When you’re living on a tiny, crowded island surrounded by the vast Indian Ocean, the working week starts on a Sunday and there’s really nowhere to go out drinking, what else can you do on a Saturday night but go fishing?

Every week, a fishing dhoni leaves from the southwest wharf in Malé and heads off in search of fishing grounds. Anyone who has visited the fish markets in Malé or been snorkelling or diving in the Maldives knows that this bit of the Indian Ocean is teeming with sea life, and much of it is edible. In fact, I find that snorkelling here makes me crave seafood — I can close my eyes and picture the sea critters on a pizza pescatora at Luna.

The dhoni took us out past Vilingili into the waters north of Malé, where the smoke and industry of Thilafushi could clearly be seen on the horizon. Popularly known as “rubbish island”, Thilafushi got some bad press last week when the Guardian ran a story about the Maldives’ one and only garbage dump. The local press even picked up the story a week later.

We tried not to think about the heavy metals that could be leaching out from Thilafushi as we watched the sun set over the Indian Ocean. The boys on the boat gave us all a handline each, with a huge hook and a chunk of fresh tuna for bait. Tuna fishing is the second-biggest industry in the Maldives after tourism, and almost all of it is caught by line or pole fishing, so it’s reasonably sustainable.

None of us will be getting jobs on a commercial tuna dhoni any time soon, but we did bring in a few barracuda, snapper and even a red emperor. The boys cooked them all up for us on a little home-made BBQ, served up with some rice and a thin broth. Onions, lime and chillies were optional. If only I’d brought along some of this month’s beer rations. Oh well, next time.