A Day of Firsts...

 On Sunday May 30th, the dive conditions were so good that I got my shifts covered at the Lighthouse so I could go freediving with my girlfriend Kristen, some other friends, and coworkers. Kristen had never been more than a 1/2 mile or so offshore. We were heading to a flounder hole that was in around 50' of water about 3.5 miles offshore.

 I decided not to bother bringing a gun in the water and that I would just show Kristen a few things as her freediving course was rapidly approaching. The clarity was not as good as it was on Friday but it was still great.

 There was no structure here, such as a wreck, so it was kind of boring. I was not seeing many fish. Everyone else was on scuba tanks and Kristen and I were breath hold diving. We made several dives here and practiced some skills that I learned in my course. Kristen is a natural, she went as deep as me and I have quite a bit more experience than she does. I did reach a new personal best though of 50'!

 We were picked up by the boat and headed a little bit further out to a sunken barge. Again I opted out of bringing the gun which I would soon regret. This old barge laid in about 45' of water. This was the 1st wreck that Kristen had seen. Although it was a less than stellar wreck, it was still exciting. After doing a couple of dives, we both saw these 2 big Sheepshead on the wreck from 40' above them. I dropped down to around 20' above them and immediately regretted not having the gun with me. After ascending I made a mad dash for the boat to get the gun.

 In position over the wreck and fish again, I desperately tried to calm down and breath up properly, so I could make a good dive, and put a good shot on one of those beasts! I could see the bubbles from the scuba divers getting closer and knew they would scare the fish off or shoot them, either way no good for me! As they approached I was not ready to dive but went anyway. There was no way I was going to lose that fish to the bubble blowers. Descending towards my target I felt as though it was a race. As I was about to pull the trigger, a diver came right below me, I couldn't shoot! I saw the other fish make a break for the wreck so I followed him, he went into a hole and I lost him!

 I literally missed the biggest fish of my life by seconds! I surfaced not knowing if they shot the big one, the divers stayed down for a bit longer, I descended towards them and could see the big Sheepshead on the stringer. At least someone got one I thought, but damn that was mine!

 The divers were doing their safety stop, at a depth of 15' or so. I was still laying on the surface waiting to see that other fish come out of his hole hopefully. Then out of the blue appears a silhouette, ooh! A cobia! No wait it's a shark!

 I could tell the shark was looking for an easy meal, probably better said as the dead fish on the stringer attached to Roy's weight belt. The divers were unaware of the 4ft. Sand Tiger sneaking up on them. I dove down directly at the hungry shark and hit him in the nose with the tip of the gun, which bought me some time to try and alert them. I got their attention and it was time for me to surface. I watched as Roy poked the shark several times with his pole spear before the shark gave up. I stayed in the water and watched while they finished their safety stop. The shark was not to return.

 On the way in we stopped at the Alexander Ramsey, so Kristen and I could do a few drops and maybe get some dinner. On my first drop I swam into the bow of the wreck and found my target. I was on the starboard side of the wreck and the tautog crossed over to the port. I followed and found a vertical column to hide behind. I poked my head around and there he was, I slowly pulled the gun around and put a perfect shot on him. I started to swim out but the shaft got stuck on that same column, I swam back in a bit and it freed up. At the surface I raised my fish so the boat could see and they came and put it on ice.

 We made a handful more dives each before calling the boat over to pick us up. Kristen got to 52' and touched the bottom. When she takes the course and actually learns how to do this she will be much better than me. We motored slowly back to the inlet and enjoyed some cold beers and talked about our shark encounter. The perfect end to a perfect weekend. Man those tautog tacos were good that night!

Thanks for reading! Dive safe and hunt responsibly!