This is something I wrote one night last year and submitted for editing and hopfully publishing in a spearfishing magazine, but it looks like it's not going to ever make it. Other than some family, friends and the folks on DBS, no one has read this before.

I'm going to post a couple of paragraphs each day for a couple of days. If there is interest, I'll continue posting. If not, then it probably just wasn't that good to start with ...

Btw, this shit is true!

Birth of a Free Diver

These events occurred over a period of exactly one year – from Labor Day 2005 to Labor Day 2006. It all began with a visit to my In-Laws newly acquired property in Islamorada, Florida Keys. The property was already well known to the neighbors because the previous owner had a commercial ice-maker and provided free ice to anyone that pulled up to the dock. In return, the neighbors would share part of their catch on their way back from the fishing grounds. Uncertain about the new ownership, many of the fishermen were hesitant to come up to the house and fill their 120 quart coolers with ice.

On the morning I met Stool, Redneck, and Aqua-man, they appeared in black wetsuits, obviously divers, for a cooler or two of ice. They had met my Father-In-Law, Ed, but for all they knew, he was just some guy that happened by and wasn’t really the new owner. Upon spotting them, Ed suggested I have some fun with them. I jumped out from behind a door and started cussing them, telling them I was sick and tired of all these freeloaders stealing my ice. They could pay up or get the #$#% off my property! They wanted to know about Ed and I informed them Ed was just some old guy that was doing some work for me and had no authority to be giving away my ice. About that time Ed stepped out and straightened out the whole mess and we all had a laugh.

They were going spearfishing and invited me to go along with them. Ed had already told me these guys produced, so I was very pleased to accept their invitation. I mean, spearfishing with the locals that knew where to go, how to get done, there’s no substitute for that. They asked me if I had all the required equipment and I replied affirmative, except my Brother-In-Law, Paul, had the tanks about 3 miles down the road. If they could wait 10 minutes, I’d have a couple to take. Heads started shaking, and Redneck informed me that SCUBA was inherently a Homosexual activity, and none of them were Homos. I said OK, I understand the Homo reference – Sucking and Blowing – but how deep were these guys freediving? “Oh, only 35 to 40 feet” was the answer. Then came the questions back at me: “You look like you’re in pretty good shape, how old are you?” I replied “49”. “Well hell, you’ll be the youngest guy on the boat. Let’s look your equipment over. Stringer, don’t need that. Knife, don’t need that. Spare FreeShaft, don’t need that. How are the rubbers on the Homo’s gun? Surprise, they look good! Got a weight-belt?” No weight-belt, my BC has integrated weight system. “No problem, we’ll fix you up with an 8 pounder.”

I love it, thanks for sharing, can't wait for the next installment. Never read a freediving spearfishing book other than Carlos Eyeles' "Last of the Bluewater Hunters" and this is much better.

post away, you have my interest.... but no knife??????

Keep the story going -and keep your knife!!

Very cool, I'm also interested. Please post away, I enjoyed the first bit.

More, more! Please.

funny, I like it, the homo thing cracked me up...

Alright - the details of the first outing:

"So, it all began. They tossed me in with the 8 pound weight-belt and I swam for all I was worth to keep the snorkel up in the air. Took 4 pounds off the weight-belt and all was fine until the first dive. Relax, slow the heart rate down, take a couple of deep breaths, bend at the waist and dive. Sounds simple, but about 10 feet down, clearing ears, flooded mask, and panic set in. Several attempts at this and it still wasn’t getting any better. What’s going on, I put in 30 minutes on Tony Little’s Gazelle 5 times a week, my cardio system should be in great shape. Guess what, it wasn’t. I got far enough down one time that I actually thought I could reach out and touch a fish with my reliable AB Biller. Wrong! I’d wrapped the spear line before the bands were put on. All that first shot did was quickly separate my spear from the gun. With a flooded mask, I had no idea where it might have gone, so said good-bye to my spear. Redneck didn’t think I’d had enough yet, so loaned me his spare gun – a fine SeaHornet with commercial muzzle.

In my normal environment of SCUBA diving 100 foot plus deep in 15 foot visibility off Cape Canaveral, I would have loved a gun like Redneck offered me. In the 50 foot visibility with lots of Mango targets below me in 35 foot of water without a tank to get down there, I might as well of been carrying a lobster tickle stick. The others limited-out on snappers, had a grouper, and a couple of Hogfish to show for their efforts. Back at the dock, Redneck suggested he take my gun home with him and make a couple of modifications to it. I don’t know why, but I trusted this guy to take my gun with the extended butt I’d hand-made out of a scrap piece of mahogany and modify it. They asked me to go out with them again the next day – I don’t know why – and I brought my son with me. Young son and I floundered away with ear clearing and mask flooding problems while the others shot more limits of fish. At the end of the trip I had earned my new name – Homo!"

:D :D

Keep the progress posts coming, very funny. Nice to see someone laughing at themselves.

That sounds like the makings of a good newbie story. I'm excited to see if you experienced any of the newb termoil I experienced. Keep it coming.

Thanks for the encouragement. It's easy for me to look back and laugh at myself, but it wasn't so funny at the time. At 18 years old I was freediving 30 feet under the bridge in the pass at Alabama Point. That was with 1974 vintage really short fins. It was all so easy back then. This failure was reminding me I wasn't 18 any more:


"Embarrassed by my performance, I went back home with a vengeance to do better the next trip to the Keys. After all, I’d shot AJs, Groupers, Snappers, Sheepshead, Flounders, and Triggerfish for years on SCUBA. I just needed the opportunity to show these guys how deadly I was with a speargun and the only way to do it was to figure out how to get down 30 feet on a breath of air. The cardio workout began. I tried to run around the block, but halfway around, I had to stop and walk to get my breath back. So much for the Tony Little Gazelle training. For the next 6 months, traveling for work prevented me from returning to the Keys. Sure, I went SCUBA diving, picked up lobsters, and shot fish, but the freediving failure mentally plagued me. I continued running, and built up to running 5K five to six times a week. I practiced static breath-holds. I held my breath every time I went up or down a flight of stairs at work. I was mentally and physically ready to go show these old Keys freediving farts what I could do with a speargun!

The opportunity came in June 2006, 8 months after the bug had bit me. Sister-In-Law was celebrating her 40th birthday and the whole family was going down for 5 days of party in the Keys! What a freeking great set-up for doing some freedive spearfishing! By now the In-Laws had bought a 27’ Contender with twin 250HP Yamahas. My customer came in with a Request-For-Quote with a short turn-around and my 5 day Holiday was shortened to 3. Never mind, Stool, Redneck and I were scheduled to go out on Monday. This was going to work out perfect. I’d go fishing with the family on the Contender on Saturday, do birthday celebration Saturday night, recover from party on Sunday, and shoot tons of fish on Monday.

I made several mistakes fishing on Saturday. The first one was going out bare-footed. I’ve been on boats most of my life and knew the consequences that can go with such stupidity. My Brother-In-Law was at the helm and driving like every other Contender owner you’ve ever seen – balls to the wall! I could see a vertically mounted hatch in the bow that wasn’t latched and it was beating itself to death in the 6 inch seas. Like a good guy, I went to the bow to secure it before it tore itself off the hinges. While I was up there, we must have hit another boats wake because my feet went up and my butt went down. The pain in my right big toe when it hit the gunwale was far from delightful. I’d broken my toe and shattered any dream of getting a fin on to freedive on Monday. We caught a limit of Yellowtail snapper and I maintained my title of Homo."

Your makeing me feel better one story at a time. Keep it up! :bounce:

Good stuff.......keem em coming.

Very ineteresting keep em comming.

I finally get a new boat name :bounce::

"A couple of weeks later, the toe still black and blue, but the swelling subsided, my wife and I made a weekend trip to visit her parents. I hooked up with Stool, Redneck, and a girl that seems to have no boat title other than her real name Jonnie. I had bought a pair of Cressi 2000 longfins and had been practicing breathhold diving swimming laps in the backyard swimming pool. At the recommendation of Aqua-man I had located my Grandfather’s straight razor, sharpened it up, and removed the top half of my mustache beneath my nose to give the mask some smooth skin to seal to. Just in case this wasn’t enough, I put enough silicone o-ring lubricant in my mustache to fill a D-cup. I was ready and stoked. First dive I made it all the way down to 35 feet with no breathhold problems at all. However, in the process of clearing my ears, the mask was flooded and I couldn’t see anything. Great, I can get down here, but I still can’t see! I come back up in time to see Jonnie throwing a nice Mango in the boat. I’m being shown up by a girl! In my own defense, I have to say Jonnie is extremely comfortable in the water, works in the SCUBA business, and is just flat out in great shape. That still doesn’t matter; I had my butt kicked by a girl! Because I’d shown so much improvement by getting to the bottom, bouncing a couple of shots off some startled fish (I think they were fish), and looked fairly comfortable doing it, my nickname changed from Homo to Candy-Ass! This was progress at its best!

The following day, Redneck told me I probably didn’t want to spend the money required, but I really needed a mask that didn’t leak. I told him I’d already invested over $250 in masks over the last 3 years and concluded there wasn’t one out there that could seal over my aging smile lines. He smiled and said let him pick the mask out for me. He then told me I didn’t know it, but I really needed a snorkel more than I needed a mask. I didn’t understand at the time, but I do now. Redneck and I figured out a trade so I could afford the required mask and snorkel."

You know how this place works. If you can't shoot fish, at least post some pictures of Jonnie.

I'm getting hooked, keep'em coming.

barnaclebill

You know how this place works. If you can't shoot fish, at least post some pictures of Jonnie.

Here's a photo during a break from operating one of the dive/snorkle boats out of Islamorada:

Only one more segment after this one ...

Labor Day Weekend 2006 arrived right after Tropical Storm Ernesto had stirred up the bottom. My new mask and snorkel were waiting at Father-In-Law’s house. I arrived late on Friday Night and admired the new equipment. The snorkel was like nothing I’d ever breathed through before. I was so cool I passed it around the kitchen table for everybody to try. Everyone was impressed and orders for 2 more were placed. Because of the storm, Stool wanted to wait till Sunday to give the visibility a chance to improve. This gave me Saturday to play with the new mask out at the lighthouse with the family and to rest from the drive down. Amazingly, the mask didn’t leak, even when I cleared my ears. On the down side, the visibility was about 15 to 20 feet.

A little background on Stool. Stool owns the boat, so Stool decides when and where we go. As a matter of fact, with respect to the whole trip, from leaving the dock, to cleaning the fish, Stool is the captain, and always in charge. The good thing about that is he gives clear precise directions and knows what he’s doing. I graduated from cleaning the boat and gear to cutting out ribcages, but more about that later.

Nine O’clock Sunday morning, I’m out on the dock wearing a wetsuit with all my gear ready to load. The cell phone rings. It’s Redneck. He says Stool is waiting for a vis report from some of the local shops, so just sit tight till 9:30 or 10:00. Twenty minutes after ten, Stool rides up on a bike. I’d never seen him in anything but a wetsuit, and he had regular clothes on. This couldn’t be good. The vis reports were in and they weren’t good. I told him I could see from where we were standing to that pole over there at the lighthouse yesterday. I walked it off, and it was 18 feet. In 35 feet of water, guess what, we won’t be able to see target fish swimming at the bottom. Redneck gives Stool a call and the two of us convince him the only way to be sure is to go. Stool calls Jonnie and tells me to be ready around 11:30."

If that's even close to what Jonnie looks like, I fully understand why you were too distracted to shoot fish and why your mask kept fogging up.

"We drive out to a spot about 25 to 30 feet deep. Jonnie and I suit up and jump in. While we’re cocking our guns, Stool and Redneck toss in glass minnows to bring the fish up into the water column. It works and within seconds there are Mangos at 15 feet down feeding on the glass minnows like they haven’t seen food for days. Jonnie takes a breath, goes down, takes a shot and misses. Here’s my chance to really shine and put the first fish of the day in the boat. I take a breath, go down, lots of time to work with, mask is clear, ears are clear, just pick one out and shoot it. I pick out a big one that’s eating like there’s no tomorrow, take aim, squeeze, and miss! Stool and Redneck jump in and both shoot nice Mangos to throw in the boat. The school sounds and returns to the bottom. I take a deep breath, head down, shoot a Mango and with lungs burning head back to the surface. To my amazement, the 60 inch spear went clear thru the Mango and came out the other side. Redneck’s modified rigging pays off because I can release the line from the gun, pull it thru the fish, and throw the fish in the boat. My first freediving fish since I was a teenager. What a great feeling!

For the next hour, I shot fish after fish and threw them in the boat. One of the most memorable was a Mutton Snapper. I went down and spotted him right away. He spotted me right away too and swam away to keep his distance. I followed him knowing he would have to turn to see if I was still back there and a threat to his existence. A perfect textbook stalk and shot fell into place. The Mutton turned to the right to check me out. I squeezed the trigger and it was all over. I also shot a large Blue Runner to bait the crab traps with. I was starting to get a little tired and dehydrated, so told myself the next fish I shot, I would take it to the boat and get in for some rest and water. Three missed shots later I put my spear back in the gun with the bands on the wrong side. Rather than start over again, I just swam for the boat and got in. Everyone else must have been waiting to see how long I could go, because everybody got in and ate snacks and drank.

We moved to a deeper spot. The others put a couple of Hogfish and Spanish Mackerel into the cooler. I kept going down on Trumpetfish, short Triggerfish, and other species unworthy of a trip to the boat cooler. A nasty looking storm was brewing on the horizon. We had a limit of Mangos, some Hogfish, Mackerel, and the Blue Runner, so we called it a day.

Back at the dock, I was declared the “Most Improved Shooter – Ever” and Jonnie and I started cleaning the boat and gear while Stool and Redneck got the electric filet knifes going. Because of my new-found skill level, Stool assigned me to cutting the ribcages out of the fillets job. It is rumored that no one has ever risen to that stature as quickly as I! Who knows, maybe I’ll get a new nickname more befitting me, or maybe the one I have is still appropriate. Only time will tell."

Thanks for sharing Gary, I enjoyed reading your strory.

Hopefully you’ve enjoyed laughing with me about my failures. My story was intended to entertain and maybe encourage others that are having problems with this sport. My skills won’t be challenging the talent on this board, but I’m having fun.

What I’ve accomplished might not sound like much to some spearos, but it was quite a challenge to me. The challenge made the success that much more rewarding.

I also have to say my overall health has benefited from the experience. I’m still running regularly, but I’ve cut it down to 3 times a week. My SCUBA diving has improved as well because my air consumption has really improved. I still hold my breath going up and down stairs, and swim underwater laps without fins with my wife watching to be sure I don’t drown.

Subsequent trips have been hit or miss for me. My one remaining issue is ear clearing – some days it’s fine, other days it ruins the trip. I take Singular and a steroid nasal spray daily. I tried Doc’s ProPlugs – they intensified the pain. Once that hurdle is cleared (pun intended), the legal fish in 50 foot or less better look out!

My one remaining issue is ear clearing – some days it’s fine, other days it ruins the trip...I tried Doc’s ProPlugs – they intensified the pain.
I completely sympathize with you. I have the very same problem myself. Breath hold has never been a problem for me. My ears have dogged me since I was a kid, even when scuba diving. I also tried the Doc's vented ProPlugs, and they did nothing to help me equalize. They do make my my ears more comfortable in cold water during bug season though. I wish you great success. Thanks for the stories!

Great post!, we could use more like them. Thanks for the contribution.

Great story and well written!

Just out of curiosity, is Redneck's real name John R.?

Great story and well written!

Just out of curiosity, is Redneck's real name John R.?

Yes, the one and only Special Ops Hero himself.

I've only dived with him in the Middlegrounds. Although he's invited me to come down and dive with him a few times, we've never managed to hook up. But he did set me up with some good deep numbers this year when we were planning on diving the SBO out of Tavernier. I hit them after miniseason with Spearchucker with good results. Your story gives me an idea of what I missed diving with those guys - I have to make the time to do it. Thanks for sharing.

Hey, Gary H, great stories - we are teaching our children freediving instead of scuba, and I know they will enjoy reading your stories. We have 2 girls, both age 13. One is doing 25 ft. now, holding breath up to 2 minutes, no problem equalizing. She loves to go look under the caves and ledges with a flashlight, then comes up while I watch her and tells me which rock is holding the biggest groupers! I guess there are rewards in parenting, right?

Freediving... I love it!!!! Good stories.

Excellent story and greatly appreciated.:beer::beer:

Great story!!

Man that pic will almost make you allow bananas on the boat:smthumbup:

Bananas in a boat? Are you out of your mind?

Great story BTW, I'm inspired to try it.

Great post Gary, you have some talent my friend, not only am I glad you posted are recent trip but I'll never post a trip that your on with us. They should have published this story.