BAIT MAAATE!

I’m like a banana on a boat… don’t bring it or me on board. I’m not very patient and possess few fishing skills and I feel sick just watching boats go up and down on a TV screen. My younger brother Mike wisely won’t let me on his boat as within minutes and with a whiney voice I’ve been heard to say, “Are we there yet? Fish, what fish? A fish and chip shop would be much easier!”
So it may seem strange that here I was, crabbing and fishing with my friend Dieter, a few hours from Darwin in the Northern Territory of Australia. One of my jobs was to lower the crab pots with hunks of meat as bait. The fishing was fantastic. No boring moments at all, as every time you dropped your line in, you got a fish. We didn’t see anyone for days on end (no communication devices either) but we did see crocodiles, box jellyfish, sharks and sea snakes. Apart from the fish, everything wanted to kill you. 

One morning we were racing along in his aluminium boat with the outboard motor at full throttle. Dieter lost concentration and we slammed into a mangrove tree. In an instant we were both flying through the air and about to be… bait. 

I vividly remember smashing into the water, surfacing and yelling, “Dieter!!” Within seconds he had clambered back in the boat and hauled me to safety. So relieved to be alive, we couldn’t speak. Death felt very close that day. Yes, he made a mistake. But who hasn’t? If you get rescued like I did, forgiveness comes easily. 

Have you ever rescued someone literally or figuratively in your lifetime? It is the ultimate act of kindness, the ultimate act of love.