10 Days in Maldives – Day 05 – Crab Hunting @ Mangrove Swamp

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The kids knew they were in for a treat on Day 5 today when our guest house host Sameer suggested we go out crab hunting at the mangrove swamp just two minutes from our house. Matt and I being the delicate flowers we are preferred to stay on the swamp banks and not feed the mosquitoes, but the kids for sure had a blast! As did also the wife who found a fellow nature lover in Sameer.

Our catch after an hour was six medium sized critters. The party headed out again at dusk for round two, just so. Sameer quipped that those of us who don’t catch any will not have any for dinner. I think he meant that our ang mo bud and I would have to dine on club sandwiches tonight instead haha!

The final haul for the day was a bucket full of crabs: just over a dozen crustaceans I reckon. Sameer had them cooked chili crab styled and we settled in for a tasty and sumptuous chili crab dinner! And yep – both Matt and I were allowed to partake too.:)

The Mangrove swamp just a few minutes walk from The Sunrise Huraa.
Matt and I took one look inside and said, “Nah – we’ll remain outside and take pictures of herons.”
The entire area was littered with hundreds of small holes where small mud crabs lived. The bigger ones were in the shallow waters inside the swamp itself.
Matt and I stayed on the swamp outskirts, all safe and snuggly: to take pictures of the majestic looking heron who calls the swamp home.
Sameer the Crab Hunter!
Our two kids really take after their mommy when it comes to these things!
Sameer related a story where a bunch of Chinese tourists came in via speedboat to Huraa one day to catch crabs in this swamp, and left the island with ten big bags of crustaceans. When they returned again shortly, the police were waiting for them and arrested the whole bunch.
One of the six we caught that we brought back to the ground to take a good look at it.
Six of them in an hour!
Chilli Crabs, and just one of the three huge plates of it.
Yums!
Nothing like a dinner where you catch your own grub,

Continued in the next post!