Tainha fishing @ Santinho Beach

Beautiful winters day - 25 degrees! Decided a beach day was definitely necessary, so we headed to Santinho, in the north of the island. This is one of the big fishing beaches in the north during the winter season.

The fishing here is very different to what I'm used to. Tainha fishing, by the commercial boats, is done using a big net that is held on the beach by some people while the boat goes out from the beach, dropping the net and coming back on itself to form a semicircle. As the boat starts coming back in, the people on the beach pull the net in, tightening it and catching everything that's within the circle (hopefully lots of fish!)

These guys on the rocks were the tainha spotters - yelling at the boat and waving their shirts to get them into the best positions to get the fish. The other helpers were the dolphins - so playful! We watched them swim around and play for at least an hour. One of those moments that makes me dream of the day I have a camera with better zoom and fast shutter speed to capture them!