The Saudi man who is married to the sea...

Mohammed Motaen Al Jaafari of Saudi Arabia is so fond of the sea that he considers himself married to it. More than 40 years ago, he decided to complete that marriage by moving and living in the water.

His love of the sea is so strong that he now wants more than mere living in the water. “When I am dead, I prefer to be buried in the sea.”

Jaafari’s love of the sea began at childhood when he used to accompany his father on fishing trips in south Saudi Arabia. Following his father’s death, he began managing his own fishing trips.

After he was past 20 years, Jaafari decided to abandon land in his tiny village in the southern province of Jazan near the border with Yemen and live in the water just off the village’s beach.

For this reason, he built a little wooden cottage in the water and moved into it more than 40 years ago. Every three to four years, Jaafari changes most of the wood planks in his house to prevent it from collapse because of the salty water.

Jaafari was so engrossed in his love of the sea that he did not even have time to get married. “I am married to the sea because I love it more than anything else...but of course, I sometimes thinking of getting married to have a partner in my life....but which women would marry a man living in the water,” said Jaafari, now in his 60s.

Just before sunset, Jaafari sets his fishing nets off his house and leave them until the morning. When he wakes up the next day, he just goes to the nets and plucks his catch, which he sells in town.

Jaafar’s serene and simple life in the water is sometimes married by heavy winds and strong waves. “I wake up sometimes to the sound of waves and winds which shake my house...my life in the sea is not calm and romantic all the time,” he told the Saudi Alhayat daily.

Jaafari goes on land only when he sells his catch or visit the villagers when there is either a “happy or sad” occasion.

“I get visitors sometimes…I give them coffee and fish…some of them bring food for me but I refuse because I do not want alms.”

Besides his fishing net, the radio is another long-standing companion of Jaafari. Before he goes to bed, Jaafari listens to well-known Egyptian singer Umm Kalthoum, still the most popular singer in Arab history despite her death nearly 40 years ago.

“In the morning, I listen to the Koran before I set off to pick my fish catch…then I head for the market and sell the fish, buy food and come back to my lovely home,” he said.

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