GREAT BAY, St Elizabeth — Like farmers everywhere, Flagaman resident Arden Ebanks says the business has its ups and downs.

For him, there was considerable dip in fortunes recently when heavy rains did extensive damage to his crops, including tomatoes and beet root.

“I plant four packs of beet root and reap just 80 pounds,” he lamented.

At such times, 66 year-old Ebanks yearns for near-shore calm at the fishing village of Great Bay, four miles away, where he goes to relax — swimming and spear fishing.

When the Jamaica Observer caught up with him at Great Bay recently, Ebanks was on a leisurely walk towards his pickup truck with six pounds of assorted fish he had speared at Bluff Point, his favourite fishing spot at Great Bay, a mile away from the fishing beach.

Ebanks had swum to Bluff Point and back with his fishing gear, including “gun, glass and fin”, plus his six-pound catch on the return trip.

Calm seas had allowed him to carry out his favoured pastime two days in a row, he said.

When asked if he wasn’t worried about sharks, Ebanks said “I see them all the time but they stay far”.

— Garfield Myers