I dove Saturday on a private boat out of WPB. I'm still learning to spearfish and landed a 19 inch mutton that wouldn't give me it's broad side. It let me scooter up behind it and it just kept swimming its current course. After about a minute I was getting impatient and waited for any sort of turn. It took the slightest turn, and I nailed it as perfect as the angle allowed. On the next dive, I had my float stringers attached to my zookeeper and upon splashing in the water, my 10 year old zookeeper mounts broke without me realizing it. I was watching the flag carrier who had a tangle problem on a previous dive, so I was prepared to assist if needed. During ascent at the end of the dive, these 2 long silver (not barracuda) fish swam within 5 ft of me at around 40ft of depth. I had plenty of air (was only going up due to NDL), but didn't load and take a shot. I wasn't confident on what I'd do with the fish if I landed it. Being new, I want to catch the fish and get it off my person as quickly as possible, but I didn't have my float stringers. I carry 2 DSMB's, so I'm mentally working out what that would look like if I ran the strap through the gills out the mouth and hooked back to the DSMB base.
The good news is my name and number are on everything. My buddy asked if I wanted to drop back down to find it. Since I was at my NDL limit, I didn't want to bounce and risk it. We might even dive the spot again next week and find it still sitting there. We had a buddy lose his and we found it 2 weeks later. It'll find its way home eventually or I'll just buy new gear.
In the meantime, I've got a mutton to cook.
Conditions: Seas were fine, a little more lively than the forecast, but it wasn't consistent. The water was chilly. I haven't downloaded my computer yet, but if I had to guess, I'd say 73-74.
