I just noticed this feature, so I thought I should take advantage of the opportunity to introduce myself.
I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. My father was a fishing guide and commercial fisherman, and I am frankly a bit hazy on when I started swimming around under the docks trying to shoot small sheepshead with a Hawaiian sliing, but I am pretty sure that by age 13 or 14 I had progressed to using a Champion Arbalete and a Cressi spring gun to shoot grouper, jewfish, cobia, snook, etc. while freediving. When I was age 15 (in 1954) I won a rod and reel fishing contest that got me enough cash to buy my first tank and regulator. There were no certification courses then, but the owners manual that came with the gear did say that you shouldn't hold your breath during ascents, so I survived being self-taught. Later, during my 20 years as a US Marine officer, I got my only formal training when I attended US Navy scuba school at Pearl Harbor.
I was primarily a bubble blower for most of my life, and went through phases of photography with the Nikonos I and II cameras, shell collecting, abalone and scallop grabbing, and various sorts of spearfishing depending on where I was living. In 1996 I returned to freedive spearfishing, and now the only time I use a tank is to free hung anchors or fish that are tied up in the kelp too deep for safe freediving.
I recently retired from part-time college teaching so as to have more freedom to dive during the week when the crowd at the launch ramp is smaller and so that I can spend the weekends with my wife who is still hard at work supporting my expensive habits. I am always looking for congenial and safe diving companions who can get away during the week and join me on the boat pictured below. Great diving skill is not required, but a strong back to pull the anchor is a definite plus.
I grew up in St. Petersburg, Florida. My father was a fishing guide and commercial fisherman, and I am frankly a bit hazy on when I started swimming around under the docks trying to shoot small sheepshead with a Hawaiian sliing, but I am pretty sure that by age 13 or 14 I had progressed to using a Champion Arbalete and a Cressi spring gun to shoot grouper, jewfish, cobia, snook, etc. while freediving. When I was age 15 (in 1954) I won a rod and reel fishing contest that got me enough cash to buy my first tank and regulator. There were no certification courses then, but the owners manual that came with the gear did say that you shouldn't hold your breath during ascents, so I survived being self-taught. Later, during my 20 years as a US Marine officer, I got my only formal training when I attended US Navy scuba school at Pearl Harbor.
I was primarily a bubble blower for most of my life, and went through phases of photography with the Nikonos I and II cameras, shell collecting, abalone and scallop grabbing, and various sorts of spearfishing depending on where I was living. In 1996 I returned to freedive spearfishing, and now the only time I use a tank is to free hung anchors or fish that are tied up in the kelp too deep for safe freediving.
I recently retired from part-time college teaching so as to have more freedom to dive during the week when the crowd at the launch ramp is smaller and so that I can spend the weekends with my wife who is still hard at work supporting my expensive habits. I am always looking for congenial and safe diving companions who can get away during the week and join me on the boat pictured below. Great diving skill is not required, but a strong back to pull the anchor is a definite plus.
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