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!

Searching...FINDING!

 This picture has nothing to do with what I am going to write about, but it's where I live and I took it. I don't have a waterproof camera so I don't have any footage or pictures of what I want to write about. Maybe it's good that I don't have any pictures, maybe I don't want you to see it, maybe I want you to have your own vision, or maybe I can write good enough that you will see what I saw. I hope you have a good Imagination!


 I am going to warn you that this might be a long one. I have great reggae music flowing, great beer as always and I spent a lot of time in the tube this morning! This picture is somebody else's and I have no credit to give and I am sorry for that, but it sets the mood perfectly.

 I would like to start off by saying, ON the record; that I do not believe that there are really buoys that tell you how big the swells are. I think that there are a couple of idiots like you and me sitting in front of a computer typing in numbers. The forecasts change faster than the ticker on CNN for crying out loud. I took off Monday for hopes of a much needed mini surf trip, to Shackelford Banks. Of course the forecasts changed and that trip never happened. 

 After trying to reclaim my shift at work, with no success, Nick and I decided we were determined to find surf somewhere in New Hanover County. Wrightsville had it's all to typical "morning sickness", waves; but it needed more water or less water or less wind or this or that... blah blah blah blah! Everything was wrong for our not so secret spot across the inlet, ( if you don't know what I'm talking about sorry, E-mail me and maybe I will tell you what it's called...MAYBE! ) We were heading to Pleasure Island, FF, KB, had potential but nothing special. Checked several spots in CB and found chest to overhead closeouts in waist deep water due to "beach re-nourishment". DON'T GET ME STARTED! 

 We settled on a spot that we saw some maybe make-able BIG tubes.(see above pic) AKA...good way to break a board! Our goal was to each get one good one and then continue on to look for waves, somewhere. The kids with black wax on their boards, yes black, told us it was hard to catch and un-make able. I should add that all 4 of them still had their leashes on walking through the street. ( If you don't think that is funny then you are NOT a surfer and should never call yourself a surfer! )

 My 1st wave sucked, but the 2nd which is really the 1st, because who counts the shitty ones, was more or less epic...for here. No stalling, straight up behind the peak stand up barrel! Reminded me of LINY!! Dirty brown water tubes! Nick got a good one and we both continued to catch closeouts for about an hour before we continued the search. 

 

 Again this picture has nothing to do with the story but, I just took this the other night and I think it's sick! I got a good dog! She sat like that for at least 5 minutes waiting for the sun to be perfect!! SNOH I love you!

 So the search led us to putting the Jet Ski in at Wrightsville and heading to you know where...Sorry. It was awful! The waves were terrible, way too low tide and the ocean was very unsettled. We left, the search continued. We pulled the ski out and checked the piers, and ended up chilling at the brown house. The jetty sucked, the middle sucked everywhere sucked. Monday was not a good surfing day...except for the literally one Insane tube at CB. We spent all day searching and literally caught one good wave! What a good day! 

 So after a GREAT dinner with my absolutely amazing girlfriend thanks to BRIXX Pizza. Tuesday was soon to come. Will the buoys and wind predictions be right, finally? Could tomorrow be the day? 

 We put the ski in just after sunset and headed to the spot. I run fairly often and my longest run has been 16 miles. No matter how much I run; that 200 yard jog over the dunes seems to make me feel out of shape. Maybe I am running super fast or maybe it's just being in a wetsuit, I don't know, but I couldn't get to the edge of the dunes fast enough! What will ocean give us today?

 YUP! Tubes by the dozen! Not crowded! Offshore winds! Water in the mid 50's! No Hood! Undeveloped Island! GREAT PEOPLE IN THE WATER!!!! One of the best mornings of surf I have had since the north inlet day during TS Danny! Many good surfers got tubed, nobody was trying to do turns, It was surfing the way it should be! Fast and hollow! If you make it you make it , if not at least you got the view and maybe the breath!

 For those of you who do not understand the life altering experience of being inside the ocean, study the picture above. STUDY IT HARD! Imagine breathing inside of it. Imagine controlling your speed enough to stay in it, but not too deep. Seconds last forever! Time stands still! All problems go away! You are truly living in the moment.

  The breath I take inside the tube is what keeps me alive! If I don't get that breath every so often things seem to get really confusing, harder than they should be, I get aggravated easily, I lose the confidence that I NEED so badly! Surfing makes me feel alive! The harder you search for it , the better the it feels when you find it!!!

 Once you know what it is like in there, your life is different. Those who know...KNOW! 

 I really appreciate you taking the time to read this!