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!

Been busy

 Well lots of things have happened to me since my last post, I will try and keep it to Watermen related stuff! Actually that is all that has happened anyway! Where should I begin?

 So on Tuesday, April the 20th, I made my first Scuba dive in the ocean. I went 3 miles offshore with some of my good friends. We dove what is locally known as the liberty ship. This is a link to the shipwreck that I dove! http://www.nc-wreckdiving.com/WRECKS/RAMSEY/RAMSEY.HTML Due to the fact that I do not have a waterproof camera, I have no photos, sorry, I am working on that!

 What an incredible experience! I spent 30 minutes underwater at depths between 48 feet and 30 feet. I was a bit uncomfortable at first but once I was underwater and saw the wreck and my buddy, who was great, not to mention a school of Sheepshead, a favorite target of mine as a newbie spear-fisherman, I was more than comfortable! I couldn't help but feel that I have been missing out on this for too many years!

 For those of you that have not dove a shipwreck, you simply have to! This wreck is part of the artificial reef system so it had no "cool" history behind it, other than being over-fished due to its proximity to Masonboro Inlet! None the less it was a great first dive! Needless to say I surfaced super excited!

 On Friday April the 23rd, I started my freediver course. Intense! I am tired and exhausted and full of sushi will write more about this soon, when I am not burnt out! In the mean time I will leave you with a post that I wrote on the Carolina Freedivers, ( a Club of which I am a member), forum on spearfishingplanet.com.

Hi guys and gals,

I spent the last 2 days taking Ren and Ashley's course (Evolve Freediving). For those of you who have not taken a formal freediving course, YOU NEED TO! You owe it to the people that care about you! I can guarantee that you will exceed your expectations. The safety issues that are drilled into your head will save your buddies life and vice a versa!

Personally I was more or less scared, but Ashley and Ren made me feel more than safe, mentally I was ready to go deeper than my ears and sinuses would let me, which was frustrating, but after discussing what I went through, I am ready to keep working towards my goals at my own pace. I have a lot of work to do to reach my goals and feel confident that I can reach them with the help of Ren and Ashley.

If you have not taken "the course" as it has become known among freedivers, you have to! If you are one of those "tough guys", such as myself, you will be humbled! What I thought was freediving experience, was really snorkeling. Many of you reading this have much more experience than I do, and for that I commend you, but some of you may be at the same level as me, for the latter you simply have to take this course. If you don't, good luck explaining to your dive buddies family why they are not coming home. Remember what I just wrote! 

You will meet new people who have the same interests as you. After the past 2 days I can guarantee you that I would never dive with anyone who has not been trained by either Evolve Freediving or PFI.

Dive safe friends!

Brian




This oughta keep you amused since I know my writing was less than stellar tonite! This is a video my instructors made. I SUGGEST YOU WATCH IT! http://vimeo.com/9746803
Pay attention to the second song. LISTEN TO THE LYRICS! It really hits home for me! 

New beginnings!

 Well, I got another job, working at Aquatic Safaris. To be totally honest I am scared shitless! It is an incredible opportunity for me. I wanted to learn how to dive, here we go!  I will be put in situations that I am not totally comfortable with, I will have to dive at night, I have to take rescue diver courses. Sharks will soon become an almost daily encounter, but none of this is what scares me! Well maybe a little bit...

 I am soon moving out of the dump that I live in and putting what little I have in storage. I am going to stay with my loving girlfriend in her apartment until I can find a place. I am so lucky to have her in my life, and also very lucky to have the Hardee, Adams, and Taylor families on my side! (and it goes without saying my own family but they are 600 miles away!) So I am going to be sort of homeless, and starting a new job, well more of a new life than just a job. Starting out I will make VERY little money and hopefully move up to making a little money!

 Now we are getting at why I am scared. Everything is very uncertain right now. I have to keep both jobs and spend as much time as possible underwater. I can't survive on just one of the jobs, I need to be able to work both jobs and hope they won't interfere! I have invested WAY too much money on SCUBA and freediving courses, and not to mention gear, of which I need more now, for this to not work for me! It has to work! I have never been a gambling man, but I have been gambling all along trying to make this happen, now it has happened and I am freaking scared that it won't work!

 Sorry nothing exciting like surfing or spearfishing is happening in this post but I felt like writing about whats on my mind, after all it's my blog! Actually I went spearfishing the past 2 days, well we went in the water, visibility was less than poor, there was no spearing of anything. Sometimes going hunting either for waves or fish, ( thats all I hunt) is not about actually getting waves or shooting fish, the best part is the hunt. I met some wonderful people this weekend, and am very happy to have met them! I look forward to the adventures we are going to share together in the future!

Thanks for reading and wish me luck!
Stay tuned for some more interesting posts this week, freediving course starts on Friday! If you are interested in freediving or not really sure what it is check out this website!
http://evolvefreediving.com/Evolve_Freediving/Home.html

Open Water Certification

Fantasy Lake, Rolesville, North Carolina...Let me get this straight we live in Wrightsville Beach, but we are going to drive 3 hours inland to do our Open Water Certification dives? Now, I am not the smartest guy in the world and God knows I have made my fair share of poor decisions over the years, but leaving the ocean to go diving made no sense to me, what a waste of time! Call me close minded if you want, I do not care about inland, I am a beach person, an ocean person, always have and always will be.

 Leaving the beach that morning I couldn't help but remember the 1st and last trip to this strange land they call Raleigh, our States Capital. I missed great waves that day and vowed to never come back. Raleigh reminds me a lot of Long Island, New York; minus the ocean and sound! Lets not forget that I moved for a reason.

 I was very excited to get in the water and dive, but in the ocean; not some lake in the middle of nowhere! My first image of the lake was breathtaking! I admit that I was wrong; this place was amazing! The water looked crystal clear, I have never seen visibility like this.

  The "lake" was a rock quarry beginning in the 1800s, and remained so until the 1950's. Then workers struck a natural spring which rapidly filled in the quarry, the rock crusher still remains at the bottom. Boats, planes, cars and even a school bus are submerged here making for great diving.

 The water was a balmy 46 degrees, dry suits were necessary in these conditions. I have surfed in water much colder than this and felt well prepared for the shock of water this cold...once again I was wrong. I could not catch my breath to perform the required skills at first. I give all of the other divers in the group a ton of credit for doing this! Many, if not all of them, had never been in water this cold. Great job everyone! Much respect!

 Once we got out of the shallows and got underwater I actually felt more comfortable. My head acclimated to the cold also making it a bit more comfortable. It is a challenge controlling your buoyancy in a dry suit, and I found it easier in deeper water. After my first 20 minute dive I was very disappointed with my performance. I couldn't wait to get back in the water!

 After about an hour and a half out of the water it was my turn again to get wet. Our fearless leader told us that we were going to dive around the school bus! Now we're talking, something cool; FINALLY! Breathing underwater while swimming around a school bus, 25 feet below the surface was one of the most unforgettable experiences of my life! Now I don't feel so bad about spending what little money I had saved on this course! Who needs to eat anyway!

 It was getting close to sunset as we surfaced from the bus. On the ascent from the bottom I thought about the fact that I was watching the sunset underwater. It was at this moment I knew that I would be doing this for the rest of my life!

 Two more dives the following day and I would be a certified diver with a specialty as a dry suit diver. After Fantasy Lake the next dive site was way more than a disappointment. Lake Leamon; what a S*#thole. It's more of a mud puddle than a lake. Less than 5 feet of visibility at best! I did the 2 "dives" and we left...thankfully! I do not recommend going to Lake Leamon...ever!

 I am a certified open water diver now. I look forward to using the skills that I have learned...but I am more excited about taking the Basic Freediver Course next month! See you in the water somewhere...

A start

The ocean; it means many things to many people. To some it is an uninviting death sentence, to others it is merely scenery, to some it means nothing, to me it is everything!

My entire life has been spent living close to the waters edge. I learned to swim before I could walk, I was drawn to surfing at a young age; where surfing barely existed, the north shore of Long Island. Thanks to my Dad, who learned to surf with me, and some other very good friends, Mr. B, Chuck and Ken, I can say that I have been surfing for 20 years now!

Until the summer of 2009 I tried very hard to keep my head above the water. One day a buddy of mine asked me if I wanted to swim out to the jetty and shoot fish. I thought he was crazy and brushed it off...but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I purchased a mask and snorkel first. My first experience going underwater was in Masonboro Inlet...I thought this was crazy but everyone seemed quite comfortable, including the 5 year old girl on the boat.

I was addicted instantly...why have I not been doing this all along I thought! Fins, fish identification book, pole spear were all soon to follow. I spent the summer and fall snorkeling around the jetty, and one trip to the Lib Ship. I learned how to hunt fish, nothing spectacular though, but it was a start.

As I start writing this I am working on my SCUBA open water certification. I have my first open water dives next weekend. (in a lake much to my dismay!) In April I am planning on taking a freediving course. Along with my dive log, I am using this to chronicle my new life as a diver and of course surfing.

My goal is to have a site where other watermen can meet, share stories, and information. Please bear with me as I figure out all of the intricacies involved in making this a great site. In the mean time...What does the ocean mean to you?