Thanks for the welcome.
I really enjoyed the mermaid casting. It was great to get a chance to see what I could actually do in the pool since I don't have anyone nearer than salt free that I can train with. It was also nice to meet so many other like-minded people after most of my friends had decided I must be nuts for even thinking about freediving!
I have to admit that I'd never even thought of spearfishing until I started looking at this site and now I'm actually getting tempted! I already swim, dive, play waterpolo and have even attempted to surf - yet another excuse to be in the water sounds good to me - especially one that then produces food! But still, I think I need to learn to freedive before I start trying to spearfish (and start buying lots of nice shiny new equipment!) - walk before you can run and all that

Although I might just have a look at the board for places you can spearfish in the UK...