Adventure Through Latin America

[Underwater Ally]

Hey guys my girlfriend Jess and I recently quit our jobs and decided to explore Latin America for 6-12 months depending on how long our money lasts.

We left Sydney on the 3rd of may and spent a couple of weeks in California looking for the elusive wsb, 54°F in a 3mm was tough to say the least! The hospitality of the guys in Cali was outstanding, although I didn't get my wsb jewels I had a ball diving in new grounds and seeing how its done on the other side of the world. Thanks to everyone who went out of their way to accommodate us, you know who you are.

We have now travelled from Panama and worked all the way up to Mexico. We have seen some amazing sights and speared some great fish, not to mention made some great friends.

Over the coming weeks I will recap some of the adventures we had along the way. Hopefully we will get to meet up with some of you in our travels and chase some good fish! Watch this space!

Here is a short video I made of our time in Panama.



Cheers,
Michael.

 

[Underwater Ally]

So for the last 6 months Jess' goal above all else was to get a Dorado, just say the word log and her ears would prick up. From Panama through to Mexico we had jumped in on countless floating debris with no luck.

It was her birthday and everyone knew what she was wishing for, our goal was to spend the day spearfishing and hopefully come across that lucky log.

Everyone was in on it and were trying to help her get her wish. We were floating over a high spot when the captain starts yelling "DORADO! DORADO!" Jess mistakes his calls, thinking he is talking about a nearby boat fighting their own when actually he was feeding a pair of bulls like goldfish in a pond.

Soon the temptation became too much for the captain and he added a metal garnish to the bait and had an 11kg Bull doing somersaults. Jess couldn't believe it, she'd just thrown away here opportunity!

Later in the day the captain spots a log way out on the horizon, it is so far away that he can't tell if its a log or a panga. As we motor up to it we see its a large tree, I jumped in with the camera and Jess took here gun.

As we got closer to the log we were charged by tiny sharks, in the distance I saw a nice Bull swimming around the tree, everything was in place, it was now up to her.

I pressed record as she swam closer to the log, I told her to slowly swim up to it and just lie motionless and it should swim right up to her. Sure enough the Bull came in to check her out and she takes aim, BAM! Stoned dead. You should have here her squealing, STOKED! All in HD film too. Happy Birthday indeed.

 

[Underwater Ally]

I have a huge list of fish to tick off my list while I'm here, most importantly was the Mighty Yellowfin Tuna. It was my dream (and many others I'm sure) to be putting my hands into the gills of a monster yellowfin. It has been a great learning curve and I have seen some amazing sights in pursuit of this fish. I am can happily say if I don't spear another fish on this trip I will go home a happy man. Below is a brief progression of my goal.

1st ever - 12lber

2nd - 88lber

The one - 176lber

200+lber? Fingers crossed...

 

[Underwater Ally]

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVozrVMrfaA&hd=1]YouTube - Sicklefin Dreaming HD[/ame]

 

[Underwater Ally]

Some HD stills from my 1st Fin:

 

[Underwater Ally]

Lying on the bottom in Panama, about 70ft. It was my first drop at the pinnacle and I could tell that it was "ON" Clouds of scared baitfish everywhere, schools of small Pargo covered the bottom, I knew it was only a matter of time. Sure enough I see three wide headed Almaco's charge me on the bottom, at first I couldn't figure out what I was looking at. Now I know you are supposed to wait till the fish is swimming away until you shoot but sometimes you just can't help yourself! Even with a head shot this fish gave me hell, a true testament to their immense power.

 

[Underwater Ally]

Went trick or treating in the ocean yesterday, found some pretty good candy!

 

[Underwater Ally]

Wishing everyone a Fishy Xmas, may the ocean bring you many gifts in the coming year!

Cheers,
Michael & Jess.