Hello from Israel :)

[Shpongle]

Hi everybody, The forum seems like a very nice place I've just began explorering it Addicted to underwater, after having done a course in scuba diving two+ years ago, I started freediving and been having the freediving bug eversince..

Unassisted freediving's my fav.

[spaghetti]

Welcome Shpongy. We have a good bunch of good friends from Israel on Deeperblue, freedivers and spearfishers, all top chaps. Now its' +1.

[Shpongle]

thanks. it's nice to hear!

[BatRay]

Hi Shpongle, welcome to the forums! Glad to see another Israeli member

[Shpongle]

Cheers

[Mr. X]

Welcome Shpongy. Any interest in spearing?

[Shpongle]

Just picking up interest these days.. it seems that what stopped me all this time from spearing was the fact that I wanted to avoid the action of killing..
Having this great ideology and still be eating meat seems a little hypocritical to me..
Although I am in favor of avoiding killings, I decided to give it a try, and I even have a friend (with spearing guns) that will call me as soons as he goes on his next spearing tour So I guess I will be posting my first spearing post pretty soon...

Any last minute notes?

[Mr. X]

I understand, I was not keen on hunting as youngster, despite a brother who has always been a keen hunter & fisherman. I fished a little, catch & release. Not sure what changed that in recent years, probably something to do with wanting to provide good, fresh, healthy food for my family - & perhaps a disillusionment with the quality of the processed food provided by many stores (and perhaps the inflated prices in Padstow restaurants). I don't enjoy the killing but I do like eating meat, and it's a natural and necessary consequence of that. There is something very satifying about catching/producing your own food. It tastes better.

I am told that the desire to hunt/kill often diminishes as you get old, perhaps seeing your own end in sight. Chapman Pincher writes eloquently about this in his autobiography. He also found the continual loss of his gun dogs as each aged and died became too painful for him as he grew old. Most hunters like & care about animals.

Last minute notes? Enjoy yourself.

[spaghetti]

Fishes eat each other continuously under there, and when I go spearing I feel like I am a fish too. Fish eat fish. I eat fish. Feeling like a fish, behaving like a fish and, possibly, think like a fish is the key concept of spearfishing, both as a technical and an ethic guide line.
Anyway, I'm not really a fish. I am a human, capable of feeling doubtful, of feeling guilty, of asking questions to myself. And after 20 years of spearfishing I still wonder sometimes if I have the right to take the lives of living beings. The answer is that so it goes. I came to the conclusion that spearfishing is the most environment friendly, low impact, selective and sustainable means to get your proteins to eat.
And then yeah, it's so cool to feel you're a fish too.

[baldyfish]

hey, i lived in israel and did some diving there too. dived with putsker in nahariyya where i lived. really beautiful country. never speared there but even in 2000 it was fairly popular.

[Shpongle]

Interesting point there Mr.x about the seeing the end in sight..

spaghetti, I can see you point there, I guess I won't know until I finally do it. btw, Dr. Hoffman also invented a molecule that's able to make you feel like a fish

bladyfish, did you get the chance to freedive at the RedSea also?

[baldyfish]

yes i went to eilat twice and on to sharm and dahab. freediving wasnt my thing back then but i did a lot of scuba and snorkeling. what part of israel are you from?

[Shpongle]

Center - Tel Aviv But probably moving to Eilat next month

[baldyfish]

most of us only ever dream of going to eilat let alone living there. beautiful place.is freediving big there now?

[Shpongle]

big yea... but not huge..