Pedro Cays, which has an intricate maze-like layout of zinc and board structures, is home to a small but determined community of fishermen and fisherwomen. Among them is Bobaat, a well-known captain who, despite the ratio of men to women, was lucky to find love. "I've been a fisherman for the whole of my lifetime.
My last kid is 24 years old, and I raised them from right here - school, clothes, feed him from right here. And I've been here before him born," Bobaat shared. Having spent more than two decades in this challenging environment, he now finds himself in a quieter phase of life.
With his two children grown and living abroad, he and his wife, who he refers to as "wifey," are content in their "chilling" era. "Out here is no bed of roses. If you come out here, if you are a Christian when you're on land, you can't be a Christian out here - you have to be a ragamuffin," he said.
Yet, despite the harshness of his surroundings, Bobaat maintains his faithfulness, returning home to his wife whenever he feels the pull of loneliness. "We stay because we make crazy money. I stay eight weeks, and sometimes a little longer.
Right now, we are doing conch; the season started from the first of August and it will end the 15th. So after that, I go back home to my wife," Bobaat explained. His work demands long periods away from home, but his wife understands the nature of his job.
"She understands. We have been together for a while, she understands my work. In fact, [it's] over here mi meet her," he said.
Although he did not describe her reasons for visiting Pedro Cays, he said that she came once and he fell in love with her. The bond they currently share is deepened by mutual understanding of life at sea. "She knows seh mi out here and it risky," he said.
His wife, having experienced life on the cay herself, is well aware of the unpredictable nature of communication there. "The fact that she has been out here before and sees how this place work, she knows that sometimes she won't even hear from me," Bobaat noted. "She even came to see me for a time, where she all a get comfortable; and I told her no, she can't get comfortable here, and so I brought her back to land.
" The separation is challenging, but they manage, even when days go by without contact. "From morning mi nuh hear from my woman, mi not even know if she wake up, and mi know she must a wonder the same thing about me," he said. The lack of communication sometimes affects his focus, admitting that "it bruck vibes".
Nevertheless, Bobaat cherishes the life they've built together. When he returns home, he enjoys the luxuries with his wife, taking comfort in the fact that she doesn't have to live the raggamuffin life he endures on the cay..
