There is a place in the world, where at a certain hour in the morning you find men staying on a cliff edge on the sea front, lingering for a long time to observe the undertow, they seem willing to sacrifice themselves for some reason, so they observe which is the best point to do it.

I met Nuno on the web, I was about to go to Portugal and I wanted to report what I know to be one of the most dangerous professions in the world, the perceberos (percebe fishermen). A simple google search was enough to find him, I text him a message and without too many turns of words he fixed me an appointment in what would later turn out to be a magical place, Cabo da Roca.

Sea cliffs, so high to make your legs tremble, ocean breeze, dense vegetation and so saturated colours as to seem unreal. The last lighthouse located in the west of Europe. Beyond it, only the Atlantic Ocean.

<<Get in the car with me, we have to decide which way to go.>>In the van of Nuno there are only trade tools such as the “serranda” (tool to pry the percebes from the rocks), fishing crates, swimming boards, nets, diving suit and everything else. For a living, Nuno fishes percebes and train kids surfing. He chose to live in a house situated 200 meters from the ocean, in complete harmony with the nature that surrounds him.

We started to venture down a dirt path and after a few minutes, we were overlooking the Atlantic, << That's where it all starts, now its time to look carefully in order to make the right decision >>. Percebe fishermen observe the line of the surf of the sea, more precisely the white band generated by the broken waves, that determines an important signal to understand the level of the tide and the strength of the waves that break, to then establish which is the best place to go down and fish for about 45 minutes.

Percebes need a lot of oxygenation, and Nuno explained to me that the best quality is the one that grows on the rocky coast that is battered by the open sea and that’s why the tide and the waves play a determining role.

While I was listening with fascination Nuno's stories on percebes, an elderly gentleman approached us with a slow step and conscious expression of who had already made his choice. In fact, he was already heading towards the sea to make his day of fishing. << I undertook this work when I was 20, I was taught by an expert, a friend of mine who immediately glimpsed my potential. Now my dream is to follow his path, to get over 70 continuing to fish percebes >>, these were the words of Nuno after a brief greeting and discussion with the old man he knew very well and who, despite his age, did not seem to fear at all that descent towards the sea which seen from the cliff was not very reassuring. << Ok let's go in that direction, it seems to me the most appropriate >> Nuno pointed on the left side, << let's hope it's a lucky day >>.

Taking a step back, then going up for a few meters, I realized that we were not alone and that those spurs are actually, observation points for several percebe fishermen that, prior each fishing do like Nuno, and sometimes decide to give up. In fact, that day, another man who approached us, for some reason considered the conditions as unfavorable and decided to wait for another opportunity.

Nuno didn't even had the time to put on the diving suit, grab the “serranda” and we went down the throat. It was less complicated than I imagined. Nuno explained me that the path he choose was among the most practicable, thus making me understand that it would have been impossible for me to try other roads where he usually travels along, especially with all the photographic equipment that I had with me.

After a couple of slips we reached the sea level, more precisely, a beach made of pebbles of which the smallest weighed at least a couple of kilos. It was there that Nuno made me understand that from that moment each of us, as professionals, had to do our duty. He threw himself among the rocks and the waves and started to scratch the lower part of the rocks in a very energetic and dynamic way, avoiding turning his back to the waves and being very concentrated on every aspect. I had the feeling that he was able to perceive the arrival of the wave through all his senses, he knew exactly when to go down or go up on the rock without being necessary to turn to look. The ocean water is always freezing and on February even more. The waves refracting a few tens of meters behind him were about 6/7 meters, according to his eye estimate. When he was reached by the waves he was completely submerged every time but he was remaining anchored to the rock like a spider, gripping with hands and feet without ever losing an inch of adhesion, and then in those few seconds that intersperse the arrival of a wave from the other, he was giving the best of himself by scratching between the surface of the rock and the back of the percebes, by jumping from one rock to another, climbing up and down, risking his life for this profession. Forty-five minutes during which you should never lose concentration and should put yourself all into.

A percebe takes several months to reform, so the fishing areas take a while to regenerate. The national rules foresee that in every coastal area can intervene a certain number of authorized professional percebe fishermen, but there is no shortage (as in all things) of adventurers without experience, who in addition to not having the right preparation, do not respond to any rule of respect for fishing times and of regeneration of crustaceans. From the intense flavour of sea or rather of rock, there are percebes with different quality. Their cost considered high (in this area it ranges from € 30 to € 70 per kilo, elsewhere it even reaches € 170 per kilo) is strictly connected to the danger of this kind of fishing. After being cooked in boiling water, percebes can be eaten by detaching the part of the cylindrical shell that covers the red-orange fruit inside.

I saw Nuno jumping, running, grubbing, hiding, protecting himself and gasping when he was emerging from the icy water after the waves made him disappear. Then I saw him smiling looking at the ocean as if to pay homage and gratitude for the opportunity given to him.