The winter winds were beginning to pick up so we needed to get out on the water quickly to fit in this dive.
I received a 5 minute tutorial on how to load a speargun.
- Insert spear and lock trigger.
- Wrap the spear cord around a few notches on the barrel in a specific manner.
- Stick the butt of the gun in your gut and, with all your might, pull one of the strong rubber bands over the trigger latch.
- Repeat for 2 more bands.
- Aim and shoot.
- Start over.
I had a pair of extra long fins, a new snorkel and mask, and sweet boardshorts for equipment. Six of us jumped in the boat and headed out to a smaller island these locals like to dive nearby. The size of the island would also offer us decent shelter from the wind and swells.
The ride out was a bit harrowing. The nose of our 28 footer went under at least once as we came down hard from 20 foot swells. Fortunately, Hawaiian winter weather still averages 70 degrees, so even with the wind and water, it was not uncomfortably cold. Once we got in the calm behind the island, five of us jumped in, but the captain stayed on the boat because it was too rough to anchor.
I spent the first few minutes breathing quickly as I adjusted my nerves to the snorkel, the 30 foot depth with no shallow reef in site, and the dark depth of the ocean heading out away from the island. After a few 10 to 15 foot dives down, I began to get a feel for clearing my ears again and my breathing stabilized.
Finally, I got down just under 20 feet, found what I thought was a fish several feet away, aimed and fired. The spear hit a rock with a thud and I never saw the fish. I realized I should probably not be firing straight down into the rock and that I need to get closer to the fish. I surfaced, reloaded, and took my time to actually focus on one particular fish for this shot. I missed by a mile, but I at least I felt like I was making progress.
Between the second and third shot, I actually came close to one of my buddy divers, Mitch. On the surface, Mitch shouted that there was a Monk Seal below. I had a look where he was pointing and jumped. About 15 feet below me was a HUGE monk seal. It was six feet long and three times as thick as me. At least 500 pounds, I did not know whether to swim away or follow it. Mitch did not seem worried, so I just slowly moved away.
A few minutes later, my co-worker Peter, the Molokai native and diving expert, swam by. I excitedly told him about the monk seal. “That’s not good,” he said, and then he swam away. Oh well, I thought. It wasn’t near me now.
I found another larger fish. Made two dives after it and finally made a good, clean shot. I missed, but I actually felt like I had a chance of hitting that one. Progress!
At this point we had been in the water for at least 30-40 minutes and I was starting to get cold. The water deeper down is colder than the surface water and the wind on the surface wasn’t helping. A couple of guys were getting back in the boat, so I headed that way. By the time I arrived at the boat, Peter was getting on in front of me.
He had a floater attached to his leg by a 30-foot tether. As he fish, he strung them through the floater and let it trail a ways behind him. Later, I wondered what I would have done if I had shot a fish. I guess they knew I would not shoot one my first time, so they did not bother giving me one. Peter had shot two nice fish, a larger, beautiful parrot-fish called an Opelu Kala, and a smaller, darker Munu, which he said (and later proved) was delicious meat. Peter could have shot another 5-10 fish in that time period, but he was focused on getting specific sizes and types.
By the time Peter got into the boat, our last diver, Mikah was about 10 to 20 feet behind me, heading toward the boat. His floater was maybe 15 feet from him, about 30 feet from the boat. He had two nice fish attached, two big Opelu Kala’s.
However, just as I got on board, the floater disappeared. Gone. Straight down. We all shouted something and about 5 seconds later the floater came shooting back up out of the water. Someone said shark and Mikah confirmed it by calmly stating “Ok, time I get in the boat.” My heart was pounding, but these guys barely flinched. Mikah got on board and told us he looked underwater and saw a 5 foot shark grab one of his fish and take it down. It eventually bit the fish in half and the rest of the fish came shooting back up with the floater.
Mikah on board, we pulled in the floater to see the remaining half of the fish. Considering you can see the jagged teeth marks from the fish, it was pretty intense to see at that point.
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| From Conor Hawaii |
We started talking sharks and Peter mentioned that the reason he did not like Monk Seals was that Tiger Sharks are known to follow them around (hoping to eat them). At that point I was very glad he did not mention that fact while we were in the water.
Back at the house, we cleaned up the fish and took a few pictures. We ate all of them that afternoon and evening, even the shark bitten Opelu Kala, which was marinated in some tinfoil full of beer on the barbecue. I am sure that will be the first and last time I share a meal with a shark.
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| From Conor Hawaii |
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