The lobster hunt

No wind, no surf, warm waters and low tide… a Polzeath summer time classic. Use of your imagination is paramount in order to keep oneself occupied. The only safe zone away from a mingle of bronzing bodies that cluster around the busy shoreline, is a radius of 200m plus outside of our lifeguard patrolled zone. This is where the real excitement begins.

As a reflection of the afore mentioned scene, I will now let the boys take the stage, (keep in mind I kept a close eye on them whilst on duty, thus any tall tales will raise an eyebrow).

Myself (Billy) and my brother (Fin) went on a mission to look for dinner. We jumped on a singular paddle board, navigator and manpower divided between the two of us, then sent it to towards Pentire head with diving and fishing equipment strapped down. Just abreast of the cliffs close to the rocky point, we pulled up to what we thought looked a good spot. Chucking the paddle board on a precarious outcrop, we started searching in all the holes between the rocks.

I dove down to look into a deep yet narrow hole in-between a few big boulders, straight away spotting the tell tale signs of our dream dinner. Two massive claws and shiny black antenna teased me from the shadow of the water logged hiding spot, this is when I knew it was on, I rushed to Fin who was daring me to swim though an underwater cave and not listening to the fact that I’d just found a monster. We spent the next 1 and a half hours battling, trying to get him out without hurting him, I would dive down whilst Fin would put his foot on my back so I could stay down easier and put my whole arm up to my shoulder in the back of this black hole. A few time the lobsters crusher claw grabbed onto my little finger preventing me from getting my arm out, trying not to panic Fin would give me the snorkel whilst I was under water and hold it out so I could breathe. Eventually we both went down together, Fin managed to grab the cutting claw and I grabbed the crusher. Both claws were secured so I snuck my hand behind to try and grab the body to start moving him out. He started to move towards the exit, simultaneously we held the lobster as he emerged and we realised he was enormous. We were shattered and freezing but also couldn’t quite believe what had happened, at this point Jazz (who was on duty lifeguarding) passed us whilst patrolling on the IRB. Waiving her down and holding up the prize she was almost as shocked as us as her eyes set on what was soon to be our dinner.

P.S. to all the chefs of the water world please leave me (Jazz) any tips/recipes on how to cook a lobster, needless to say my botched attempt left a little to the imagination. Nevertheless who can complain when your dinner was caught 700m from your doorstep.