For years, Ryno Blaauw has observed a curious Christmas Day tradition. He steps into his office, deploys a 10t net into the ocean and scoops up 5,000 fish. Then he and his crew take the rest of the day off to eat gammon rolls and try to forget they are 160km offshore.
This Christmas, however, Blaauw will braai. On land. The veteran trawler skipper of the Harvest Krotoa, who this week received his 30-year service award, is enjoying a reprieve from spending the festive season with overfamiliar faces and seagulls deep in the Atlantic Ocean.
Enough is enough, or so says his employer, Sea Harvest, which has opted to tie up its fresh-fish trawlers over the festive season.
"Last year was the first time in nine years we didn't work over the Christmas and New Year period," said Blaauw. "This year I'll probably have a nice family meal on Christmas Day with friends and family. And then after Boxing Day take a five-day break and go away." Chances are he will head inland.
Langebaan-born Blaauw is that rare breed of seadog who not only grew up catching fish but has spent his entire life chasing them, netting them, processing and packing them into the bowels of his ship, then sending them off to market.
For years, Blaauw has forsaken end-of-year festivities to do a job that most would find terrifying - dodging 7m swells and keeping his ship off the hard in one of the stormiest seas on the planet.
But while he is enjoying some time on terra firma, many of his colleagues from the factory-freezer fleet will still be out there on a five-to-six-week rotation, sometimes as much as three days' sail from a cold beer. No drinking is allowed on board.
That's not to say there is no fun to be had if you're afloat for Christmas. Quite the contrary, said Blaauw: "We have a little Christmas tree that we set up a week before Christmas, and you will see everyone walking around on board with little red hoedijes [Christmas hats].
"We make one [trawl] drag in the morning, get it processed, then the rest of the day I give the guys off so everybody on board can have a decent Christmas lunch. Normally the cooks are really well prepared. I must say that some of them really go out of their way. We just try to have some fun on board."
That's a refrain you hear from most deep-sea fishermen and women: the ability to relax is vital for surviving life aboard a floating speck, particularly when the swell begins to roll. "I was terribly seasick," said Anna Toontjies, adding that co-workers in the on-board fish factory helped her pull through.
"We are like a family. We are very comfortable with each other and have a very good understanding on board, especially with our captain. We can talk to him and he is always there to solve our problems.
"My family don't really understand the work I do at sea, but my father was a musician and he was known as 'n man van durf en daad [an adventurer, a man of action]. Now I just tell my family, ek is vrou van durf en daad [I am a woman of action]."
Terence Brown, Sea Harvest group operations director and chair of SA's Deep-sea Trawling Industry Association, said the decision to ground Sea Harvest's fresh-fish fleet for Christmas was motivated partly by concern for the crew's family life.
This is generally not possible for the larger factory-freezer trawlers, which stay out at sea for much longer.
"We sometimes forget that these guys spend between 150 and 180 days of the year out at sea, and their partners are basically single parents at home," said Brown, adding that the Sea Harvest fleet manager makes a point of contacting all the vessels out at sea via radio on Christmas Day.
"A few years ago the CEO [Felix Ratheb] decided we needed to put more focus on the seagoing staff. As they dock we now have a Christmas party for them, two or three ships at a time. We have a braai and a few drinks."
There is also a separate communal event on a rugby field in Saldanha.
Christmas at home is all very well, but for Blaauw there is no substitute for the open sea. He wouldn't want to stay away too long.
"Obviously the thrill of catching fish is still in me - to hunt for the fish, to catch the fish and see the joy on everybody's faces. That is what still keeps me going," he said...