I'm hanging it up.

[Bill McIntyre]

There are plenty of fish that can be taken without diving. Mahi-mahi never goes down, amberjacks come to the surface... Yes you reduce your chances but still much better than to sit at home

I appreciate you guys trying to save me from the consequences of old age but:

Mahi-mahi (dorado) don't always come as far north as I am in SoCal and we don't have amberjack ever. We do have yellowtail which are close to amberjack. But both of them require driving around far offshore at high speed looking for floating kelp paddies. Some days you hardly even see paddies. When you do see one, you stop near it and divers jump in and swim to it to see if there are fish. Many times they don't. That requires a lot of putting on fins, swimming to the paddle, climbing back into the boat, taking off fins, and looking for another paddie. If it's a hot day it's not fun being in your wetsuit all day while driving around. I don't enjoy that and quit doing it a few years ago even when I was physically capable. It burns a lot of gas too.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

If it was always like this great day I might keep it up, but that's the best one ever.

 

[Mr. X]

You've done your fair share Bill, take a well earned break

 

[Virgili]

''...Guantanamo Bay Cuba..'' I've been doing over twenty freediving/spearfishing trips to Cuba and I was told there by local colleagues/ friends about a freediving school named ''waterboarding'' in Guantanamo...

 

[Bill McIntyre]

''...Guantanamo Bay Cuba..'' I've been doing over twenty freediving/spearfishing trips to Cuba and I was told there by local colleagues/ friends about a freediving school named ''waterboarding'' in Guantanamo...

When I was a USMC pilot I few a photo reconnaissance flight out of Guantanamo Bay but that was before they opened that freediving school.

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I finally took the final step. I had previously sold all my dive gear. You may have heard that old saying about boat owners. The two happiest days of their lives are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat. I have owned boats continuously since 1968- a total of five- and I just sold the last one. I'm actually a little sad. It's hard for me to get my arms around the idea of a boatless me. I'm always supposed to have a boat. That's just part of who I am. I did put the boat up for sale and it was a big pain in the ass dealing with scammers, low ballers, brokers who wanted to sell it for me, etc. so I'm glad its sold. But it's still bitter sweet.

I guess the good news is that now I have more money to spend on my wife's horse habit.

 

[TonyG]

I finally took the final step. I had previously sold all my dive gear. You may have heard that old saying about boat owners. The two happiest days of their lives are the day they buy the boat and the day they sell the boat. I have owned boats continuously since 1968- a total of five- and I just sold the last one. I'm actually a little sad. It's hard for me to get my arms around the idea of a boatless me. I'm always supposed to have a boat. That's just part of who I am. I did put the boat up for sale and it was a big pain in the ass dealing with scammers, low ballers, brokers who wanted to sell it for me, etc. so I'm glad its sold. But it's still bitter sweet.

I guess the good news is that now I have more money to spend on my wife's horse habit.

Bill,

I was a long time lurker on spearboard as a younger lad. Reading YOUR descriptive reports, stories, and sharing your knowledge spawned my love of spearfishing and love of the water in general. It may seem odd, but you were a huge influence on my life. Thank you for sharing your countless adventures with guys like me.

P.S.
If you wanted to PM me with all of your honey holes, I wouldn't stop you

 

[jimqpublic]

Bill,

Your dive stories have always educated and entertained. I enjoyed hanging out with you in Florida for the Blue Wild expo back in 2007.

Sorry to hear that you had to give up diving, but age gets us either slowly or quickly. I hadn't really done any diving for at least a decade until taking up warm water snorkeling with a trip to Hawaii in 2021. Since then we've been back to Hawaii at least a dozen times and I'm enjoying the snorkeling and freediving more each time.

Jim White
Long Beach

 

[Bill McIntyre]

Bill,

I was a long time lurker on spearboard as a younger lad. Reading YOUR descriptive reports, stories, and sharing your knowledge spawned my love of spearfishing and love of the water in general. It may seem odd, but you were a huge influence on my life. Thank you for sharing your countless adventures with guys like me.

P.S.
If you wanted to PM me with all of your honey holes, I wouldn't stop you

Wow! Thanks Tony. It's humbling to think I changed anyone's life, but I'm glad you think it was for the better. I was never really a great diver but I guess I was better at writing about it.