billindenver
Contributor
- Messages
- 447
- Reaction score
- 16
- # of dives
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I somehow end up on my island far more than is really justified, but I love it there. For the last half a decade or so I've been sneaking out of Denver as often as is possible and have enjoyed some amazing diving..some years as many as 42 days spread out in a handful of trips..we got married on Coz as well. A couple of years ago I started taking a day out of each week to do some spearfishing with Leo at spearfishtingoday.com as a break in the scuba action. This past week, I changed that plan and it was so much fun I thought I would let my friends in here have a trip report. I took this trip with an almost sinful lack of preplanning. Didn't tell my favorite dive op I was coming at all and gave Leo an entire day's notice that I'd want to spend some spearfishing time when he could squeeze me in (spring break).
We landed on Saturday and after checking into Hotel Coz and a margarita at Wet Wendy's we walked down to Aldora Divers to say hello to one of my favorite people on the island, Memo. We just missed him, but I booked a sunday morning pickup with the guys in the office. Sunday went pretty well, had a group that breathed well and was fun..though I'll admit we surfed the decompression line close enough to limit the dive length...which I'm not a huge fan of. The DM was a very cool guy though so I'm not complaining. Some people just don't like 90+ minute dives...I get that I'm in the minority so I just enjoy whatever dive profile we end up with.
On Monday morning Rodrigo with Spearfishing Cozumel picked me up downtown and we were off. A slow leisurely cruise north of town to a 20ft area for our fist dip into the salt water. Rodrigo gave the others in the group a thorough briefing on how to find fish, freedive, use the speargun and which fish we can and can not shoot.... then it's in the water. I've done it before, so Rodrigo is my buddy and after loading the gun I look down...and there at 20 feet is a trigger fish. Deep breath, slow roll and calm kick down....one fish in the boat. Wow, that was a great way to start the week. Three reefs later, with the bottom as deep as 60 feet but I'm averaging 40 feet or so with a submerged time of maybe 40 seconds. Still, I took two triggers and a snapper back to Hotel Coz for dinner...they charged us $10 to cook them up and we fed a half dozen people we met. Incredible.
Tuesday morning I was back with Rodgrigo doing it again. Another relaxed half day, no rushing, some fruit between reef 2 and 3 and I bagged a BIG trigger fish, but missed something like three others. I noticed my bottom time picked up a bit...saw a couple 50 second freedives. Nice. That trigger fish fed my wife and I and an entire family we donated it to. Hotel Coz really did a nice job on that fish, it was perfect. The rest of the week the fish was usually just a tad over cooked (rubbery) but only a tad. Tuesday's was nothing short of amazing...best fish I've ever had. Rodrigo got a nice Barracuda on the third reef. When he got it to the surface, it went a bit crazy and literally tried to eat his face. He had the spear with both hands and Cuda was perhaps 8 inches from Rodrigo's nose and trying like hell to get a bite of it. I was about 3 feet away, unable to do anything to help....it was crazy scary. The boat captain gaffed it and that ended the adventure...but damn that was close. Here is Rodrigo and his attempted plastic surgeon.
Wednesday, Leo at Spearfishing Coz was booked solid and couldn't squeeze me in. So I spent the day roaming the island with my overworked wife....saw a bunch of our favorite people...Chad at Wet Wendy's, the owner of Mosaico's whose name for reasons I can't fathom is escaping me today, Max at Los Otates, Memo of Aldora etc. Relaxed, did some snorkeling and worked on breath hold (solo..which really isn't terribly bright, but I didn't push it).
Thursday morning found Rodrigo and I once again hitting the water. This day was a bit of a breakthrough for me. All of a sudden I was more comfortable looking up at a 55 foot water column with only the air in my lungs. Bottom time broke a minute on a 56 foot dive....comfortably. Now, instead of diving down, quick look around and coming up...I was hanging out down there looking under coral etc before heading up. On the third reef I went down to check out a coral head at 45 feet or so and at about 50 seconds I turned to head back up and there was a 5 foot barracuda 15 feet away. I slowly swung the gun towards him and gave a kick...knowing full well I was at the end of my breath...but I WANTED that Cuda. When I squeezed the trigger the spear hit right where I wanted it to, but instead of killing him stone dead like I expected...he took off like a rocket...me in tow behind. I wish I had found him at the beginning of that breath so I could have enjoyed the ride, but alas my lungs were screaming so I used my long fins to tug-a-war him towards the surface. I didn't know it at that time, but Rodrigo was already heading down to take over the gun...knowing full well that I had been down there long enough to be worried. Alas, with my tugging one end and the Cuda tugging the other..the spear pulled out. Apparently I was a just a little too far away for the spear head to poke all the way through and the floppers on the tip to spread out. Had I kicked twice towards him instead of once...I'm betting that monster would have gone home with us. Provided it had not eaten us first of course. Rodrigo said that we really should attach a bouy to the gun for that size fish. I think he is right. I went home that day with a trigger fish and a fish nobody knew the name of. It's yellow with thin blue stripes down it. Tasted wonderful, much like the snapper from earlier in the week.
Friday morning...you guessed it...back in the boat with Rodrigo. I was battling a head cold though so my ears were definitely fighting me. I would get a great dive in...then not be able to clear my ears for the rest of the reef. It was frustrating to say the least. Missed a perfect shot on a grouper because I couldn't get down to him. Frustrating day...but I still had a blast. On one of the first dives I did 55 feet for 1:05...so I left that day smiling.
Saturday morning I was on prescription alergy meds and some squirt up the nostrils stuff I stole from my wife...and the ears were great. I was feeling really comfortable floating with the current deep down and beyond a minute. My aim wasn't so great this day and I missed, amoung other things, another MONSTER of a barracuda. He came up to 25 feet, I ducked down to him and had plenty of time...he was close enough that the spear would certainly have gone all the way through...and I missed. I can't explain it...it just happened and I was destroyed. A few minutes later though a couple of smaller cuda swam by at 40 feet or so. I tried to sneak up to them but they were not having it...so I gave three hard full kicks to get close enough and took a shot at the rear one. I hit him rather far back so he had a LOT of fight in him. It was a real tug-a-war but he was more interested in getting away than getting to me..thank god.
And finally my imitation of Rodrigo's barracuda:
I can't recommend these guys enough. I really enjoyed freediving and spearfishing and Spearfishing Cozumel is a wonderful way to spend time in Cozumel. I was sad to get out of the boat each day...perhaps in the future I'll see if I can talk Leo and Rodrigo into letting me take the morning and afternoon trips. My wife, somewhat shocked at my lack of scuba this trip, asked me why. I told her that scuba gives a sense of amazement at what I see down there, but I'm fairly good at it now and really its just not much of a challenge. Beautiful beyond doubt and you meet really cool people, but its not challenging me. With freediving, I get the same sense of amazement at what I see..but also the sense of accomplishment for what I can do. I'm still very much a beginner, but in 5 days I went from 45 feet for 40 seconds at best to 60+ feet and 1:05 comfortably. I wonder what I'll be doing by the end of next trip. I'm seriously considering leaving my scuba gear in Denver.
I jumped off the boat on Saturday at noon, hailed a taxi to Hotel Coz, took a shower, packed and was at the airport by 1pm for the flight home. The great thing about freediving...you can fly afterwards! It's snowing here today...but my mind is in Cozumel....65 feet below sea level, taking aim at that monster barracuda...this time he's mine...
We landed on Saturday and after checking into Hotel Coz and a margarita at Wet Wendy's we walked down to Aldora Divers to say hello to one of my favorite people on the island, Memo. We just missed him, but I booked a sunday morning pickup with the guys in the office. Sunday went pretty well, had a group that breathed well and was fun..though I'll admit we surfed the decompression line close enough to limit the dive length...which I'm not a huge fan of. The DM was a very cool guy though so I'm not complaining. Some people just don't like 90+ minute dives...I get that I'm in the minority so I just enjoy whatever dive profile we end up with.
On Monday morning Rodrigo with Spearfishing Cozumel picked me up downtown and we were off. A slow leisurely cruise north of town to a 20ft area for our fist dip into the salt water. Rodrigo gave the others in the group a thorough briefing on how to find fish, freedive, use the speargun and which fish we can and can not shoot.... then it's in the water. I've done it before, so Rodrigo is my buddy and after loading the gun I look down...and there at 20 feet is a trigger fish. Deep breath, slow roll and calm kick down....one fish in the boat. Wow, that was a great way to start the week. Three reefs later, with the bottom as deep as 60 feet but I'm averaging 40 feet or so with a submerged time of maybe 40 seconds. Still, I took two triggers and a snapper back to Hotel Coz for dinner...they charged us $10 to cook them up and we fed a half dozen people we met. Incredible.
Tuesday morning I was back with Rodgrigo doing it again. Another relaxed half day, no rushing, some fruit between reef 2 and 3 and I bagged a BIG trigger fish, but missed something like three others. I noticed my bottom time picked up a bit...saw a couple 50 second freedives. Nice. That trigger fish fed my wife and I and an entire family we donated it to. Hotel Coz really did a nice job on that fish, it was perfect. The rest of the week the fish was usually just a tad over cooked (rubbery) but only a tad. Tuesday's was nothing short of amazing...best fish I've ever had. Rodrigo got a nice Barracuda on the third reef. When he got it to the surface, it went a bit crazy and literally tried to eat his face. He had the spear with both hands and Cuda was perhaps 8 inches from Rodrigo's nose and trying like hell to get a bite of it. I was about 3 feet away, unable to do anything to help....it was crazy scary. The boat captain gaffed it and that ended the adventure...but damn that was close. Here is Rodrigo and his attempted plastic surgeon.
Thursday morning found Rodrigo and I once again hitting the water. This day was a bit of a breakthrough for me. All of a sudden I was more comfortable looking up at a 55 foot water column with only the air in my lungs. Bottom time broke a minute on a 56 foot dive....comfortably. Now, instead of diving down, quick look around and coming up...I was hanging out down there looking under coral etc before heading up. On the third reef I went down to check out a coral head at 45 feet or so and at about 50 seconds I turned to head back up and there was a 5 foot barracuda 15 feet away. I slowly swung the gun towards him and gave a kick...knowing full well I was at the end of my breath...but I WANTED that Cuda. When I squeezed the trigger the spear hit right where I wanted it to, but instead of killing him stone dead like I expected...he took off like a rocket...me in tow behind. I wish I had found him at the beginning of that breath so I could have enjoyed the ride, but alas my lungs were screaming so I used my long fins to tug-a-war him towards the surface. I didn't know it at that time, but Rodrigo was already heading down to take over the gun...knowing full well that I had been down there long enough to be worried. Alas, with my tugging one end and the Cuda tugging the other..the spear pulled out. Apparently I was a just a little too far away for the spear head to poke all the way through and the floppers on the tip to spread out. Had I kicked twice towards him instead of once...I'm betting that monster would have gone home with us. Provided it had not eaten us first of course. Rodrigo said that we really should attach a bouy to the gun for that size fish. I think he is right. I went home that day with a trigger fish and a fish nobody knew the name of. It's yellow with thin blue stripes down it. Tasted wonderful, much like the snapper from earlier in the week.
Friday morning...you guessed it...back in the boat with Rodrigo. I was battling a head cold though so my ears were definitely fighting me. I would get a great dive in...then not be able to clear my ears for the rest of the reef. It was frustrating to say the least. Missed a perfect shot on a grouper because I couldn't get down to him. Frustrating day...but I still had a blast. On one of the first dives I did 55 feet for 1:05...so I left that day smiling.
Saturday morning I was on prescription alergy meds and some squirt up the nostrils stuff I stole from my wife...and the ears were great. I was feeling really comfortable floating with the current deep down and beyond a minute. My aim wasn't so great this day and I missed, amoung other things, another MONSTER of a barracuda. He came up to 25 feet, I ducked down to him and had plenty of time...he was close enough that the spear would certainly have gone all the way through...and I missed. I can't explain it...it just happened and I was destroyed. A few minutes later though a couple of smaller cuda swam by at 40 feet or so. I tried to sneak up to them but they were not having it...so I gave three hard full kicks to get close enough and took a shot at the rear one. I hit him rather far back so he had a LOT of fight in him. It was a real tug-a-war but he was more interested in getting away than getting to me..thank god.
I can't recommend these guys enough. I really enjoyed freediving and spearfishing and Spearfishing Cozumel is a wonderful way to spend time in Cozumel. I was sad to get out of the boat each day...perhaps in the future I'll see if I can talk Leo and Rodrigo into letting me take the morning and afternoon trips. My wife, somewhat shocked at my lack of scuba this trip, asked me why. I told her that scuba gives a sense of amazement at what I see down there, but I'm fairly good at it now and really its just not much of a challenge. Beautiful beyond doubt and you meet really cool people, but its not challenging me. With freediving, I get the same sense of amazement at what I see..but also the sense of accomplishment for what I can do. I'm still very much a beginner, but in 5 days I went from 45 feet for 40 seconds at best to 60+ feet and 1:05 comfortably. I wonder what I'll be doing by the end of next trip. I'm seriously considering leaving my scuba gear in Denver.
I jumped off the boat on Saturday at noon, hailed a taxi to Hotel Coz, took a shower, packed and was at the airport by 1pm for the flight home. The great thing about freediving...you can fly afterwards! It's snowing here today...but my mind is in Cozumel....65 feet below sea level, taking aim at that monster barracuda...this time he's mine...
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