From Tavernier, FL to Vigo, Spain

Que bola? I thought it would be appropriate to start this entry with the common Cuban salutation. I guarantee you they'll be hearing plenty of that next year in Vigo, Spain for the world spearfishing championships. Congrats to the new 2012 USA spearfishing team, consisting of a line up of guys with Cuban heritage. Makes me proud to be a South Florida boy! I had the pleasure of meeting and photographing some of the guys at nationals this year down in Tavernier. Those Spanish boys better watch out in 2012.

The team will consist of Harolf Dean, Miguel Guinovart, Alex Bristol, Eric Salado, and Sergey Lopez. An extremely talented bunch of guys, that I have no doubt will rattle some cages next year. In early August I was fortunate enough to tag along with Dimitris Kollias from Deep World Wide Magazine to cover day 1 of nationals in Tavernier, FL. Eric Pinon from The Broward Longfins was nice enough to have us on the safety boat as we bounced from team to team. Since my work doesn't often take me into the spearfishing community, it was a hell of a learning experience diving with such an accomplished freediver/cameraman as Dimitris. I'm pretty sure he has a third lung stashed away somewhere.

                                                  Dimitris at work


It was a nice day for diving minus the visibility, which wasn't ideal given the flat and sunny conditions. Every team had to work hard to put fish on on the boat. Every fish was worth 1 point + its weight. Lots of margates and triggers taken to make weight. Not the most productive grounds, so everyone really had their work cut out. The largest fish was taken by Manny Diaz; a 31lb kingfish.

                                                       Trigger fish


There were some nice fish taken. As I was only there the 1st day, I did see some nice fish being weighed, but they were few and far between. That goes to show you how hammered that area gets. The boundaries ran from the south end of Penny Camp to Alligator Light, and you had to be 3 miles offshore. I know some teams ran offshore for pelagics. I don't think anyone scored, but that would have been one ballsy move if they ran into some dolphin are wahoo.

                                  One of the nicer fish landed on day 1 


Teams were rewarded for deeper dives. The guys working the 80ft to 100ft range seemed to be more successful. We accompanied the Miami Freedivers Team 1 for a good part of the day. That team consisted of Harolf Dean, Miguel Guinovart, and Jose Santeiro. They were working deep and producing some good fish. There were a hand full teams diving that range, and they were landing fish with more frequency than the teams staying shallow. Here's a shot of Alejandro Bristol coming up from a deep hunt.

                                          Alex Bristol on a deep hunt


Harolf Dean dominated the competition, and took both days 1 and 2. All in all it was a great experience. To read more about it go to http://www.deepww.com/online/

                                           Harolf Dean disposes of a jack

                             Dimitris accompanies Harolf on the surface

All in all it was a great experience, and again, congrats to the guys selectd to the 2012 USA team. Give'em hell.

Next week we should have finished reviewing some different pole spears along with dive knifes:Brands, and the best place to put'em. Like to hear from different people on where they like to place their knives, and what are some of their preferences.

Safe dives,
Raul Boesel Jr
www.rulophoto.com

Bahamas Permits on the stick (pole spear)

Had a really nice weekend over in Bimini, Bahamas this past weekend. It was my birthday, so we planned on doing some fishing, diving, and lots of relaxing. The weather forecast was less than ideal for the weekend, but we still decided to make a go of it. We left Friday and crossed behind Glenn Gillette from Lifeline Inflatables. He had a beautiful custom RIB that was just eating up the 2-4ft seas. Being an owner of a rigged hull inflatable myself, I was excited to see the boat handling those seas so well. Glenn was going over to do some tank diving, and he had a great group of guys with him.

                             Glenn and the guys in front of the Sapona 


That boat is a tank, and rides incredibly well. As you can see, they rode over with 8 people comfortably. It was very interesting speaking to Glenn about RIB's. Glenn has worked in the inflatable business for over 25 years, so it was a pleasure to pick his brain on the subject over the weekend. With the price of gas these days, it'll be interesting to see if more boaters start looking towards RIB's as a solution. Glenn founded lifeline in 1991, and just recently moved to a brand new state of the art shop. You can get in touch with them for all your inflatable needs through http://www.lifelineinflatable.com , which is located in North Miami.

                                    Custom RIB from Lifeline, F'ing Tank! 

After arriving Friday, the weather was still not cooperating, so we dove a little for some lobster and called it a day. Saturday we had planned to hit it hard, but again, with the uncertainty of weather conditions, we weren't able to make the run to the spots we had planned on diving and fishing. The guys on the boat decided to do some yellow tailing out front. After they anchored up, I spotted a couple of life vests on the surface that were acting as a mooring bouy anchored down.

I had been wanting to do some spearfishing, and test the gro pro mounted on the pole spear. I decided to swim in, clip off to the buoy, and try to do a little hunting. The bottom looked really nice, but I knew I only had a couple of shots at fish since they were a 100 yard swim away and I was alone. After coming up from checking some holes, I saw a permit in the distance. As many of you know, Permits can be very spooky and difficult to approach. I was able to creep up on one and get a good shot on it with the Manny Puig Pole spear. After a little fight, it gave in, but it was enough to get some sharks up. Here's the first Permit, a nice +20 pounder.  

                                            +20lbs on the pole spear


After dropping him off, I swam back to the same area and clipped off again. It was my birthday, so I thought I'd push my luck and see if I couldn't land another one. By the time I clipped off, the sharks had dispersed, and it was back to hunting. This time I was able to position myself just right and pick out a slob. As they came through, a couple of grunts got the smaller ones in front of the school to peel off and come check me out. As soon as I saw the rest of the school follow, I was confident I'd be able to get close enough for the pole spear.

This time, the shot was low, and he took me all the way to the bottom for a white knuckle ride. I held on to the band, bouncing off the sand and rocks before I could slow him down and get a hold of him. That's when I saw the tax man coming. The commotion had attracted a big bull, and he was fired up trying to get that fish. I'm surprised I was able to land it. I had to call the boat over at that time, since there was no swimming that fish back without the shark taking him. Notice in the next picture, my suit pants ripped and covered in sand from getting dragged by that fish, what a rush! This one was in the 30 lb class, the smile says it all.

                                                 +30lbs on the stick!


Being behind the camera most of the time, it was nice to do some hunting. So that night, we celebrated in customary fashion, with good friends, and lots of rum. All in all, a great way to finish the day and celebrate my 27th birthday. Luckily, got it on video so all my skeptical spearo buddies couldn't give me s**t!

Check out the link below for the video of the hunt: 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGoVBfEP1no 


Stay tuned for next week as I review different pole spears for inshore and offshore applications. Please don't hesitate to chime in with your preferred pole spear or sling rig. Until then, keep bending those shafts and safe dives.

Regards,
Raul Boesel Jr.
www.rulophoto.com

                                               

 

Mystery pinnacle

There's been a lot of emails concerning this trip, so I thought I would clarify to the best of my abilities. It was around 6pm Thursday (07/14/11) when I got a call from a good spearfishing buddy of mine, Pedro. Pedro tells me that he's taking off to Cay Sal bank to do a some spearfishing the next morning with his dive buddies, Jose, Ricky, and Damon. I've been dying to document some hunting in Cay Sal for a couple of years, so I jumped at the opportunity. He goes on to tell me that we'll be pushing off at 2am to make the run, and that he would be by around 1am to pick me up.

I hadn't met anyone previously before the trip, but Pedro reassured me these guys don't fuck around and that we would be getting into some big grouper, which I was thrilled to hear. So we launch out of Blackpoint Marina around 1:30am, and the weather couldn't have been better. Less than 5kts of wind and glassy. That's when they drop the bomb on me; we're not going to Cay Sal. They told me Cay Sal to throw me off the scent, just in case I had told anyone where I was going the previous day.

They made me sit on the bow cooler so I couldn't get a look at the gps. At night, I wouldn't have a beat on landmarks regardless; all I know is that they ran south. It was a 5 hour run to the mystery spot. I had no idea where the hell we were when we arrived. It must have been around 6:30-7:00am. We took half an hour to rig up and get ready. Sun was just coming up, and we had been running through the night under a full moon. Few times you get to see the sun and full moon in the same sky.

    Stoned 50lb Black. Notice the 90 degree shaft    

                         Jose wrestling a 55lb Black Grouper out of a ledge

At around 8:30am, Ricky, Jose, and Pedro start stalking a big grouper. This is where teamwork comes into play in this sport which you would think is more individualistic. The grouper is swimming towards a ledge in 80ft on the sand. He holes up in the ledge for a moment before coming out and darting into open water, Ricky is able to get in front of him and coax him back into the ledge. Jose is already down at depth and takes great head shot at the big black while he's under the ledge. 10 minutes of work and they had another big black on the boat.

                               Pedro with a 65lb Black Grouper, stoned!

Than the next drop he disposes of another, twin 65-70lb grouper. The viz isn't great, and getting worse throughout the day. The next image doesn't justify what Pedro went through to stalk, shoot and dispose if this fish. Not to mention the sharks. The current was ripping which made holding ground tiring enough, especially when you're breathing up to shoot a fish in 70ft of water. In the video, all you hear is his contractions on the way up. Pretty work, and a hell of a dive.

                  Pedro Disposing of another  grouper. Starting to get sharky


At this point the trip was made. Any other fish would just be a cherry on top, and than Jose and Ricky went and gone done did it. We moved spots, and sure enough, after some teamwork Jose was swimming up with this +70lb black.

                 Jose with a 67lb black weighed 8 hours later. We'll give you 75lb

At this point I'm trying to process the size of the fish on the deck. It hadn't registered in my mind what I was looking at. It must have been 1pm at this point. Not a half hour goes by when I see Ricky tracking something. Those carbon fins can be a bitch on the surface, but this guy just sprinted 100 yards on top of a black, and than made a 70ft dive for a shot. I get to go on a lot of boats and am lucky enough to dive with some accomplished spearo's, but Ricky made them look like little kids that day. Especially when he brought this moose out of a deep hole.

                    Slick Rick with an 82lb Black Grouper. Making it look easy

All in all I'm still trying to recover from that day of diving. Wanted to thank the team for having me and for all the education. Just wanted to fill in the curious cats who were asking about the trip. Until next post,  keep it bent at 90 degrees and safe diving.

Till next adventure,
Raul Boesel Jr
www.rulophoto.com