I met Adrian Willington a couple of weeks ago when taking a bicycle tour around the Seychelle island of La Digue. He was walking along the sea-shore carrying a big octopus and of course my curiosity was awaken

He told me that he was working as a security guard at night but during the day he used to go fishing for octopus and had done so since he was young.

After chatting with him for a while I asked if I could go with him the next time he was going fishing. That’s okay,  he said.  Two days later he came by the guesthouse where I was staying and a little later we took off by bicycle towards the beach where he usually goes fishing.

His tools are a bit dated. The flippers are not in best shape and there is a big hole in his wetsuit. He uses a couple of metal sticks to dig out the octopuses! It’s a great experience to accompany and observe the Seychellois diver. We are swimming around a pretty extensive area during more or less 3 hours!

When Adrian spots his prey he is capable of diving down to ten meters depth and stay down for a couple of minutes.

The area where we hunt is also a superb snorkel spot and the place is steaming with fishes of all colors and shape. I see a couple of sea turtles, stingrays and so on.
Adrian says that he almost daily sees sharks when his out but makes no drama about that!