind. Vieques was incredibly relaxing, and I decided that it would be a great place to take a vacation. All the residents there really took their time with no clocks around. We took a nice short flight back to Ceiba Airport, and on the way I noticed that there were more cars than people on the island. That was one very surreal sight. Going on to my new destination, we went a short distance, from Ceiba to Fajardo, to meet Jose Vega, a local Deaf fisherman. He doesn’t just fish; he also operates a woodshop business. He met me with great joy, and took me down to his 16′ boat at the marina. The weather was kind of windy, but the temperature was just right for fishing.

Jose drove the boat out into the open sea, and began preparing the squids for bait. I was puzzled because I didn’t see any fishing rods anywhere on the boat, and I asked about that baffling absence. He laughed so hard, and said there was no need to use fishing rods here because it consumed too much time, and also pointed out that you would lose the fish if the fishing line is jammed or something similar. Jose’s method was to use a weight (to tie the line to), have some bait on a strong fishing line, throw it into the water, and just leave it for a while. Jose threw his two lines in, and within a few seconds he got his first bite.

I was very anxious about my own fishing lines. Jose got two bites in five minutes, and I was left wondering why I didn’t have a single bite just yet. We were within a few feet of each other, so why did the fish come to him? I wondered if the Puerto Rican fishes preferred him eating them, not me. He decided to move on to another location for better luck. The waves were a bit rough for us, getting there, but I wound up with no better luck at the new location. He got two more fishes, however. We moved on to yet another location, where I finally had some success. I got lots of bites, but for some reason I couldn’t get any of the fishes onto the boat! I kept on going with new bait, but yet they still outsmarted me! I stayed there for a half-hour, to no avail, while Jose got 7 fishes altogether on the trip. He had a big smile on for his success; I was a good sport about it.

“Let’s cook some fish,” said Jose. But before we went back to the marina, he explained a little bit of his experiences fishing for sharks. He actually managed to catch a 6 foot long shark, weighing about 700 pounds. He was all alone in the sea, at the time, when he got the shark. When it bit, he took a bat and hit it repeatedly on the head, and then pulled it into his boat. It was a nerve-wracking time, dealing with a shark all alone. The people at the marina were surprised by the feat when he brought it home, and celebrated with him. He sold much of the shark meat to his customers. He still does the fishing business, naturally, selling the meat from his home and conducting some charter boat trips. Many of his customers know him as the best fisherman in the area.

I was restless coming back to the marina; I had gotten pretty hungry by the time the fishing trip ended. He took me over to his parents’ home for dinner. I took a seat on the balcony, while waiting for him to cook the fishes. It was an amazing view of the ocean! He finally brought me a plate of fish with some Puerto Rican bread. It was so fresh, and juicy. It was a perfect way to say goodbye to him, thanking him for his delicious cooking and wonderful fishing guidance!

Please make good use of his services, especially as seeing you’ll be getting a lot of interesting stories about the area, including a nearby beautiful small island with a white sandy beach. For me, I will be seeing him in June during the San Juan DeafNation Expo. Jorge and I took our leave of Jose and departed for Arecibo, which was a drive of over 2 hours from Fajarado. Buenas Noches!

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