Every once in a while you get a dive that epitomizes why you got into diving in the first place. Now I have to say that I have not had a great deal of them lately, and I have to look back to those moments to keep the feeling alive.
One such adventure started innocently enough with my first blue water hunt. To say that my buddy and I were adequately prepared would be a far cry from the truth. The boat was a P.O.S. found in a neighbors back yard with a tree growing on the deck, a faulty transom, and numerous cracks yet to be repaired. We had no coordinates for the buoy we were after and lacked a gps. The gear was under control and fine tunned to this adventure. We started off to an ominous start when the gas line popped off and we were left adrift half a mile from shore of an island that is surrounded by the big blue. When I say big Blue I mean it. 6 hours to Hawaii by plane, 3 air hours to Palau and 4 more to Japan or P.I. So starting off was not the greatest feeling of comfort. Luckily there was a local guy that saw us and helped us out with a fuel clamp. We were off on our way to the FAD that rested 5 miles off shore in ...uhhh...(point to nowhere) that general direction! Luckily I have great eyes and after 45 minutes we spotted the FAD. Upon closer inspection we spooked a few birds into flight and started to figure out how to tie off on this thing. Yes we know its not right to tie off to a bouy, but do you or I have a 1000 Fms of anchor line? Upon lining up with the current to tie off I looked over the side of the boat with my mask and snorkel on and saw a very nice 10 ft specimen of a white tip. As I followed him my snorkel bent at a weird angle and promptly popped off my mask. I told my buddy there was a shark and that i was going over the side to retrieve my snorkel. I slid into the water and proceed to try and get the piece before I was spotted by the shark. There was only one problem though. My snorkel had decided that it was "das boot" and promptly dived at a 90 degree down bubble. I was not the only one to recognize this and soon I had Mr White tip intercepting my very important piece of gear. With a lazy turn he glided up to my snorkel and as he passed over it I waited for the shark to move away. But when he passed by the spot there was nothing there!! What The F@#k! Dude I cant believe this, the shark ate my snorkel! The shark took another look around as I headed to the surface, looking as if that was the tastiest piece of plastic he has had in a while. I reach the surface where my buddy is waiting and tell him matter-of-factly, "hey you know that shark i saw?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he just ate my Snorkel."
"what?"
"Uhh, yeah, he just ate my snorkel."
With a mighty groan, "F@#K!"
We decided that I could do without a snorkel and soon were tied off to the buoy. Over the side with float lines, guns and buoys we drifted some chum as the weather progressively worsened.
Diving in the open blue water is an experience all in itself. There is no bottom to see and for some reason you feel that some big tiger shark is going to come out of your blind spot and eat you even though you have dived regularly with sharks and they normally don't bother you. It is an strange feeling to know that once again you are in the food chain and not at a particularly lofty level as sitting on your couch watching the "Discovery Channel." But the idea of spearing a pelagic tries to override this fear and soon you find yourself wishing for anything to happen. Boredom is a factor with blue water hunting and as songs start to enter your head that is when the action starts normally. Unfortunately this time with the wind and waves starting to approach force 4, diving was becoming difficult, with no snorkel and soon after a particularly copious amount of seawater was injected to the lungs I jumped in the boat to call it quits. My buddy saw this and headed to the boat as well. As the day had been going I should have guessed at what my friend was shouting into the water as his gun hit the deck.
"PUNA, HIVVE ME MAU GUUNN!"
I understood after a few seconds and tossed him his C-4 Riffe with 3 3/4 inch bands an inch short on each side. and with amazing speed I watched him load the gun only to lay on the surface.
The next thing I heard started with the letter F and ended with the letter K and I can tell you he did not scream "firetruck" into his snorkel.
"what happened?"
"He swam away."
"How big?"
"fifty pounds," was the reply.
"Well you want to stick around?"
"Naw, the weather is getting worse lets head back."
As we piled the gear into the boat with silence and started to head back at a 45 to the swell and wind we both hit upon the moment where we need to spice up life and I think the trigger was that my buddy put on his mask to block the spray so he could steer and he looked really funny,and i soon put on mine and slapped the springy hull and shouted, "faster, faster!" Well that was all that he needed and soon we were tearing across the water at a blistering 22 knots in a 18 ft boat with no cabin or windshield in 5 foot seas with white caps! We were shouting and laughing as the boat plunged into the waves with green water swamping our boat and flushing our gear about the deck when all of a sudden my friend stopped the boat dead in the water and takes off his mask and started to paw at the bulkhead. I took off my mask and looked to see what the problem was. We had inadvertently crack the bulkhead where it mets the hull in a foot long crack that was leaking water into the boat!!! After this we decided to putt back in to the harbor and at the dock the dock with a busted boat, no fish and a lost snorkel, I had the biggest smile on my face. Later when I told my ex-wife about this she just looked at the two of us and shook her head. Of course all we could do was smile and laugh!
One such adventure started innocently enough with my first blue water hunt. To say that my buddy and I were adequately prepared would be a far cry from the truth. The boat was a P.O.S. found in a neighbors back yard with a tree growing on the deck, a faulty transom, and numerous cracks yet to be repaired. We had no coordinates for the buoy we were after and lacked a gps. The gear was under control and fine tunned to this adventure. We started off to an ominous start when the gas line popped off and we were left adrift half a mile from shore of an island that is surrounded by the big blue. When I say big Blue I mean it. 6 hours to Hawaii by plane, 3 air hours to Palau and 4 more to Japan or P.I. So starting off was not the greatest feeling of comfort. Luckily there was a local guy that saw us and helped us out with a fuel clamp. We were off on our way to the FAD that rested 5 miles off shore in ...uhhh...(point to nowhere) that general direction! Luckily I have great eyes and after 45 minutes we spotted the FAD. Upon closer inspection we spooked a few birds into flight and started to figure out how to tie off on this thing. Yes we know its not right to tie off to a bouy, but do you or I have a 1000 Fms of anchor line? Upon lining up with the current to tie off I looked over the side of the boat with my mask and snorkel on and saw a very nice 10 ft specimen of a white tip. As I followed him my snorkel bent at a weird angle and promptly popped off my mask. I told my buddy there was a shark and that i was going over the side to retrieve my snorkel. I slid into the water and proceed to try and get the piece before I was spotted by the shark. There was only one problem though. My snorkel had decided that it was "das boot" and promptly dived at a 90 degree down bubble. I was not the only one to recognize this and soon I had Mr White tip intercepting my very important piece of gear. With a lazy turn he glided up to my snorkel and as he passed over it I waited for the shark to move away. But when he passed by the spot there was nothing there!! What The F@#k! Dude I cant believe this, the shark ate my snorkel! The shark took another look around as I headed to the surface, looking as if that was the tastiest piece of plastic he has had in a while. I reach the surface where my buddy is waiting and tell him matter-of-factly, "hey you know that shark i saw?"
"Yeah."
"Well, he just ate my Snorkel."
"what?"
"Uhh, yeah, he just ate my snorkel."
With a mighty groan, "F@#K!"
We decided that I could do without a snorkel and soon were tied off to the buoy. Over the side with float lines, guns and buoys we drifted some chum as the weather progressively worsened.
Diving in the open blue water is an experience all in itself. There is no bottom to see and for some reason you feel that some big tiger shark is going to come out of your blind spot and eat you even though you have dived regularly with sharks and they normally don't bother you. It is an strange feeling to know that once again you are in the food chain and not at a particularly lofty level as sitting on your couch watching the "Discovery Channel." But the idea of spearing a pelagic tries to override this fear and soon you find yourself wishing for anything to happen. Boredom is a factor with blue water hunting and as songs start to enter your head that is when the action starts normally. Unfortunately this time with the wind and waves starting to approach force 4, diving was becoming difficult, with no snorkel and soon after a particularly copious amount of seawater was injected to the lungs I jumped in the boat to call it quits. My buddy saw this and headed to the boat as well. As the day had been going I should have guessed at what my friend was shouting into the water as his gun hit the deck.
"PUNA, HIVVE ME MAU GUUNN!"
I understood after a few seconds and tossed him his C-4 Riffe with 3 3/4 inch bands an inch short on each side. and with amazing speed I watched him load the gun only to lay on the surface.
The next thing I heard started with the letter F and ended with the letter K and I can tell you he did not scream "firetruck" into his snorkel.
"what happened?"
"He swam away."
"How big?"
"fifty pounds," was the reply.
"Well you want to stick around?"
"Naw, the weather is getting worse lets head back."
As we piled the gear into the boat with silence and started to head back at a 45 to the swell and wind we both hit upon the moment where we need to spice up life and I think the trigger was that my buddy put on his mask to block the spray so he could steer and he looked really funny,and i soon put on mine and slapped the springy hull and shouted, "faster, faster!" Well that was all that he needed and soon we were tearing across the water at a blistering 22 knots in a 18 ft boat with no cabin or windshield in 5 foot seas with white caps! We were shouting and laughing as the boat plunged into the waves with green water swamping our boat and flushing our gear about the deck when all of a sudden my friend stopped the boat dead in the water and takes off his mask and started to paw at the bulkhead. I took off my mask and looked to see what the problem was. We had inadvertently crack the bulkhead where it mets the hull in a foot long crack that was leaking water into the boat!!! After this we decided to putt back in to the harbor and at the dock the dock with a busted boat, no fish and a lost snorkel, I had the biggest smile on my face. Later when I told my ex-wife about this she just looked at the two of us and shook her head. Of course all we could do was smile and laugh!
