A South African real estate agent has spoken of his ongoing wonder at finding a man fishing alone in a rubber tyre kilometres off the Mozambique coast and revealed his desire to track the man down and give him an actual boat.
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Durban's Grant Campbell, 38, is still scratching his head over the encounter earlier last week two kilometres off Ligogo Beach, where he discovered a man clad in shorts and a T-shirt, equipped with fluorescent flippers and dangling a line over the side of his inflatable craft.
Mr Campbell's Facebook photos of the bizarre episode have since been shared more than 1600 times and given rise to news stories around the world.
"We could see this black dot on the horizon and thought we'd go and have a look at what it was...and there was this guy in a tube," Mr Campbell said.
"It was the weirdest thing ever, definitely not what we were expecting to see.
"The thing that stuck with us is that there is no way he would have been getting back to the shore before it got dark. When we ran into him, there was maybe an hour of light left and with only the flippers it would have taken him a good couple of hours to get back.
"I put the photos up on Facebook, went to bed and when I woke up I saw they had been shared more than 1000 times. I couldn't believe it."
Attempts to communicate with the man had been hampered by language issues, Mr Campbell said.
He had travelled to Mozambique for the annual Guinjarta Bonanza Species Comp and found the intrepid angler when he ventured out in the days before the tournament for a bit of recreational fishing.
"I don't think he was having any luck out there [fishing] - but it was difficult to really ask as I don't think he understood much English," he explained.
"He was quite confused when we asked him if he wanted any fish but when we dangled some in front of it he virtually leapt out to grab it. We gave him all of our tuna.
'I've had lot of people ask why we didn't just give him a lift back to shore but with the language barrier I think it would have been too hard to communicate to him to get on our boat.
"He seemed quite comfortable out there...he was definitely a veteran of the sea."
Many Facebook users have queried the wisdom - although not the bravery - of dipping one's toes into waters of the Indian Ocean well known for their shark activity.
Through October and November of last year there were three shark attacks, including one fatality, in Inhambane Province, where Ligogo is situated.
"There are great whites out there and tiger sharks, especially," Mr Campbell said.
"I know a lot of people think that some of our sharks travel up from South Africa to Mozambique and then all the way across to Australia."
Mr Campbell hopes that someone will recognise the man and reunite the pair. When he returns to Mozambique for next year's competition - if not before - he would like to be able to present him with something to help with his fishing ventures.
More than 50 per cent of Mozambique still lives in poverty and Mr Campbell believes increased fishing close to shore, some linked to Chinese investment, might account for why the man was so far out to sea.
"Last year at the comp there were 2500 kilos of fish caught...this year it was 1200 kilos," he said.
"One hundred per cent the fish stocks are being depleted. In the past that guy would have been able to stay much closer in to try and get fish but now he's having to go further and further out.
"I gave all the fish I caught in the comp back to the locals. I've got three kids and before I went to the comp this year I put a post on my Facebook asking people for spare toys I could take with me. I took 30 soccer balls to give away. People there are doing it really tough.
"He [the fisherman] was a really well-mannered old gentleman and I'd love to give something back to him. I'm sure we could find him a little rowboat with maybe a 15-horsepower engine that would make his life much easier."