Linguist learning from expert indigenous speardivers

    Hi I'm Luke,
    I've taken interest in this forum, because I work with the Sama tribe of the Philippines (more well known as the Badjao). I'm learning spear fishing from them. They fish with a speargun in the shallow areas around coral, but also freedive as deep as 250 ft. to spear Tuna or search for oysters etc.


    I hope to learn some things here on this forum so that I can better accompany my friends when they go out fishing.

    Welcome mate, First thing to know is let go of the rock before you get too deep.;)


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Those guys must have all taken Free Diving courses. :) (just kidding)
    I came within an ace of buying land on Samal island back in the 80s. Nice place.


    Try to understand what they're saying though. Oysters don't usually....or ever....occur at those depths. They live in shallow estuaries where there is a lot of plankton, they're preferred food. There are lots of Ilonggos in the Davao area so I would guess the local name for oyster is "Talaba".


    Shooting tuna at 250 feet. Wow. Unreal. Very unreal.

    Thanks all for your replies and greetings. Here in the Davao channel it gets as deep as 90ft. You have to go out on the backside of Samal to get the 150ft and be in Saranggani to get the 250ft. I still don't do well beyond 40ft :) My ears sting too badly.


    There are many Ilonggo and other Bisayans here in town, but according to the Sama, no one goes much deeper than 50ft except for the Sama.


    I don't know the Ilonggo for oyster, but the Sinama is tipay.

    Quote from Samadivers

    Thanks all for your replies and greetings. Here in the Davao channel it gets as deep as 90ft. You have to go out on the backside of Samal to get the 150ft and be in Saranggani to get the 250ft. I still don't do well beyond 40ft :) My ears sting too badly.


    There are many Ilonggo and other Bisayans here in town, but according to the Sama, no one goes much deeper than 50ft except for the Sama.


    I don't know the Ilonggo for oyster, but the Sinama is tipay.


    Davao is a beautiful place, It reminds me of Hawaii.....so lush and green. Bisayan...meaning Cebuano? Amazing how the language changes from island to island. I can't understand any Cebuano.

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