IncreaseMyT
Banned
Ok I am putting this here because I got tons of video from offshore spearing yesterday out of Naples Florida but the last dive of the day, one of the craziest of my young spearing journey, my camera was for some reason not rolling, and its such a crazy story I have to share.
So after a really long day of diving, 70 miles offshore and already had done 4x 100 + ft dives we decide to head over to the CalJo wreck at 5pm. We had no idea it would turn out like this.
There are 4 of us and there is no captain on the boat so we dropped anchor on the wreck, the first thing we have to do is get in the water and drop down the anchor line and make sure the anchor is not tied up in the wreck. So kaplunk, we back roll off the gunwale and start our desent. As soon as we get 25 ft down we realize we are in this huge cyclone of fish swimming in circles above the wreck. There was every kind of fish I could think of swirling including:
Permit
Barracuda
Snapper
Greater AJ's
Lesser AJ's
Yellow jacks
Snapper
Kingfish
African Pompano
It was amazing, I have never seen so many fish in one place. I look over and one of the divers already has a huge AP on his stringer. I signal to him where did he get that and he points behind me, so me and my buddy head in that direction and sure enough there are 2 large AP's headed our way. He is on my left and I am slightly further away from the fish, so as he lines up my thought is he is going to take the one on the left and I am going to take the one on the right.
I stretch out to get as close as I can without spooking them in hopes they will swim closer to me, right now we are just hanging out in the 45 ft depth range and its 120 to the bottom. So I see him squeeze the trigger and I do the same. We both shoot at the same fish, he misses, probably because the fish was startled, and I hit right on the spine and unfortunately my spear didn't go through, I am too far away.
He looks at me and gurgles something, and I yell at him "your on the left take the one on the left!" but all he heard was gurgling, meanwhile the third guy is behind us laughing his rear end off with a big AP on his stringer.
So we load up, we are gonna find these AP's because thats what we came 70 miles offshore for. We start swimming and the third guy (trying not to name drop) decides to hang around and watch us chase these AP's. BTW what happened to the anchor did anyone go check on it? LOL whoops, wheres the 4th guy? This is gonna get hairy I can already feel it.
Where did the AP's go!!! Still swimming. Oh wait, look at that huge school of permit....?? Nope, thats an ENTIRE school of AP's, there must of been about 100. Where are the suits? Still haven't seen any on this dive.
Swimming all the way to the school this time, I am not going to come up short, I will let my buddy take the first shot and after they scatter when they loop back around to see what happened I will attempt another shot. Clack, my buddy fires, I don't even look at him once he pulls the trigger, I am swimming towards these AP's and I might be able to get in a shot from behind and then THUD (something just hit my tank). What in tarnations was that? I look up, there goes my buddy on the surface headed to the boat whats going on??? Where is his speargun, why doesn't he have it? Turns out a big bull shark grabbed his gun and ripped it out of his hands after he shot the AP and he flew back to the boat lol
Look down, holy crap thats a big bull and he is charging me (try not to crap yourself and don't run). I take a deep breath and blow up as I point my spear at the 6 foot bull charging from below and at that moment he spins off. Vis is not great starting at the thermocline and below, I can't see him. Look left, there goes 2 more, but they are not charging, I look at guy 3 and he is not swimming to the boat so what the heck I am staying, where are the AP's.
Swim laps in the cyclone of fish, no AP's they must be too scared, I look down I have 950# and I am at 40 feet but still should do a safety so I bail and get that done. As I surface I almost forgot to look down, I was concentrating on doing my stop properly because we didn't come up the anchor line and were on our own for buoyancy.
I grab the ladder, take off one fin, and glance back in the water behind me to make sure guy 3 is with and swimming just below me was the biggest shark of the day, 300lb 9 foot bull just staring at me and I literally leaped out of the water into the boat lol. Guy 3 was hanging on to my BCD getting towed in and I still got a fin on hahaha
He swears a bull charged me and hit my tank, but I think he kicked me swimming away so fast.
No AP for me, ugh maybe next time. I did get some snapper, about 6 lion fish and some permit to take home for dinner. Here are some stats from the dives, feel free to comment on the numbers:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#5
Lifetime Dive #: 39
Location: CalJo Wreck, Gulf of Mexico, 68 miles due west of Marco Island
Time in: 5:47 pm
Time out: 6:20 pm
Max Depth: 98ft
Average Depth: 41
Elapsed Time: 33 min
Min Temp: 79 F
PO2: 1.15
FO2: Nitrox 29.5%
Start Pressure: 3,642
End Pressure: 750
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#1
Lifetime Dive #: 35
Location: L Tower, Gulf of Mexico, 55 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 10:16 am
Time out: 10:47am
Max Depth: 99ft
Average Depth: 62ft
Elapsed Time: 31 min
Min Temp: 79 F
PO2: 1.28
FO2: Nitrox: 32 %
Start Pressure: 3,214
End Pressure: 660
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#2
Lifetime Dive #: 36
Location: Jurassic Park, 65 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 11:44 am
Time out: 12.09 pm
Max Depth: 103ft
Average Depth: 74ft
Elapsed Time: 25 min
Min Temp: 78 F
PO2: 1.31
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,460
End Pressure: 606
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#3
Lifetime Dive #: 37
Location: Grassy Patch, 65 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 2.09 pm
Time out: 2.20 pm
Max Depth: 104ft
Average Depth: 66ft
Elapsed Time: 11 min
Min Temp: 80 F
PO2: 1.32
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,378
End Pressure: 1,862
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#4
Lifetime Dive #: 38
Location: Buds Black, 60 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 4.33 pm
Time out: 4.56 pm
Max Depth: 102ft
Average Depth: 74ft
Elapsed Time: 23 min
Min Temp: 78 F
PO2: 1.30
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,394
End Pressure: 388
Dive Profile Below:
So after a really long day of diving, 70 miles offshore and already had done 4x 100 + ft dives we decide to head over to the CalJo wreck at 5pm. We had no idea it would turn out like this.
There are 4 of us and there is no captain on the boat so we dropped anchor on the wreck, the first thing we have to do is get in the water and drop down the anchor line and make sure the anchor is not tied up in the wreck. So kaplunk, we back roll off the gunwale and start our desent. As soon as we get 25 ft down we realize we are in this huge cyclone of fish swimming in circles above the wreck. There was every kind of fish I could think of swirling including:
Permit
Barracuda
Snapper
Greater AJ's
Lesser AJ's
Yellow jacks
Snapper
Kingfish
African Pompano
It was amazing, I have never seen so many fish in one place. I look over and one of the divers already has a huge AP on his stringer. I signal to him where did he get that and he points behind me, so me and my buddy head in that direction and sure enough there are 2 large AP's headed our way. He is on my left and I am slightly further away from the fish, so as he lines up my thought is he is going to take the one on the left and I am going to take the one on the right.
I stretch out to get as close as I can without spooking them in hopes they will swim closer to me, right now we are just hanging out in the 45 ft depth range and its 120 to the bottom. So I see him squeeze the trigger and I do the same. We both shoot at the same fish, he misses, probably because the fish was startled, and I hit right on the spine and unfortunately my spear didn't go through, I am too far away.
He looks at me and gurgles something, and I yell at him "your on the left take the one on the left!" but all he heard was gurgling, meanwhile the third guy is behind us laughing his rear end off with a big AP on his stringer.
So we load up, we are gonna find these AP's because thats what we came 70 miles offshore for. We start swimming and the third guy (trying not to name drop) decides to hang around and watch us chase these AP's. BTW what happened to the anchor did anyone go check on it? LOL whoops, wheres the 4th guy? This is gonna get hairy I can already feel it.
Where did the AP's go!!! Still swimming. Oh wait, look at that huge school of permit....?? Nope, thats an ENTIRE school of AP's, there must of been about 100. Where are the suits? Still haven't seen any on this dive.
Swimming all the way to the school this time, I am not going to come up short, I will let my buddy take the first shot and after they scatter when they loop back around to see what happened I will attempt another shot. Clack, my buddy fires, I don't even look at him once he pulls the trigger, I am swimming towards these AP's and I might be able to get in a shot from behind and then THUD (something just hit my tank). What in tarnations was that? I look up, there goes my buddy on the surface headed to the boat whats going on??? Where is his speargun, why doesn't he have it? Turns out a big bull shark grabbed his gun and ripped it out of his hands after he shot the AP and he flew back to the boat lol
Look down, holy crap thats a big bull and he is charging me (try not to crap yourself and don't run). I take a deep breath and blow up as I point my spear at the 6 foot bull charging from below and at that moment he spins off. Vis is not great starting at the thermocline and below, I can't see him. Look left, there goes 2 more, but they are not charging, I look at guy 3 and he is not swimming to the boat so what the heck I am staying, where are the AP's.
Swim laps in the cyclone of fish, no AP's they must be too scared, I look down I have 950# and I am at 40 feet but still should do a safety so I bail and get that done. As I surface I almost forgot to look down, I was concentrating on doing my stop properly because we didn't come up the anchor line and were on our own for buoyancy.
I grab the ladder, take off one fin, and glance back in the water behind me to make sure guy 3 is with and swimming just below me was the biggest shark of the day, 300lb 9 foot bull just staring at me and I literally leaped out of the water into the boat lol. Guy 3 was hanging on to my BCD getting towed in and I still got a fin on hahaha
He swears a bull charged me and hit my tank, but I think he kicked me swimming away so fast.
No AP for me, ugh maybe next time. I did get some snapper, about 6 lion fish and some permit to take home for dinner. Here are some stats from the dives, feel free to comment on the numbers:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#5
Lifetime Dive #: 39
Location: CalJo Wreck, Gulf of Mexico, 68 miles due west of Marco Island
Time in: 5:47 pm
Time out: 6:20 pm
Max Depth: 98ft
Average Depth: 41
Elapsed Time: 33 min
Min Temp: 79 F
PO2: 1.15
FO2: Nitrox 29.5%
Start Pressure: 3,642
End Pressure: 750
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#1
Lifetime Dive #: 35
Location: L Tower, Gulf of Mexico, 55 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 10:16 am
Time out: 10:47am
Max Depth: 99ft
Average Depth: 62ft
Elapsed Time: 31 min
Min Temp: 79 F
PO2: 1.28
FO2: Nitrox: 32 %
Start Pressure: 3,214
End Pressure: 660
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#2
Lifetime Dive #: 36
Location: Jurassic Park, 65 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 11:44 am
Time out: 12.09 pm
Max Depth: 103ft
Average Depth: 74ft
Elapsed Time: 25 min
Min Temp: 78 F
PO2: 1.31
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,460
End Pressure: 606
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#3
Lifetime Dive #: 37
Location: Grassy Patch, 65 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 2.09 pm
Time out: 2.20 pm
Max Depth: 104ft
Average Depth: 66ft
Elapsed Time: 11 min
Min Temp: 80 F
PO2: 1.32
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,378
End Pressure: 1,862
Dive Profile Below:
Date: 7/8/2018
Dive#4
Lifetime Dive #: 38
Location: Buds Black, 60 miles off Marco Island
Time in: 4.33 pm
Time out: 4.56 pm
Max Depth: 102ft
Average Depth: 74ft
Elapsed Time: 23 min
Min Temp: 78 F
PO2: 1.30
FO2: Nitrox: 32%
Start Pressure: 3,394
End Pressure: 388
Dive Profile Below:
Attachments
Last edited:
