Sunny morning. A good sign. Optimistic.
The small boat was moving slowly. The old man waved at me.
"Fishing?" he asked with a smile.
"No," I answered, lifting the camera slightly hoping he would understand I was doing visual shots. 🙂
He nodded. The smile was still on his lips as he sailed his boat towards the sea.
"For every frame, a life to remember."
I don't know what to call that in English. Here, people call it “Bagan”, an archaic word meaning base. I also don't know if something like that exists anywhere else. In some places on the west coast of Sumatra, they have permanent "Bagans" built on shallow waters and cannot be moved. This "Bagan" is usually found in waters protected by the surrounding islands.
It's not a ship, it's not a boat even though it looks like it's using two boats to surf on the water. It was more like a raft construction where on top there was a small house-like structure. The concept is almost no different from a caravan towed by a car, or house car. Meanwhile, this construction is towed by a motorized boat. It itself has no engine or sail. So, except that it is operated on water, it has the same concept as a caravan. Therefore it might be appropriate if I call it a sea caravan.
This "Bagan" or sea caravan is actually used for fishing. This is one of the fishing methods used by fishermen in this area. After it is pulled by motorized boat to a position in the sea, the fishermen turn on large glowing lights so that schools of fish are attracted to the light. Meanwhile, a fishing net made like a scoop had been lowered into the water. When the fish are in the light spot, the net scoop is lifted.
Because fishing tricks use very bright lights, this sea caravan activity is mostly carried out on dark nights, moonless nights. When the moon is bright, especially on a full night, the fish are scattered everywhere, and are less attracted to the lights from the caravans. On pitch black nights, when the sea caravans were active, from land, the sea surface looked like remote villages illuminated by light.
And, this one is anchored in an estuary, waiting for its time to be pulled out to sea.
