On my first visit to Bottom Bay beach, I met Sam. Sam is a local and according to him, owns the water. He has a deep Caribbean accent but I could understand him very well, which is rare. I think it was because he wasn’t wearing a mask. He was the only person on the beach digging up these little white bug looking things. I didn’t want to be rude so I went to where he was digging and introduced myself. Right off the bat, he said he wanted to keep me for his girlfriend. Funny!
After a little while of answering the usual questions, “Where you from?”, “Why are you here?”, “You work where?”, Sam continued off what he was there to do…fish. See, Sam usually climbs the coconut trees and sells the coconuts to drink to people who visit the beach. Of course, since the Rona has practically made tourism non-existent on the island, the beach is empty. Sam now comes here to fish and sells the fish locally. He does other work too. I think the fishing is more of a hobby to him rather than his bread and butter. Sam also digs up these little white crabs too. I’m not sure what he does with those just yet.
After Sam got tired of not catching any fish (only the 1), he joined me in the water and we chatted some more. He showed me how to handle the strong waves when they come up. Yes, I was a little scared of the water but he Sam also mentioned he wanted a good Christian girl. That statement added to his cool points. He seemed like a pretty decent guy. Do I trust him completely? Of course not. But he’s good to add to my arsenal of people who know-more-than-me-about-the-island. I’m sure I’ll see Sam and his little feisty chihuahua Blacky (not pictured) again.
