The tradition
For as long as I can remember every November/December my father went to either Rooi Els, Pringle Bay or Hangklip to go and dive. The year I turned twelve was the first time I went diving with my father, you are only allowed to get your permit at the age of twelve, I have been in love with the sport ever since. At the age of twenty five I am proud to say that I have been diving for more years than I have not and I'm not planning on stopping any time soon.
Usually at around the 15th of November the government allocates certain amounts of crayfish to recreational and commercial fishermen. In the last four years they have been steadily reducing the amount of diveable days and therefor the amount of crayfish we can catch. The 2017/2018 diving year we got particularly nervous because they released a provisional season which brought the diveable days down from 22 the previous season to 9 this season. Luckily the diving and spearfishing community is quite active, they managed to convince the government to keep the days at 22 to everyone's relief. Unfortunately there is not a lot of hope for the next season as the stocks of crayfish keeps on diminishing.
But, onward and upwards as they say, at least we could dive and dive we did!
I could try and explain it all in my second language English but hopefully a short YouTube video will show you what we experienced.
After the dive we went to my parents' house to prepare and eat the crayfish. There are two main ways we prepare crayfish in South Africa, either we cook it or we put it on the braai (Barbecue). We usually cook it, cut it open and remove the innards. Throw it all on a plate, with a fresh salad and cut watermelon on the side you have a proper South African summer meal.
Just add a good craft beer from a strange place and you have the perfect meal. My parents went inland for a bit during the December holidays and brought a lovely beer from Clarence. Clarence is a small town approximately 1200 km from where we live and just north of the Lesotho border. It is known for its National Park with interesting sandstone mountains.
