FIT and Spearfishing, what a trip..... PART 2

Day two we went straight to the pool. First thing we did was a good warm-up in the deep end. Then we moved over to a shallow section to do more statics. We did a few easy holds as the day before, but built up a little faster this time. My third hold felt great, but I wanted to save myself for my final hold. I think I should have kept going on that attempt, in hind sight I felt better on that attempt than the following. So the fourth hold I get a nice long breath up, get relaxed and settle in to the hold. I felt good; I got to 3:30 with no contractions. My mind started to wander and it was almost dream like. I realized I was going to sleep. I blinked and refocused my thoughts. I was feeling good and lost track of time. I got a tap from Scott, my safety and my chest felt a little tight. For no real reason I reacted to it and brought my feet under me and held there for a few seconds. Then I lifted my head and get my breaths. Scott says, not bad man, 4:45. I was proud of my real first attempt at a personal best. At the same time I was a little upset at myself for not getting to 5 minutes; it was the mental portion that beat me on this one. But I'm still happy with my performance. Scott took his turn on the static and got to his new personal best of 4:15. Our class also got to witness a blackout during statics. It was pretty odd seeing it happen in person. It comes on quick. Talking to the diver later at the hotel made it even more un-nerving. He did not even know it happened, even after we gave him the play by play he was still not sure is we were messing with him. His buddy did everything he was trained to do and there was never any danger. Everything worked just as Martin and Paul taught us and told us it would. You read and recognize the signs and your ready to act if the situation comes up. It was good to actually see it first hand for many reasons. It hits home seeing it happen, it makes blackouts real. It also shows you why you should dive and practice with buddies who are also trained to regognize and handle this sort of thing. We headed back for more classroom, then to the boat. With four to six foot seas I did ok getting out to the dive site, 5 miles off shore in 700+ feet of water. But once there and getting ready I got a little queezy. I got into the water and did my best to keep from getting sick. I did a few dives and felt ok, but not great. With all the new information flooding into my head and trying to master it, along with trying not to be sick, I was over loaded. I went back to the boat early. Scott stayed in the water and moved well ahead of the rest of the class on his skills.

Monday we spent the morning in the classroom. There is a lot of interesting information in this course and the understanding gained of what is happening to your body during the dive is fascinating. The afternoon was back to open water. I resorted to the little motion sick preventative pills to make sure I get into the water and learn the skills. The water was much calmer with one to two foot waves. And the dives came along much better. Getting the entries down was a major challenge that I will have to continue to work on more. Body positioning is another area I can use some improvement. I managed another personal best of 66'. Just when you think you can't learn any more, Martin gives you even more information to get you even further.

The fourth day we met early to review video of the dives and the blackout. What seemed to take 15 or 20 seconds while it happened, the blackout only lasted 5 seconds. That is when our friend realized 100% certain that we were not kidding. We reviewed our dives and saw our imperfections and were able to make some changes to ourselves. We went out to the dock and I gave Martin my t-shirt back. The t-shirt says FREEDIVER on the back. To me that term feels like it should be earned, especially on a shirt that has Martin's name on it. Martin told me if I left it up to him I may never get the shirt back. That was fine with me, Martin's critique of my freediving skill means a lot. The dives went even better today. I got my entries better and managed a dive to 93'. I felt like I was not sinking well, probably a bad body position. I kicked a couple of times and got lower and thought I should turn around and just try again. I did three more descents but only got to 85'. Scott was having a little trouble with his ears on a few attempts but still was able to turn in an 85' dive. We then went back for a written test. Scott and I both passed the water skills and the test. Four days and we both made giant strides in our diving. There was nothing to be unhappy about. This course is a great foundation to build on and I look forward to practicing.

On the boat ride in I told Martin the story I saw on TV that inspired me to want to dive. I described the bag and everything. He replied "wow that must have been awhile ago?" Yeah, it was, but I don't remember when I saw it or who the diver was. "It was me" he grins back. That made it even better, I learned from the man that inspired me. I also got my t-shirt back! Now I wish I had a copy of that program I saw way back then.

During the class we met Tony, another DeeperBlue member. He offered to take us spearing on Thursday. So it's Wednesday and we need to DIVE! We call our friend Jeremy who used to live in the area and he guides us to a dive spot and tells us what to look for. Conditions were great, the visibility was excellent. We got our gear on and swam out. The first fish I shot was a 12" Gray Trigger. Then I got two smaller Hogfish. Scott and I found a nice structure to go back over and check out, so I turned and saw the fish on my speed stringer on the bottom. That's odd, that should be on my float. My Float! Scott says "dude, where is your float?" Oh man, I am panicking now. My dry box with my wallet and keys are in my float. My little Cayman 55cm gun is strapped to the bottom. I start swimming in to try and see my float and/or get some help. Finally about 3/4 of the way in I flag down a wave runner and they retrieve my float. It was a mile down current. So I secure the float much better this time and head back out towards Scott. He was having a little trouble keeping up with me swimming in. As he saw me coming back out he went back to hunting mode. He was right over a 19" Hogfish. He went down and shot it and let it hide under a rock. He handed me his video camera to film him retrieving his fish. We started moving to a little deeper water and the visibility started coming down, so we changed course and headed towards shore. We actually tried to head north and to the shore, but the current picked up on us as well. We ended up on shore avout 3/4 of a mile down the beach from where we entered. Scott had his float, two guns, two cameras and a 19" Hogfish to tote back. I went ahead and got my stuff put in the truck, then went back to help him heft his rig back. That was a tiring walk.

We tried one of the fillets from Scott's Hogfish on the grill that night. Good stuff, fresh as can be fish. Then headed to Austin's Dive Shop (http://www.austinsdiving.com/)

So now it's time to meet up with Tony. The water was nice again today on top. But the vis was less than ideal. There was very little current. We started on some rock piles in about 20' or so of water. There were a lot of reef fish there. But with the vis Tony seemed anxious to move on to find water that was more clear. the next sight brought even less life on the bottom so we moved again. We were headed for a barge in 60' of water, 40' to the top. Tony is briefing us on the dive. When he got to the point of what we might see he say "if you see a Bull Shark look for Cobia following it, you can shoot them right off the Bull Shark". Scott's reaction was priceless. "Bull Sharks? There are Blull Sharks here". "Yeah you just shoot the Cobia..." Tony starts to reply. Scott interrupts with: "if I see a Bull Shark I'll be back here on the boat". I saw a small Barracuda, but not much more. A charter boat moved in on top of us trying to catch bait fish for their deep water trip. We moved over to a small ledge a couple hundred yards away. We did not do any better there either.

Scott and I left from West Palm after the dive and went back to my parents. We got up Friday and went back to the spot we fished the week before. Scott got another nice Sheepshead and two nice Cravalle Jacks. Then we went out to the rock pile to find that The Gag Grouper we spotted the last time. Scott saw it go into it's hole and decided to shoot in the cave and fight it out. It was a solid shot and we took turns trying to work it out. The shaft pulled out of the fish so Scott put shot the Gag again. I handed him my 55cm gun and I pulled the fish out some. He put another spear into it and we continued to work the fish out of the hole. Finally I got the Grouper free and held him just inside the hole for Scott to finish the jog and take it to the surface. It was a nice 28" Gag Grouper. I took some video for Scott then we headed to try another spot. We came into some nice Sheepshead, but I could not hit anything. We also saw loads of Mangrove Snapper, but we did not know the size limits so we did not shoot any. Turns out 10” are legal and we saw many in the 10" - 13" range.

That was it, 9 hours in the water to end our trip. The next morning we headed for home. The 18 hour drive to my house. Then I got Scott on the right path so it would only take 3.5 hours for him to get home.