Went out for an evening dive with Stuart Scuba. We went to Evans Crary. Visibility was pretty poor, maybe 15-20 ft. The abundant quantity of fish was pretty amazing. I couldn't believe how many fish there were with the limited visibility. on the descent, Barracuda would poke their heads just within visibility and disappear. Hundreds of fish were swimming around on the edge of visibility. The sea floor was blanketed in a school of fish. Fish were just everywhere. There were also a LOT of large lionfish. The dive was about 70-75 ft deep. There was very little current at depth.
So I'm using this piece of crap to bag my lionfish. This is the biggest piece of garbage of dive gear that I've ever purchased. Hit the water and the bag immediately comes off. So I purchased a clasp band to put around it and that secures it to the lobster hotel.
Lionfish Hotel
There were no problems bagging the small lionfish, but the big ones had to be caught. My first big one, got him... I disconnect the container and hold it away from me. I'm holding the bag by the handle in my right hand. Just as the LF was about to enter the lobster hotel, it flinched and 2 of it's poisonous spines got me. One on the thumb and the other on my ring finger.
I dropped the bag. Signaled LF, pointed at my hand, and thumbed up to the DM who was hunting with me and putting his catch in my bag. I was going to retrieve the bag but it fell within a few feet of the DM and he grabbed it. So I'm starting my ascent thinking everything through when my breathing becomes extremely heavy. Odd, because I'm not freaking out. I look at my computer and see I'm going up too fast, so I dump my bladder and stopped my ascent. 20 seconds later I was back to breathing normal. Adrenaline? Anyways, continued my ascent and started my safety stop. I was ascending near the DM's flag, so I didn't shoot my SMB and had no idea where the boat was. I wanted to make sure it wasn't too close. The 3 minutes flew by in what felt like 30 seconds, if that. The pain was starting, but wasn't bad. As soon as I surfaced, the Capt saw me, so I gave him the OK signal so he wouldn't be overly worried. As he was positioning the boat, I told him what happened and he winced. It was a 6 pack, so he helped me on board. I got to hear his stories, which helped pass the time while waiting for the other divers. All 5 remaining divers surfaced within 30 seconds of each other 35 minutes later and we got to shore.
The capt had someone waiting at the dock with hot water. While soaking my hand, one of the other divers filleted the f***er for me and one other. I gave the rest to the DM, we had about 8 in the 20 minutes I was down there. I'll let you know how he tastes tomorrow
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Evan's Crary was a really cool site. I wouldn't mind diving it again some time.
So my ring finger and thumb were hurting pretty good. During the drive home, it started hurting again. I immediately got it into hot water at home. Luckily I live 5 min from the dock. I called DAN. They advised me to wash my hands with soap and soak it in hot water. They asked when my last tetanus shot was... uh oh... 14 years? They said I might need antibiotics and an xray to see if anything is still in my skin. I considered walk in clinics and the emergency room that night. All the walk in clinics were closed. I had the pain under control and opted to wait til the next day to see a doctor. After all, DAN was asking me if I had a primary physician and didn't mention anything about the emergency room.
I took some ibuprofen and actually slept pretty good. In the morning, my thumb was swollen good but my middle finger was good to go. It's sensitive to the touch, but not painful at all. My thumb was only hurting from the swelling. The clinic seemed pretty excited about the case, as if they were learning something new. Gave me my shot, antibiotics, and anti inflammatory pills. They did do an xray and it was clean. I was impressed that the clinic did everything DAN suggested without me having to say it. The only thing I said when making the appt was I needed my tetanus shot.
So it's now 2 days since the incident. My thumb is still slightly swollen but very manageable. I'm typing with it now and there's no pain.
I've learned a couple of lessons... 1) Get rid of the POS Mako LF bag in exchange for a zoo keeper, 2) Get a longer spear after talking to some others about their hits happening after a LF swam at them after a miss, 3) Get some pierce resistant gloves. So my LF hunting is on pause but I'll be back
So I'm using this piece of crap to bag my lionfish. This is the biggest piece of garbage of dive gear that I've ever purchased. Hit the water and the bag immediately comes off. So I purchased a clasp band to put around it and that secures it to the lobster hotel.
Lionfish Hotel
There were no problems bagging the small lionfish, but the big ones had to be caught. My first big one, got him... I disconnect the container and hold it away from me. I'm holding the bag by the handle in my right hand. Just as the LF was about to enter the lobster hotel, it flinched and 2 of it's poisonous spines got me. One on the thumb and the other on my ring finger.
I dropped the bag. Signaled LF, pointed at my hand, and thumbed up to the DM who was hunting with me and putting his catch in my bag. I was going to retrieve the bag but it fell within a few feet of the DM and he grabbed it. So I'm starting my ascent thinking everything through when my breathing becomes extremely heavy. Odd, because I'm not freaking out. I look at my computer and see I'm going up too fast, so I dump my bladder and stopped my ascent. 20 seconds later I was back to breathing normal. Adrenaline? Anyways, continued my ascent and started my safety stop. I was ascending near the DM's flag, so I didn't shoot my SMB and had no idea where the boat was. I wanted to make sure it wasn't too close. The 3 minutes flew by in what felt like 30 seconds, if that. The pain was starting, but wasn't bad. As soon as I surfaced, the Capt saw me, so I gave him the OK signal so he wouldn't be overly worried. As he was positioning the boat, I told him what happened and he winced. It was a 6 pack, so he helped me on board. I got to hear his stories, which helped pass the time while waiting for the other divers. All 5 remaining divers surfaced within 30 seconds of each other 35 minutes later and we got to shore.
The capt had someone waiting at the dock with hot water. While soaking my hand, one of the other divers filleted the f***er for me and one other. I gave the rest to the DM, we had about 8 in the 20 minutes I was down there. I'll let you know how he tastes tomorrow
.Evan's Crary was a really cool site. I wouldn't mind diving it again some time.
So my ring finger and thumb were hurting pretty good. During the drive home, it started hurting again. I immediately got it into hot water at home. Luckily I live 5 min from the dock. I called DAN. They advised me to wash my hands with soap and soak it in hot water. They asked when my last tetanus shot was... uh oh... 14 years? They said I might need antibiotics and an xray to see if anything is still in my skin. I considered walk in clinics and the emergency room that night. All the walk in clinics were closed. I had the pain under control and opted to wait til the next day to see a doctor. After all, DAN was asking me if I had a primary physician and didn't mention anything about the emergency room.
I took some ibuprofen and actually slept pretty good. In the morning, my thumb was swollen good but my middle finger was good to go. It's sensitive to the touch, but not painful at all. My thumb was only hurting from the swelling. The clinic seemed pretty excited about the case, as if they were learning something new. Gave me my shot, antibiotics, and anti inflammatory pills. They did do an xray and it was clean. I was impressed that the clinic did everything DAN suggested without me having to say it. The only thing I said when making the appt was I needed my tetanus shot.
So it's now 2 days since the incident. My thumb is still slightly swollen but very manageable. I'm typing with it now and there's no pain.
I've learned a couple of lessons... 1) Get rid of the POS Mako LF bag in exchange for a zoo keeper, 2) Get a longer spear after talking to some others about their hits happening after a LF swam at them after a miss, 3) Get some pierce resistant gloves. So my LF hunting is on pause but I'll be back
