A Postcard Beach

I took an early morning walk east along the beach to the Isla Aguada Malecon. It is lined with small fishing boats, processing facilities (huts), two small ice plants, and a few mechanic shops. This is not a pristine ‘postcard’ beach. In the morning the boats with their small crews bring in the catch. I can not give you a informed accounting of the fish taken... my knowledge of the sea and its bounty are limited. I did recognize a few varieties of shark, and there were Red Snapper & Pompano on occasion. A few men were taking small pieces of palm leaf to tie up Blue Crabs. They had a small mountain of them. This was one ‘detail’ job I saw. Another was the painstaking bringing in of their nets.
I was witness to a complete system. Men harvesting from the sea, others to weigh and pay, to produce ice, to haul fish to market, and leaving any scraps remaining to the birds overhead and the prowling dogs of the malecon. There is little time or need in a fishermans life here in Isla Aguada for a wandering gringo. It is a home to working men and women on the edge, the edge of a sea & the edge of what the sea may offer. What is a postcard beach? Here in Isla Aguata It is the place where land meets sea and man engages a livlihood... It is rewarding to find an image you are not looking for.