• Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    The boat, about to paddle out to the coral reef.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Joana Avillez has an audience as she documents our trip to sea.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    My first spear-fishing adventure, cathing uni off Phu Quoc island.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Relaxing on the boat as we head back to shore.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    We used a stick with two prongs to spear the uni, depositing them into a floating bucket one at a time.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Collecting our catch for the day.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Joana Avillez on our way back from uni fishing.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    A starfish washes onto the shore.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Hauling the catch in from the boat to the shore.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    The uni are trimmed and cracked open to reveal the edible gonads.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
    Cleaning the uni, removing barbs and cracking shells.
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island
  • Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island

Phu Quoc – Fish Sauce Island

There are a few activities in this world that I really feel I was born to do, and uni spear-fishing is one of them. On my recent trip to the Vietnamese island of Phu Quoc (generously hosted by Red Boat Fish Sauce and Chopt), I had the chance to realize my full potential as a shallow water crustacean huntress.

In general, I don’t count hunting or fishing amongst my greatest skills. I am generally too impatient to stay the course, to sit and wait for the moment to strike. That said, I am a scrappy forager, picker and gatherer, known to pull-in my fair share of ramps or mushrooms when the season comes. Comparatively, uni fishing is quite easy; these spiny delicious dudes move very, very slowly under water. Once you spot one lurking in the shadows of  a coral formation, it’s basically yours. Don’t be fooled by the “spear” either. Less Poseidon more enormous fish fork, our tool of choice was a long stick with two rusty metal prongs on the tip. Pierce the center of the prickly black shell and its yours. I must have caught 30 myself.

Back on shore, we would eat our catch tout suite, removing the spines with scissors, cracking the shells to reveal tiny little orange gonads. Normally, I would eat uni this fresh raw, but in this case we popped the open shells onto a charcoal grill, then served them with crushed peanuts, green onion and a little bit of fish sauce. Try it!