Hunting cephalopods

17. August 2008, Sunday
40° 35' 55" N, 8° 12' 4" E


Okay, I got it (although it probably takes a little longer for women): tasty fish fillets and octopuses just don't grow on trees. If you want them fresh and tasty, you have to hunt and kill.
We are in the bay of Porto Conte/Sardinia, water depth four to five meters, ideal hunting ground for cephalopods.
Johannes and Dominik, from the Dorasy, take me spearfishing (without oxygen tanks, of course) and show me how to catch the squid by hand and how to transport it to the afterlife (simply turn the head upside down and rip out all the innards).
However, it has to be done quickly, otherwise you'll get used to it while playing and observing.
When diving, I have often admired these intelligent animals, which appear so clumsy and slippery on land, but have the elegance of a Spanish flamenco dancer under water.
Their ability to blend in with their surroundings like a chameleon is truly one of the most fascinating spectacles in the underwater world.
To make them edible after they die, you have to hit the still moving and sucking future feast on a rock at least 50 times, cook for two hours and it's delicious!
It does take some effort and it's certainly easier to buy a frozen octopus in the supermarket - but proud as Oskar about the octopuses you caught yourself, it tastes twice as good!