Thursday 11/3/2022
Hi everyone,
I got back from my spearfishing trip along the west coast of Greece. Similar to 2021, I spent most of my time hunting in shallow water of just a few meters in depth. I did not catch too much, it seemed like there were fewer fish this year than last year. The biggest fish I caught was a 3.35 kg leerfish, a 1.5 kg gray mullet, and a 0.5 kg seabream. I did see a lot of dentex in the 1 kg to 3+ kg range, which was really cool, but I did not catch any of them. The water temperatures this year were in the low 70s F range (typically 72 F - 73 F, which may have been too warm for the fish).
Equipment this year for shallow water hunting was same as last year. I used the same jacket as last year but a new one as the old one had gotten very stretched and thin and was cold. Mares instinct wetsuit (NEW 5.5mm jacket, 3.5mm pants), Cressi Gara Modular Impulse fins, 6 kg on my belt, 3 kg in my vest, and 0.25 kg per ankle (I upped the total weight). In the beginning of October, my aspettos were very short (not more than 0:45) but towards the end of my spearfishing trip I focused on taking longer rests and doing quality dives, so I was able to do aspettos up to 1:45. For next year I want to focus on bringing up my static to 2:00 + for aspettos which probably means I need to comfortably be able to hold my breath for 4:00 in STA.
In the beginning I had upwards of 80 dives per day, sometimes diving twice per day, and of course this lead to ear injuries very quickly (within a few days). Same injuries as last year (pain in the inner ear at bigger depths in left ear, swimmer's ear in right ear). I concluded that my swimmer's ear in the right ear (same as last year) was due to the snorkel being placed on the right side of my head under the mask strap. I switched to the left side and used a snorkel clip, which allowed the mask strap to firmly press the wetsuit hood against my ear/face and form a nearly waterproof seal. This helped start the healing in my ear and allowed me to continue diving every day, rather than having to abandon my trip or miss days as in previous years. Next year, I will use the clip again and alternate sides every few days.
Late last season (around May 2022) I suffered soft tissue injury in my right outer leg, just below the knee and going down to my ankle. It felt similar to an IT band injury and was made worse by pushing off the wall during swimming, so I was unable to also run. After taking a month off, it appears to have almost fully healed. Going forward, I will try to NOT push off the wall during swimming (except for DNF), and I will start running again slowly to see if I can sustain it. As mentioned above, my focus this year will be on bringing my STA up to a very high level, as I expect to continue spearfishing in very shallow waters (it is my favorite).
