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!

New Depths and Epic Conditions

 2 weeks ago we were blessed with the best inshore dive conditions I have ever seen, which isn't saying much because I have only been diving for a year or so. However many people who have been diving for a very long time said they had never seen it that good.

  It was Friday May 21st, the day after the night dives, my hunting buddy and now roommate headed out to the Alexander Ramsey. It was kind of ironic that the 1st time that we met last year, we "tried" to dive this wreck. Neither of us knew our ass from our elbow as far as freediving was concerned then. This day was to be a much different experience. Alex has reached depths of over 100' and took the Performance Freediving Instructors intermediate course in Ft. Lauderdale last October. In April I took the basic Freediver course offered by Evolve Freediving here in Wilmington NC.

 I have been experiencing some sinus issues that have held me back as far as my depth goals have been concerned. I could not get past 33' during my course, which left me very disappointed, but not discouraged. I can't explain why, but for some reason I feel the need to hold my breath and dive as deep as I can and hunt for my dinner.

 Not having a GPS or a depth finder on the boat makes it difficult to find a shipwreck. Luckily there is a buoy in the vicinity to mark the artificial reef. It still is not easy to find though. I knew that if we could find the buoy I could find the ship, I have done several dives there on SCUBA with friends and on the Aquatic Safaris boats. Still no guarantees though.

 There were 2 boats fishing the area when we arrived, our buddies were on one of the boats and said they were on the wreck. It rests in around 45' of water, the top of the structure lies around 20'-25' from the surface. I looked over the rail of the boat to see a sight that I will never forget!

 Peering down into the ocean was like looking into a fish tank, you could clearly make out the wreck and even see fish swimming, keep in my mind I was still on the boat! Freediving is more or less meditating, as excited as we both were, we knew we had to stay relaxed and keep our hearts from racing. After actually getting into the water, I knew how special this day was going to be! You could see the bottom, 45' below. Offshore visibility like this is common, actually this would be mediocre, but only 3 miles from the inlet this is incredible!

 I dropped down to the wreck to check the anchor and was blown away, it was as if the wreck was alive. Well it is, being covered with corals and plant life, fish were everywhere, though most of them very small. We practiced the one up one down technique and shared a gun. The gun was attached to a float and a 50' line. The visibility was so good that while I was on the surface, I pulled on the line to alert Alex of a decent sized tautog behind him. Thwack! Dinner!


 We were comfortably hunting in the 25' to35' range in and out of the wreck. I swam under a ledge of the midsection of the ship and poked my head around an opening to see another tautog. Could this be my first fish taken from a wreck? Yup! Put a great shot on him and pulled him out of the wreck to the surface. It was not the biggest fish I have ever shot but, it felt great! I finally felt like a real spearfisherman.

 Another really exciting thing happened as I swam the fish back to the boat. I was knifing the fish to "silence" it, and had a feeling. I threw the fish in the boat and climbed in the stern of the 17' Pioneer, just in time to see the 4' Sandbar Shark literally inches from my fins, which were dangling in the water still. Awesome! It was a close call with the tax collector, but my fish came home with me!

 We made a lot more dives that day. I touched the sand at 43', my new personal best. The accessibility of this wreck leaves it extremely over-fished. We did not see too many fish that were worth shooting. What a great day! I  got to practice the skills that I learned in my basic freediver course, saw some beautiful marine life and explored a wreck while holding my breath.

 Alex and I made the full circle from our first trip to the Alexander Ramsey less than a year ago. This trip was different, we knew what we were doing, we dove the wreck, we hunted the wreck, we are Freedivers now, not snorkelers!

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for further postings! The rest of the weekend had epic conditions, this was just Friday!