Bringing in the catch

Our accommodation in Varkala was next to a smaller beach on the edge of the resort. Every morning we could watch the fishermen bring in the day's catch.

In the evenings, all the restaurants had enormous slabs out front laid out with an amazing selection of fish and shellfish including huge specimens such as blue marlin.

There were also night fishermen who went out on tiny rafts on their own. We were eating in the hotel restaurant one night when one returned. He was helped onto the beach with a huge rolled up net full of smaller, mullet-type fish which had to be unrolled and carefully picked out - a tedious business. Suddenly lots of his mates appeared with plastic carrier bags, helped him pick out some fish, put them in their bags and headed off home on their motor bikes. He didn't seem to mind!