So this past weekend I had my first free diving experience with my friend Q (Chris Quirarte) and his friend Zack. We all drove separately to Ventura Harbor and met on Dock G where the Peace Dive Boat resides. I got there last, around 11:30pm and everyone was already in bed trying to get some rest for an early morning departure and dive. I had a hard time falling asleep in the little bunk, especially after the anticipation of getting there and making the long 100 mile journey. I think I was mostly excited. To calm myself, I practiced holding my breath in the dark and timing it with my cell phone. My first attempt was 1 minute 29 seconds, which I thought was pretty impressive, especially since I hadn't timed myself in years and I remembered one minute being pretty good. Second attempt I hit 1 minute 58 seconds and felt pretty good, had to try again to break the 2 minute barrier! Third attempt I got 2:02 59 !!! Woo Hoo! Maybe my 30 challenge has paid off by expanding my lung capacity from having to breath only with my nose in that hot room! Finally I fell asleep feeling reassured that I probably wouldn't drown the next day!
I awoke to the sound of the boat engines starting up. I looked at the time and it was 4:10am. I tried to go back to sleep but was restless hearing all the sounds of the boat getting untied and slowly moving through the harbor. Our bunks were all on one side of boat and as the boat picked up speed it sounded like the water was rushing by our heads! Then as the boat made it out of the harbor and made it to full speed, the rocking of waves began. I had to lay flat on my back to keep from getting nauseous. Finally I made it back to sleep and awoke a couple hours later to Q saying "you gonna make this first dive"?
There is a lot of gear required for this sort of spear fishing. I had on a full wetsuit, booties, a neoprene hoodie, a weight belt with 12 lbs of weights, scuba mask, snorkel, long free diving fins, a dive knife, and finally a 4 foot wooden spear gun with a float line and big float attached to it. To say the least I was a little overwhelmed with all this gear and not knowing what to expect when I hit the water. Thankfully Q and one of the deck hands helped me into the water and handed me the gun and told me to swim out 50 feet or so to load it. The water temp was pretty nice actually...maybe 63 degrees. Visability was good too, maybe 15-20 feet. The boat was anchored in about 40 feet of water right smack in the middle of a huge kelp bed a few hundred yards from Santa Cruz Island.
It was a breathtaking experience both literally and mentally! Looking all around at the underwater forest seemed like I was inside one of those nature channel programs. I had to keep telling myself to breathe! My earlier "out of water" breath holding skills were quickly diminished and I was lucky to dive down more than 20 seconds at a time! I had a hard time clearing my ears past about 10 feet, so I decided to just be a surface hunter! Q spent some time with me showing me how to load the rubber bands on the gun and how to patrol around in the water. The hardest part was trying to stay relaxed and not use up additional energy, but this is much harder said than done. It's gonna take lots more experience to learn this one technique.
After about 2 hours of "hunting" we made it back to the boat and I was both exhausted and borderline nauseous from all the movement and swaying. Back on the boat there were a few stories of big fish sightings and a few lucky spearings. We were specifically targeting White Sea Bass and on this first dive, two were shot - both maybe 12-15 lbs. A few other random fish were shot, a sheephead, a couple barracudas, and one kelp bass. Not the most successful first dive, but loads of fun and adventure none the less.
The crew provided us with a hearty breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, and oatmeal to build our energy back up for the 2nd dive to come. The boat re-positioned a mile or so down the island and before I even had a chance to rest they were ready for us to get back in the water. I had taken off my wetsuit already so I was one of the last people back in the water for this 2nd dive. This time I went off by myself and explored and explored.
I found Q after an hour or so and we stayed near each other until the end of the 2nd dive. I was getting anxious to shoot something so I started setting my sites on some of the larger kelp fish that kept swimming all around. Finally a pretty large kelp fish swam in between two large strands of kelp and maybe 10 feet from me. I swam over and quickly took the gun off safety, pointed, and shot through the kelp. I didn't think I had actually shot the fish until I began retrieving the line attached to the spear. I felt a tug and then another. I remember thinking "YES" I nailed one! I called over to Q and told him I needed some help getting the fish off the spear. After we got everything all sorted out, I told Q I was heading back to the boat. I must have inspired him because not even 5 minutes later I heard him yell that he had now shot a fish. I swam back over and helped him get a nice sized California Sheephead onto the fish stringer. We both swam back to the boat with our 2 fish.
These ended up being our only 2 kills, yet we had a blast. No one else had much luck either on the 2nd and 3rd dive spots. There was one notable White Sea Bass shot at the 2nd spot, it was over 4 feet long and weighed about 51 pounds! Amazing! To say the least I got exposed to a very adventurous new way to fish. After a nice lunch and brownie sundae, the boat headed back for Ventura Harbor. We sat up on the upper sun deck and talked and hung out the whole way back. Q and Zack had several Moose Drool Beers and I sort of dozed on and off. I was very wiped out. We finally arrived back at the dock around 6pm and it was still fully daylight out. We packed up all our gear and carried everything back to our cars. I think Zack ended up following Q back home to Whittier and I drive home to Huntington Beach. It was an awesome experience that will be sought after again! Many thanks to Q for the spear gun, weight belt and for teaching me the ways of the spear fisherman!!!
It was a breathtaking experience both literally and mentally! Looking all around at the underwater forest seemed like I was inside one of those nature channel programs. I had to keep telling myself to breathe! My earlier "out of water" breath holding skills were quickly diminished and I was lucky to dive down more than 20 seconds at a time! I had a hard time clearing my ears past about 10 feet, so I decided to just be a surface hunter! Q spent some time with me showing me how to load the rubber bands on the gun and how to patrol around in the water. The hardest part was trying to stay relaxed and not use up additional energy, but this is much harder said than done. It's gonna take lots more experience to learn this one technique.
After about 2 hours of "hunting" we made it back to the boat and I was both exhausted and borderline nauseous from all the movement and swaying. Back on the boat there were a few stories of big fish sightings and a few lucky spearings. We were specifically targeting White Sea Bass and on this first dive, two were shot - both maybe 12-15 lbs. A few other random fish were shot, a sheephead, a couple barracudas, and one kelp bass. Not the most successful first dive, but loads of fun and adventure none the less.
The crew provided us with a hearty breakfast of eggs, pancakes, sausage, and oatmeal to build our energy back up for the 2nd dive to come. The boat re-positioned a mile or so down the island and before I even had a chance to rest they were ready for us to get back in the water. I had taken off my wetsuit already so I was one of the last people back in the water for this 2nd dive. This time I went off by myself and explored and explored.
I found Q after an hour or so and we stayed near each other until the end of the 2nd dive. I was getting anxious to shoot something so I started setting my sites on some of the larger kelp fish that kept swimming all around. Finally a pretty large kelp fish swam in between two large strands of kelp and maybe 10 feet from me. I swam over and quickly took the gun off safety, pointed, and shot through the kelp. I didn't think I had actually shot the fish until I began retrieving the line attached to the spear. I felt a tug and then another. I remember thinking "YES" I nailed one! I called over to Q and told him I needed some help getting the fish off the spear. After we got everything all sorted out, I told Q I was heading back to the boat. I must have inspired him because not even 5 minutes later I heard him yell that he had now shot a fish. I swam back over and helped him get a nice sized California Sheephead onto the fish stringer. We both swam back to the boat with our 2 fish.
These ended up being our only 2 kills, yet we had a blast. No one else had much luck either on the 2nd and 3rd dive spots. There was one notable White Sea Bass shot at the 2nd spot, it was over 4 feet long and weighed about 51 pounds! Amazing! To say the least I got exposed to a very adventurous new way to fish. After a nice lunch and brownie sundae, the boat headed back for Ventura Harbor. We sat up on the upper sun deck and talked and hung out the whole way back. Q and Zack had several Moose Drool Beers and I sort of dozed on and off. I was very wiped out. We finally arrived back at the dock around 6pm and it was still fully daylight out. We packed up all our gear and carried everything back to our cars. I think Zack ended up following Q back home to Whittier and I drive home to Huntington Beach. It was an awesome experience that will be sought after again! Many thanks to Q for the spear gun, weight belt and for teaching me the ways of the spear fisherman!!!
I'm so glad you had that new adventure!
ReplyDeleteI want in on the next trip. This sounds pretty hard but like a lot of fun.
ReplyDelete