Free Diving Through a Herd of Goliath Groupers On the Castor

Went scooter free diving on the wreck of the Castor in 110 ft. off Boynton Beach Saturday. I had heard there can be up to a couple of dozen goliath grouper or jewfish on the wreck. May have seen a dozen on the last dive. Was taken out on the Undersea Explorer .


Anyone have problems with these big guys inhaling diver body parts, like heads? Have heard of that sort of thing in the past.


Video and more background at:
Complete Video - Wreck of the Castor, Goliath Grouper Central - FKA Kiteboarding Forums


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HOLY CRAP I love your video!!! I am taking the Performance Freediving class in the spring. Still trying to find someone to take it with me.

Thanks! It is good to have a diving partner take the course with you. Not only will your skills and abilities expand but also your awareness of mandatory safety procedures. You'll want to free dive with someone that has had the same training. Have fun in the course.

There are a lot more scooter free diving videos, more on the way too at:

Something Rich And Strange ... Diving Tales From The Water Underworld - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

The full videos are usually marked with a green arrow.

Rick

DebbyDiver:

HOLY CRAP I love your video!!! I am taking the Performance Freediving class in the spring. Still trying to find someone to take it with me.

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I was mesmerized by the video: how many dives do you get in 60 minutes on a wreck like the Castor. thanks for sharing

goliath grouper don't have the reputation of bothering divers. occasionally you hear a story of a grouper that tried to get to a hunter's speared catch and accidentally spooking or scraping up the diver as the grouper tried to grab the fish.

I put in about a dozen drops, normally there would be more, perhaps 15 to 20 or so, usually well above the bottom too. If I was going to full depth, there would be even fewer than 12. It was tricky setting up the dive to land close to the port aft quarter where I found the goliaths to be congregated. With the viz. almost insufficient to see the wreck at its highest point and needing to drop close to the area it slowed me down quite a bit.

Have you seen the shark and dolphin videos? Talk about mesmerizing! I am still trying to figure out what to do with the shark footage, it is so repetitious and relaxing. Dozens of sharks in motion relaxing? True story, even when they "taste" the upward looking camera on the bottom, about eight times!

Shark short
Video - Diving With Dozens Of Feeding Sharks - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

Dolphin video (happy with how this one came out, despite the mesmer effects)
Diving With The Dolphins Of Sataya (Dolphin Reef), Red Sea - A Video - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

For most of my diving career, goliaths have been particularly rare, that is until recent years. I can recall stories from the 50's and 60's about massive fish, 6 to 8 ft. messing with the rare diver. Googled and found reference to some divers getting "head jobs?." On SCUBA, no big deal as long as your throat isn't lacerated and your reg isn't forced out. Deeper free dives or getting yanked off a scooter, let me think about that. Good news is, it has been a rare thing. Then again, how much do we know about scooter-goliath interactions. Aside from it pissing them off?

sportxlh:

I was mesmerized by the video: how many dives do you get in 60 minutes on a wreck like the Castor. thanks for sharing

goliath grouper don't have the reputation of bothering divers. occasionally you hear a story of a grouper that tried to get to a hunter's speared catch and accidentally spooking or scraping up the diver as the grouper tried to grab the fish.

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I must admit I am not familar with scooter free diving. What are your contengency plans for a scooter malfunction at depth? I can not free dive like that. In my day about 40' was tops if I wanted to actually look around some when I got there. I find lobstering at 25' to be more like work these days and strap on the tanks filled with Geezer gas for Pepper Park lobstering..

Eric! There is a freediving school down here in Broward. I plan on taking the course this spring and I'd love to have a buddy to take it with. Performance Freediving

Whaddayasay, big boy?

RickI:

Dolphin video (happy with how this one came out, despite the mesmer effects)
Diving With The Dolphins Of Sataya (Dolphin Reef), Red Sea - A Video - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

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Rick: the dolphin video was great: nice footage, editing, music and historical still photo inserts. Was that you narrating as well? Thanks for sharing the link.

Excellent question and one that deserves full thought and practice in advance! The drill was to abandon the scooter and surface. I limit bottom times within a 60 to 90 seconds, maintaining a reserve to fin to the surface. I've added a free diver bouyancy belt with a small compressed air cylinder. The drill now is to start kicking to the surface immediately, blow the BC belt and ascend with both myself and the scooter. I may modify it yet again and add a lift bag for better speed. Bugging can be a harsh cardio workout to be sure. Scooter free diving usually is more leisurely and less demanding by intent.

An essential first step in my opinion, before even bothering with scooter free diving, is to take some pro free diving courses. I went through three of Martin Stepanek's FII courses and despite having been into free diving for almost 40 years, learned a great deal. It is well worth the time and money for folks into free diving. I understand Performance offers a similar program too.

Orlando Eric:

I must admit I am not familar with scooter free diving. What are your contengency plans for a scooter malfunction at depth? I can not free dive like that. In my day about 40' was tops if I wanted to actually look around some when I got there. I find lobstering at 25' to be more like work these days and strap on the tanks filled with Geezer gas for Pepper Park lobstering..

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Thank you! I am hoping to improve the editing, come up with better transitions and sound track manipulation. That is a slow work in progress. Yes, I did the voice over. Hope to do more of that as well. Just finished one on a cave and manatee dive last night that appears at:

Video - Diving Blue Springs, Manatee & Cave - FKA Kiteboarding Forums

sportxlh:

Rick: the dolphin video was great: nice footage, editing, music and historical still photo inserts. Was that you narrating as well? Thanks for sharing the link.

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