Christmas Eve Jewfish.

To escape all the pre-Christmas madness Greg and I decided to get a few hours in the water on Christmas Eve. We got going early and were in the water by 6:30am, the very first thing I see under the boat is a nice fat King George Whiting laying in the dent left by a sleeping Stingray. I let Greg know and he was soon in the water and lining up on the Whiting, I managed to get the whole sequence on video too. We swam around for a while and saw a number of small Jewfish but nothing big enough to take, so we moved to a new location a few hundred meters further along the reef.
We swam around at the new location for a while and after seeing nothing of note moved to another location.
The next section of reef we looked at was quite shallow but looked very good and fishy, I have never looked at this area before despite having dived all around it for years. Sometimes I guess we overlook things that are right under our noses. Greg found a nice edge dropping into some slightly deeper water and after dropping to the bottom noticed a nice sized Jewfish looking out at him from the shadows. Greg was quite surprised to see such a good fish in so shallow water, but wasted no time in taking the fish for Christmas dinner.

Greg's Christmas dinner fish.

After the previous weeks catch of Crayfish the Jewfish topped things off and being the perfect size for a family was sure to go down a treat. We decided to call it a day as we both had preparations to make for the next day and enjoyed a leisurely ride back to the marina.

Crayfish for the Christmas season.

After a few days of strong winds Friday the 13th was looking like being a good day to be on the water, so I decided to take an early season look at the Fad's just to burn some old fuel and check on the fish status.
I spoke with Greg about coming with myself and my son Jack and he offered to drive the boat for the day, saying he was not sure if he would get in the water or not.
We picked Greg up at 6am and then waited an hour for the wind to drop a little before beginning the 55km trip out to the Fad"s. After just over an hour of traveling we discovered that the first Fad was missing, most probably struck by a ship and sunk. We made our way to the next Fad 5km away and found the water a little hazy and covered by the red remnants of an algal bloom.  I have never had much luck when I have previously encountered these conditions and today was to be no different.
We made a couple of drifts and having encountered no fish we made the decision to try the next Fad.
While motoring to the next Fad Greg decided he was going to get in and have a bit of a swim, so on arrival my son Jack took the helm and Greg and I slipped into the water. The conditions were somewhat better but there were still no fish to be seen other than a school of immature fish sheltering directly under the Fad.
We made a few drifts and dives then decided to head back in to the West End of Rottnest and try and find a few Crayfish.

We arrived at my favorite Crayfish spot after about 30 minutes and set anchor before slipping into the water.
I swam over to the edge of the reef and breathed up before dropping to the bottom and looking under the ledge, I immediately spotted a very large Crayfish and wasted no time in looping it. I checked the Cray to make sure it was legal and finding nothing to the contrary in the bag it went. A short time later I added another large Cray to the bag, having 2 decent sized crays and feeling the arrival of the sea breeze we decided to call it a day and head home.

The days Crayfish.

My dog is not too sure what to make of this.

Over the weekend I spoke with my friend Will and we agreed to dive on Monday and look for some Jewfish and Crayfish. We launched at the Leeuwin boat ramp on the Swan River and headed out to Stragglers Reef.

We dived a few of our regular spots and it wasnt long before Will had a reasonable Jewfish in the boat. I concentrated more on finding Crayfish and soon had 4 in the bag, I even had 2 nice sized Mackerel swim past as I was swimming out of a cave with a Crayfish. 

Will and I moved location a couple of times and it didnt take too long before we both had close to a bag limit each. I added a nice sized Queen Snapper to the Esky and we decided to call it a day at around 2pm.

My Esky with the days catch after cooking.

The trip back to the ramp was nice and relaxing and we both soaked up the light cool sea breeze as we made our way through the port of Fremantle. We had a nice day out on the water and with a fitting end and a wonderful catch to enjoy with a bottle of wine for dinner in the coming days, a truly fitting start to the Christmas Season.

My Mentor and Best friend, Attacked by a Great White Shark.

It's Tuesday the 8th of October 2013 and I have just stepped off a plane in Darwin on my way to work. I turn on my mobile phone as I am waiting for my transport to the hotel and the usual barrage of  messages comes through, one catches my eye for all the wrong reasons.
First off its not from a number in my contact list, second is the subject "Greg Attacked By Shark" meaning only 1 person, my best friend Greg Pickering.

Greg with a Record sized Amberjack from one of our many Bluewater Trips.

First I must rewind back to 1999 when I first met Greg, I had just returned to Western Australia after a 12 year absence working out of the Eastern States. I had taken an internal transfer with the Copper mining company I was working for and moved back to Perth. I was working fly in fly out and looking to get back into Spear Fishing in my time off so I contacted an old friend Alistair McNeil, he suggested I get in touch with Greg as he was always looking for someond to dive with during the week.
I contacted Greg and he was keen to have someone to dive with and we arranged to go on a day trip to Corner Break off Leeman a few days later. We were joined by Lee Paxman for the trip and even though I spent half the time laying on the deck sea sick I had a good time and learnt alot. I also learned how inadequate the gear I had was. I realised I was going to need to upgrade almost everything if I was going to have a good go at Spearfishing.

Slowly over the next couple of years and with Gregs guidance I got together a set of gear that was adequate to handle just about any fish I was likely to encounter in local waters. It was during this time that on a visit to Gregs house I first saw his IBSRC World Record Yellowfin Tuna. The moment I laid eyes on it I knew that was what I wanted to pursue, and so began the journey I am yet to complete.  When I told Greg I wanted to chase fish like that his first piece of advice was, unless you are prepared to invest thousands of hours in the water watching good fish swim past waiting for that one, be happy with what you do right now. I decided right then that I was in for the long haul.

I spent many hours talking to Greg about the gear I would need and how to best use it. One day I asked about freedive training to dive deeper and longer and Greg gave me what I consider the best advice I have ever got. He said if you can dive to 10 meters and hold you breath for 30 seconds at that depth, then given time in the water at the right location and time there is no fish that you cant get. It was around this time the two of us took a trip to Exmouth and I speared my first Spanish Mackerel, a nice fish of around 20kg. This gave me a new perspective on the gear I would need if I was ever going to land a record sized fish.

Over the next decade Greg has encouraged and supported my every venture providing me with invaluable advice on how to deal with any number of fish species. He advised me on tactics and strategy regarding competition Spear Fishing, and I have no doubt that my success in winning the 2010 20Fathoms  La Paz Bluewater World Cup was in no small part due to his advice and guidance.  I am still to get my Yellowfin Tuna and the holy grail a big Dogtooth Tuna but I know when I do Greg will have had a hand in my success.

Now back to the present.
I am stunned Greg is an Abalone Diver and although I know it is always a possibility it still hit hard. Is he alive? has he lost any limbs? there are just so many questions running through my head. I called the person that sent the message but they were not able to provid me with any more information. I called another person I figured would know and was relieved to find he was alive, had not lost any limbs and would indeed survive. Now just on a week after he was attacked and after many phone calls and emails I am relieved to be able to say that Greg will in time make a full recovery. He has since been discharged from hospital and is recovering at home, he is carrying some serious injuries that will take quite some time to heal but heal he will.

He will be the first person I visit when I return home from work and I will be there for him during his recovery just as any good mate would.  Will he ever get back diving? I dont know, time will tell, I hope he does he loves the water too much not to. I know one thing for sure I will be there for him if and when he does.
Get well soon Greg.

Short Trip To Carnarvon Part2

PART 2.

Well if the first day was good the second was even better, we woke to a clear day with no wind and after launching the boat we made the 70km journey to the South end of Dorre island in a little over an hour. We had glass smooth conditions the whole way for a pleasant change and watched the whales breaching for most of the trip. When we arrived we discovered a very strong current running from the North, too strong to anchor and dive in. So we changed tactics and drifted along the edge of the reef and off the edge into the deeper water, 1 in the water 1 in the boat. This worked well and we each had a Mackerel in the boat on our first drifts. There were hundreds of Blackfin Barracuda and Milk fish making things a little difficult as they spooked the Mackerel on almost every dive.
I decided to use my Tuna Gun as I needed the practice for an upcoming trip and was very pleased to find I could still place a shot well despite not using it all that often. My first shot with it was a very long one that landed exactly where I wanted and resulted in a second Mackerel for the day. Half way through the fight a large Groper tried to swallow the Mackerel but spat it back out for some reason, maybe the Mack bit it's tongue? My next drift resulted in a somewhat easier shot that once again resulted in a nice Mackerel that put on a bit of a show when first shot almost wrapping me in the float line.

Greg also got himself another very nice Mackerel of around 25kg on his second drift and had the same trouble with the Barracuda as I had, they just would not keep away from us and followed us everywhere.

Greg with the biggest Mackerel for the trip at 25kg.

By this stage the current started to drop a little and the fish got very active, it looked like something special was going to happen but the current changed direction and picked up again and the fish went back to being relatively quiet.
We took the opportunity to have some lunch and change location to a reef up the East side of Dorre Island and dive the shallows and capture some video of the fish and coral. I set Greg up with a new GoPro3 Black and we had a fun time filming the fish life all while listening to the ever present Whales singing in the background.

After an hour or so of this we decided to begin the long trip back to Carnarvon, we had much the same conditions all the way back which made for a pleasant end to a great days diving. We weighed Greg's mackerel at the boat ramp out of curiosity and then made our way back to Andy's house. We quickly parked the boat and disconnected the trailer and headed off to collect some ice.
Once collected we quickly put the fish on ice and washed our gear in preparation for returning Perth in the morning. Andy made a killer salad and I cooked some prawns that Andy had marinating all day, we ate well that night and tumbled into bed with full bellies. We woke to leaden sky's that threatened rain and still conditions that suggested strong winds in the near future, confirming our decision to limit the trip to 2 days as the correct one. We ate a quick breakfast and packed our gear away before saying goodbye to Andy and beginning the long drive home. It had been a short 2 day trip but we had the best 2 day's weather of the last 2 months. We hit the approaching front about 2 hours South of Carnarvon and drove the remainder of the journey through frequent squalls and pouring rain, the water flowing across the road in several locations creating quite a hazard for the unwary.

 We however completed our journey without incident and arrived at my house some 9 hours later to a dinner of Pizzas and Herb Bread, a fitting end to a short but enjoyable trip.

Short trip to Carnarvon Part 1

PART 1.

After a lot of false starts and missed opportunities my good friend Greg Pickering and I finally managed to get a away for a few days diving together. We planned to go north to Carnarvon and dive the offshore Islands in search of Broad Bar Mackerel and their larger cousins Spanish Mackerel. As the departure date got closer it looked like we would be blessed with some of the best weather seen over the last 2 months, could we really be so lucky?
I fueled up the car and boat and filled the jerrycans with extra fuel for the boat the day before we were due to leave, Greg finished work and drove up to Perth arriving late in the evening and got a few hours sleep before arriving at my house at 6:30am. I had packed everything in advance so all we needed to do was load Greg's gear and set off. We left my house at around 7am and headed off on the long 10 hour drive North to Carnarvon. The weather was as forecast and as we topped the hill outside Wedge Island we could see the water was clean and there was no swell, hopefully conditions would be the same 700km's further North.

We made good progress and arrived at the 440 roadhouse north of Geraldton at around midday and stopped to refuel and have some lunch and a drink. After a half hour break we continued on our way looking down at the ocean from the road leaving the 440, things were looking even better than we hoped, none of the reefs were breaking, a very good sign!!! Around 2 and a half hours later we stopped at the Overlander roadhouse to get some more food and drinks and change drivers, Greg driving the final 220km into Carnarvon.  We arrived at our friend Andy's house just as the sun was setting and quickly unpacked our gear while Andy made dinner for all of us. We ate dinner and swapped stories for a while before heading off to bed in preparation for an early start.

We woke at around 6am and after a quick breakfast loaded the boat for the long trip to Koks Island at the very Northern tip of Bernier Island offshore from Carnarvon. We launched at the new town boat ramp and slowly weaved our way through the channel to the Ocean. The exit form the channel was a bit tricky and a dredge was working to remove a large mud bank that had formed blocking the last part of the passage. After overcoming this obstacle we were into open ocean and made way for Koks island, the light wind and small chop hardly noticeable during the 1 hour trip.

On arriving at Koks island we were greeted by clean water but a strong current making things a little hazardous, so we opted to anchor close to the top of Bernier Island out of the current. On entering the water we were greeted by schools of Golden Trevalley, Goldspot Trevalley, Blackfin and Common Barracuda and Broad Bar Spanish Mackerel. Greg swam out to the edge of the reef while I filmed the schools of fish. Shortly after Greg returned holding a nice 15kg Mulloway, which was promptly placed in the boat and covered with wet hessian bags to keep the fish cool.

Greg's Mulloway 

I then swam towards the edge of the reef and took a Broad Bar Mackerel before returning to the boat and placing my fish under the bags. I was then lucky enough to locate a school of Mulloway in another gutter and took a nice 12kg fish back to the boat.

My Mulloway.

We both then swam South along the edge of the reef looking for more fish on the sand edge and I added another Broad Bar and a Coral Trout to my catch. I then worked the edge North and secured a reasonable Spanish Mackerel after the Barracuda continually made things difficult by spooking every fish that came

within range. I also added a medium sized Baldchin to my days catch before heading back to the boat for a drink and something to eat. Greg had also done well with a big Baldchin, a Cobia and a couple of Broad Bar Mackerel.  By this time it was getting late in the day and we decided to have a quick look on the Eastern side of Bernier Island at some of the reef life before making our way back to Carnarvon. During this brief stop I managed to get a few minutes video of an old green Turtle that was not at all concerned with me.

We made the long trip back to Carnarvon in reasonable time with a light wind and very little chop making for a very comfortable trip. After washing our gear and packing the fish in ice we settled down to Pizza and a couple of drinks before an early night.

A Monster Rooster Fish

The day after the La Paz Blue Water World Cup I met up with my good friend John Perretti and his wife Gillmena, after a coffee and a short discussion we decided that we would have a nice easy dive from the shore off the beach at Los Arenas. So John, Gill Patti and I packed the car and headed off to the beach in front of an old abandoned hotel. When we arrived we were greated by a clean white sandy beach and a light offshore breeze. We quickly suited up and discussed our plan as we walked across the sand to the water, to the right of the hotel is a reef that runs out along a rocky point. We decided we would swim the edge of the reef and look for Rooster Fish, as they often ambush schools of small Green and Blue Jacks along the edge. They use the reef as a natural wall to bunch up the small fish then burst through the school devouring any fish within reach.

We would swim the edge and if we encountered a school of bait fish we would allow the bait to swarm around us and wait for a Rooster Fish to burst through the bait. After entering the water we quickly swam out to the edge of the reef and started to follow the edge. Soon I was seeing Cow-tail Rays resting on the bottom and Spotted Eagle Rays cruising along the edge so I decided to film them for a while. While I was filming a big school of Blue Jacks suddenly appeared and swarmed around me. They looked nervous and I could see fresh scars on some of them where they had narrowly escaped being eaten.
I left my GoPro running as I sensed something was about to happen and sure enough 3 big Rooster Fish burst through the Jacks. I quickly picked what I thought was the largest of the 3 fish took a deep breath and started to dive. As I dived another even bigger Rooster Fish burst through the school and turned broadside to me before starting to swim away. I quickly lined up with my 1.4mt Rob Allen and took the shot, planting my shaft solidly in the fish. The fish instantly threw up its comb then dropped it again and took off on a screaming run over the sand. I let it have line from my reel and yelled to John that I had a big Rooster Fish on.
The fish ran extremely hard for about 5 minutes then started to tire and I slowly gained line on it. as I swam up my line keeping an even pressure on the fish it slowly came into view. It got bigger and bigger as I got closer until I was able to slide my hand into it's gills. It was only then that I realized just how big it really was. It was an absolute monster well over 30kg, I could not believe the size of it.

John, Gill and Patti all congratulated me on the size of the fish as I swam it to the beach and carried it up the sand. John did the honors and took photos for me as I struggled to hold up the fish. We cleaned the fish and packed it on ice to keep it fresh then packed away our gear and got dressed. We were exuberant and John asked if we would like to go to a nearby restaurant called the Giggling Marlin for a late lunch. We decided this was a great idea and had a nice relaxing, well deserved lunch and celebratory drink.
All too soon it was time to head off and say goodbye to John and Gill, all the while I was thinking of what John and I will get up to next time we get together, we always seem to have the craziest adventures when we get together like the time we camped on an island and were eaten alive by bugs, but that is another story.

Route 66 to the Grand Canyon and the2013 20Fathoms World Cup. Part 2.

Well they say nothing in life is simple and that definitely runs true for checking in for a flight out of LAX, I had the usual dilemma with AA over a second checked bag that they wanted $240 for. After some polite conversation and a couple of checks with a supervisor we came to the agreement that my spearfishing gear should be classified as, Sporting goods/ Fishing/ Thin and therefore only incur an additional fee of $40.
Having overcome this obstacle I proceeded through screening and on the the departure gate.
I bumped into Brock my dive partner for the meet whilst waiting for my flight and we caught up and discussed how we would like to dive the competition for the 40 minutes I had until boarding.

The 2 hour flight down to San Jose Del Cabo was uneventful and I was pleasantly surprised to see that the airport had undergone a renovation and had sky bridges and air conditioned arrivals halls. No longer would one endure the 200 yard walk across the baking Airfield Apron to the equally stifling terminal of old.
The modernization did not stop there, Customs and Immigration had also been upgraded and processing went without a hitch. I was met outside by my driver Roberto and once we had collected the 2 other passengers we go underway on the 2 hour road trip to the fishing village of La Ventana. One of the 2 other passengers being my friend Patti who was joining me to scatter some of her late husband's ashes, the 3 of us having dived together in La Paz in 2005.

Descending the last hill with the Ocean in the distance is a welcome sight after a 2 hour road journey from Cabo.

On arriving at Palapas Ventana we were met by Tim and Karen and allocated rooms, our baggage was then delivered to the rooms for us. After some settling in and unpacking we wandered down to the Bar to catch up with the competitors that had already arrived over dinner and a Margarita. Old friendships were renewed and new ones founded. Most of us would be taking advantage of the next day to dive the competition zone and ensure our equipment had not been damaged during the long journey to Mexico. Brock and I chose to circumnavigate the island of Cerralvo and ensure we knew the conditions in every corner of the competition zone. It turned out that the best conditions were on the South end of Cerralvo, this area does not often produce good conditions or fish but when it does the fish can be outstanding.

Day 1.
Brock and I decided to stay on the South end of the Island, we also had a camera man from the cable TV show "Speargun Hunter" filming us for an episode of the show. The Guy's name was Rob and we hardly even noticed him, he was not intrusive at all and a pleasure to work with. Both Brock and I ended the day with 2 fish, a Wahoo each, me with a Milkfish and Brock with a Torro. It took me all day to get the Wahoo I just had the worst luck, I clean missed 2 and had shafts pull out on 3 then finally landed one. Rob got the whole sequence on film and said it was one of the best he had ever filmed and the first Wahoo he had seen landed with a reel gun. All up it was a good day and we saw plenty of fish, we both knew from the conditions that we would do well the following day but so would the other competitors. It was all going to come down to luck in the end, as everyone was equally skilled.

Brock with a Torro.

Day 2.
Day 2 was a virtual repeat of day1 I landed a Milkfish and a Wahoo pretty early on in the day. Brock was not far behind with a nice Torro and an Amberjack but was having trouble with the Milkfish. They are an extremely hard to approach fish and I discovered a few years ago that to be successfull with them you must tuck your gun in under you and lie dead still like a log. If you so much as blink they will shy away, once they are under you slowly and quietly drop onto them and get them from above. Once I had explained this and my theory as to why they behave that way to Brock he had one in the bag on his second attempt.
We both saw a large Marlin and Brock had a long shot at it but fell short, one of the other competitors Francisco managed to land a Marlin later on in the day giving him a huge lead that would prove to be telling later in the event.

Francisco with the Marlin and biggest fish of the meet.

Day 3.
Day 3 was a rest day so Brock, Patti and myself decided to go into La Paz to do some shopping and had lunch at Jonathan Roldans Tailhunter Bar. If you are into fishing or just good food and service this is the place to go, It comes alive after dark and when Jonathon and his wife are in they make a point of meeting every single customer. After a long lunch we drove up the coast a little to Pichalingue, where Patti, Robert and I had dived together in 2005. It had changed alot and not exactly for the better, there were more trucks at the ferry terminal and the resort we stayed at looked tired and rundown. We then drove back to La Ventana and spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach relaxing.


Day 4.
Day 4 saw us back on the water competing and again we were diving the South end of Cerralvo. I put a solid Milkfish in the boat in next to no time and closley followed up with a small Wahoo. Brock put a Torro on the board and nice Milkfish, then things went a little quiet just before midday.We put in a lot of deep dives that afternoon looking for Amberjack and Yellowtail. Our persistance paid off around mid afternoon with Brock landing a solid Amberjack and me landing a Yellowtail from a very deep dive.
I quickly backed that up with a Torro and a small Skipjack Tuna.
Back on the beach my Skipjack turned out to be 1/4 inch under the competition minimum size, still I had 5 fish for the day, the first time I have ever shot a whole days limit in this competition. The Wahoo and Milkfish didnt count towards my score as I already had presented 2 of each, but the Torro and the Yellowtail left me in a healthy 4th place with 1 day remaining.

Day 5.
Day 5 was not our day the current had changed direction slightly and brought some colder water in overnight. We spent the whole day trying to get Brock a wahoo and me a Torro and Amberjack.
I couldnt get away from the Wahoo and the Torro would not leave Brock alone. Late in the day I shot a big Torro from a large school only to have the spear pass through 2 seperate fish, each fish ran in the opposite direction and I lost them both to tear offs. I then put a shaft into a very large Amberjack only to loose it after a 10 minute fight. I had a large Marlin come in on my flasher but didnt see it until it started to peel away, I worked the flasher in an attempt to get it to come back but it had a better place to be and kept on traveling.

Early morning starts made for watching sunrises.

Route 66 to the Grand Canyon and the 2013 20Fathoms World Cup. Part 1

My flight from Perth to Sydney was nothing more than routine but things got a little interesting on the Sydney to Los Angeles leg, the planes departure was delayed when a young boy with Autism had to get off. I felt sorry for him and his family as I had just watched a documentary on Autism the night before and now better understood what the poor young fellow was feeling.
That aside the flight was pretty boring really and landing in Los Angeles and clearing immigration and customs were a mere formality. I collected my luggage and happily found it all in one piece so made my way to the shuttle bus stop and boarded the bus to the Holiday inn. I checked in and made my way to my room ready for a shower after the flight closely followed by a cold beer and some food. Feeling somewhat more human I collected a rental car and spent the afternoon wandering the length of Venice Beach soaking up the craziness of the place before heading to bed around 9pm.
The following morning I checked out early and headed East out of LA I planned to pick up Route 66 just outside of San Bernardino and follow it as best as I could until Williams Arizona. I was amazed at how well signposted the old Route is and found it easily, turning off the 3 lane interstate and settling into the old road with its unmistakable 66 shields painted on the bitumen and old cruising music on the radio courtesy of the MP3 player.

The first place of note I came across was the Bottle Tree Ranch, and what a crazy place it is. Blink and you will miss it but it is a truly amazing place a real monument to one mans creativity.

I searched around for the owner but could not find the man responsible for this roadside icon, after the Bottle Tree Ranch Route 66 winds its way through the desert plains past a junction in the road with a sign saying Hinkley (the town Erin Brockovich brought to prominence) to the town of Barstow where I stopped for breakfast.
Leaving Barstow with a full stomach I headed East toward the emptiness of the high desert and ghost towns with names like Siberia and Bagdad now nothing more than concrete foundations where buildings once stood. I came across a town without even a name to identify it, nothing but empty buildings occupied by birds, the people just up and gone, I took a few photos and left again continuing on toward the Lava fields of Amboy. I pulled off the road in the middle of the Amboy lava field and stared at the emptiness, soaked up the desolation and thought of the depression era Okies like the Joads in Steinbecks "Grapes of Wrath" heading West to escape the Dust Bowl over this very same road.

Amboy Lava Fields.

Leaving the Lava fields and Amboy Crater the next place of interest is Roy's Motel and Cafe, situated on a desolate stretch of road opposite a Marine Corp's bombing range. You can sit in the air conditioned comfort of the restored 50's era Roy's Cafe and watch the bombs explode in the distance. It is great to see that someone has gone to great pains to save a piece of history such as Roy's Cafe and I appreciate the effort required in the restoration. I served in Submarines for 10 years and I have seen some gruesome stuff but none of  that  prepared me for the horrors of Roy's public toilets!!!!! please for god sake restore the fucking toilets, enough said.

Roy's Motel and Cafe.

Heading East from Roy's toward Needles across the Mojave Desert is perhaps one of the most desolate and lonely stretches of the old road in California and I couldn't help my mind drifting back thinking how desperate the depression era Okies must have been to even attempt the journey in the vehicles of the day. There was no bitumen back then, only a rough track across the desert it's hard to even comprehend the difficulties they faced let alone fled.

The next town of any consequence is Needles Ca right on the Arizona, Nevada border. The Colorado river runs through Needles providing the otherwise desolate area with water for crops and drinking. The water is cold and green, a ribbon of colour in direct contrast to the hot grey dusty surrounds. I stopped for fuel in Needles both for the car and myself. Here I encountered a family of 5 that despite the 40 year spread in ages all appeared to be at the same stage of teething as the baby accompanying them. Having seen a snapshot of the local population I did the proverbial "got the hell out of Dodge" and promptly left.
From the town of Topock I wound my way still further East up into the mountains to the old mining town of Oatman, where wild Burro's (Donkeys) roam the streets and harass the tourists for food. The story goes that when the ore from the mine ran out the miners left and turned the Burro's loose and these are their descendants. The young ones have stickers placed on their heads saying please do not feed me, the idea being they must first learn to forage for their own food and not become dependent on a hand out. A safe guard to their survival should the tourists stop providing an easy source of food.

The old stores of Oatman have been preserved and now trade in souvenirs instead of the goods of yesteryear, evidence of the towns history lay in the rusty ruins of poppet heads on the hills surrounding the town. Just outside town is one of the few remaining working Gold mines and I easily recognized the main components of the extraction plant and screwed my nose up at the familiar smell of Xanthate that hung in the air and reminded me of and earlier career in a similar plant.
Leaving Oatman the road twists and winds through the mountains for a while before descending once again to the desert plains and the town of Kingman.
From Kingman the road travels through numerous small towns such as Ashfork, Seligman and Peach Springs before winding up in the town of Williams.
Williams is a welcome stop a small town with excellent facilities surrounded by tall forest a much welcome change in scenery from the emptiness of the desert plains. It is the last town on Route 66 to be bypassed on the 18th of October 1984 but it still retains the character of the 50's mother road stop it once was. It is also the gateway to the Grand Canyon and features the Grand Canyon Railway as a major attraction. From here one can board a restored Steam Locomotive for the journey to Grand Canyon Village, something I passed on as I know all too well the difficulty in washing soot from ones clothes that comes with a steam train ride.
I spent 2 nights in Williams at the Best Western and would recommend the place to anyone looking for a place to stay.

After eating at one of the many great eateries in town I settled into a few evening beers by the fire outside the hotel bar with a half a dozen like minded travelers and discussed where we had been and where we were going.
3 or 4 bottles later and my body told me it was time for bed.
After a good nights rest and a big breakfast I headed out to see the Grand Canyon, It's hard to say what is so impressive about this great big water carved hole in the ground but when you first lay eyes on it you can't help but be impressed. Its a little over an hour north of Williams but be sure and put aside a whole day to drive the South rim you will need it. In typical US style there is a massive RV park and resort at Grand Canyon Village and it comes very close to actually ruining the place, but somehow they managed to control themselves and stopped short of installing an amusement park with wave pool and roller-coaster. This is all quite some distance from the Canyon itself which is just as well otherwise it surely would ruin what is otherwise a truly spectacular sight and deserving Natural Wonder of the World. I spent quite a few hours driving the South Rim and stopped at every lookout along the way before completing the circuit back to Williams via Flagstaff.

I spent another night around the same fire this time with a different group of travelers discussing similar themes as the night before. This time not so tired and with a big glass of Captain Morgan on ice, watching the kids attempt to toast marshmallows and ending up with the inevitable bubbling inferno on the end of a stick.
Ah happy days.

The following morning I began my journey back LA this time using the less impressive interstate 40 to enter the lunacy of the city once more and continue my journey South to Baja.

 

Another Steep Point Trip

Here is the updated post with pictures.

Well this time My friend Will and I drove up to Denham looking out at the swell to the West wondering if it was going to drop as it was forecast to, it was huge and things weren't looking too good. As we got further up the coast we noticed it was smaller and breathed a sigh of relief, little did we realise we were ahead of the swell and the big stuff was still on its way up the coast. We arrived in Denham late in the afternoon and traveled out to the point at night under the light of a full moon. We anchored the boat and rolled out our swags as soon as we arrived and set to getting some dinner ready. Dinner was simple lamb chop and cheese toasted sandwiches cooked on a BBQ in a box. These things are great just $5 from the hardware shop and they are Stand, container heat beads and grill all in one, just light the bag and wait 15mins then start cooking.

So with dinner out of the way we rolled into our swags and went to sleep. We woke to a horrible roar and foaming seas with the swell closing out across the passage, spray was shooting over the tops of the cliffs and the noise was like an underground train station. We stared out at the ocean in disbelief whilst drinking coffee, the swell had not dropped it had got bigger!!! so we just sat for a while wondering what we would do. We moved camp first up, we had originally decided to camp elswhere but were unable to access the site in the dark. So after coffee and moving camp we suited up and went in search of somewhere to dive. We managed to get out of South Passage between the waves but could not find anywhere suitable to dive, we should have known better and saved the fuel and time.

We again crossed the bar at the entrance to the passage and decided we would just drift the current lines inside the passage and try and find some ground that held fish. Luckily this strategy worked and we ended up with a few good fish for the day. Nothing special but a couple of nice Blackspot Tusk fish, a Pink Snapper  some Golden Trevalley and a small yellowtail Kingfish. We did notice that later in the day the swell was dropping and this is when we realised we had overtaken the swell on our drive up. Hopefully the morning would bring better conditions. We went back to camp late in the afternoon and  had a good feed care of BBQ in a box. We sat up for a while just looking at the fire and the moon and stars, then we noticed the bay we had camped in was full of baby Lemon Sharks. They were chasing Mullet on the rising tide and the place was literally swarming with them. The full moon made things just as bright as day and we watched the show for a few hours, before rolling into our swags and drifting off to sleep.

We woke to silence, there was not a sound except for the occasional splash as another Mullet jumped in attempt to avoid being eaten. There was no wind either, could it be!! we eagerly ate breakfast and headed to the Point in glassy conditions, sure enough the swell had dropped. It was still big at 3 meters but it was not the mountainous 8 meters of the day before. The occasional wave just closed out South Passage but outside the water was blue and clean and we could actually see bottom in 20meters!!!. We anchored the boat out over the sand and after ensuring the anchor was holding fast, we entered the water.

We were greeted by clear but slightly hazy visibility with large fish visible but not identifiable on the bottom. We sat out on the reef/sand edge breathing up waiting for Mackerel and we did not have to wait long. Within 5 minutes Will had his first fish in the boat, my turn was next and I had a fat fish swim under me so I quietly dived on it and lined up the shot. The fish took off dragging me and my gun,  I had a muzzle wrap!!! luckily I had clipped my gun to my belt reel allowing me to release the gun without fear of loosing it. (I have a theory on Muzzle wraps but we can discuss that in a later entry.)  After a short fight the fish was landed and placed in the boat alongside Wills fish. So things went for the next couple of hours, taking turns on diving on the schools of Mackerel as they passed along the edge of the reef. 3 hours later and we are both sitting in the boat with 3 fish each feeling rather happy with ourselves.

I even managed to get all 3 of my fish on video, even the muzzle wrap sequence which should prove interesting to watch when slowed down to see exactly what happened. We upped anchor and had a couple of drifts in the channel on the outgoing tide before heading back to pack up our camp around midday.
The small sharks were still chasing mullet as we packed all the gear into the boat and headed up the channel back to Denham in glassy still conditions. Both of us deciding we needed to come back and spend some time exploring the bay and filming the antics of the baby sharks. The trip across Belfin flats and Denham Sound was even better than the previous trip. I was able to run the boat at full throttle and despite all the gear and weight in the boat we made an impressive 32 knots,  arriving back at the boat ramp less than an hour later, after a quick shower at a friends house and some lunch we were ready to start the long 9 hour drive back South to Perth.

We drove for a number of hours and when tiredness overtook us both we camped for the night completing the journey the following morning.

Our combined catch laid out on my front lawn.

20 Fathoms La Paz Bluewater World Cup.

It's getting around to that time of year again when 20fathoms.com holds the La Paz Blue water World Cup. This years competition will be held in the usual place, the Mexican fishing village of La Ventana from the 1st to the 5th of July. I am competing again for the 7th year and as usual have already started preparing my gear early because of my work schedule. With a comp like this you first have to look at the species list, then decide what gear will cover the majority of fish on the list. Then comes the hard part, trimming down the gear to the bare minimum so it comes within airline luggage limits. To make sure my gear falls within the luggage limits I try to use the lightest gear possible.
My packing list reads like this.
1 X Sportube containing the following.
4 X Rob Allen railguns in the following sizes, 1mt, 1.2mt, 1.4mt and 1.5mt.
2 X spare 1.5mt shafts.
1 X 30mt bungee.
1 X 30mt float line.
2 X 35lt floats, Inflatable(Riffe 2atm) and solid.
1 X flasher.
4 X throw flashers.
Mask, Snorkel and Fins (spare set of fin blades)
3mm wetsuit.
Weightbelt minus weights (Weights are provided).
Knife.
Belt reel.
Spare 2mm spectra line.
And of course a couple of GoPro cameras.
And looks pretty much like this.

If packed properly this all fits in a series 2 Sportube and comes in at just on 22kg which is spot on the luggage limit for the Airlines I use to fly to the US and Mexico.
In bag No2 I pack.
2 towels,
bathroom kit,
4 Tshirts, 2 board shorts,
Thongs(Flipflops)
small 1st aid kit,
copies of my Passport and air tickets.
A 2mt length of Spare rubber for my guns,
Hat ,sunscreen, power adapter and chargers for phone etc,
Wetsuit lube and my pillow.
Yes I take my pillow, I find it is easier to sleep in hotels and get over any jetlag if you have your own pillow.
All this usually comes in at about 15kg, well under the weight limit but that leaves plenty of room to bring things back without exceeding the limit on the return leg.
Although I am allowed 2 checked in bags at this weight when flying into Los Angeles I am then only allowed 1 checked in bag for the leg to La Paz.
Unfortunately there is no getting around this and I have to pay the extra $50 for the second bag.

I pack my cameras and laptop in my carry on bag. My Passport and tickets stay in my pocket until I reach my destination then they go in a safe.

You are probably wondering why I only pack spare shafts for the longest gun I use, well my rationale is that if I bend a shaft I can use the next size up as a replacement, it saves carying different length spares. I also  carry a length of rubber so I can make up a spare to fit any length gun if I need to. I use the same 2mm spectra cord for spare shooting lines, wishbones and tying rubbers.
The shorter 2 guns dont usually get much use in competition but they are a godsend if I have to hunt Torro and Roosterfish in a dirty shore break. I can also use them outside the comp if I choose to chase reef fish like Pargo.

Steep Point Trip Part 3

Part 3.
After chasing fish around in the shallows for a few hours in the afternoon we headed back to camp to get dry and cleaned up for dinner.

The Girls cooked a wonderful feast of Curried fish, Rice and vegetables with chocolate for desert. We then sat around telling stories for a while before drifting off to bed. In typical Steep Point style the wind howled all night before backing off around sunrise. Jack and I had breakfast and slowly packed up all our gear making sure we left nothing behind. We then refueled the boat and packed all the gear and fish into the boat for the long trip back across Shark Bay to Denham. Right on cue the wind dropped to nothing more than a faint breeze and we set off. First up the channel behind Dirk Hartog Island then through the markers across Bellfin Flats then on into Denham. It was the most pleasant trip I have had home in a long time. We loaded the boat onto the trailer and began the long 9 hour drive back to Perth all the way discussing what we would do for our next trip.

Steep Point Trip Part 2

Part 2.
After exploring the shallows we decided to call it a day and get back to camp. We put the fish on ice and cleaned our gear and the boat before anchoring it in the bay for the night. Then some of the fish was filleted and cooked as were the Crayfish and a feast prepared. The kids all tucked into the fish and the adults devoured the crayfish and wonderful salad the women produced. A bottle of wine was produced and shared out and a good night was had by all. After a reasonable night's sleep we headed out once again to the deep water to the North of the Point and were met with some amazing Visibility. This was a real treat for one of our friends, Roy who is relatively new to spearfishing. In fact Roy had been quite sick in the previous months with an undiagnosed Thyroid problem and has now taken up the sport to regain his fittnes and learn to relax.
Steep Point turned it on for Roy and he saw many firsts, with a Whale Shark making a brief appearance within minutes of us entering the water, then a Sailfish snuck up behind us and took us all by surprise.

The Whale Shark.

There were numerous Turtles and Manta Rays, Sea Snakes and Sharks which all stayed down on the bottom and didn't bother us at all. We took a few fish and Danny lost a Nice Cobia after shooting it off the back of a large Bronze Whaler Shark.

Manta Ray.

Danny shooting a Cobia from the back of a large shark.

It was good to see Roy relaxing and enjoying himself once again, he was so thrilled he didn't even notice his new fins had worn the skin off his feet, and didn't complain when he did. We headed back to the camp for some lunch and then hit the shallows with the kids for a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Steep Point Trip

Part 1.
My Back is aching a little and it is good, It means I am done filleting all the fish we got on our short trip to Steep Point. Jack and I drove up to Denham and left the car and trailer at a friends house while we took the boat across the bay to the Point. We met up with some friends that were camped in Shelter bay and spent a relaxing 3 days diving. The water was a stoking hot 30c in the bay and dropped to a balmy 25c off the Cliffs.
The visibility was pristine at 30+ meters, the down side being it was extremely hard to get close to the fish.
We managed to get some very large Baldchin and a Cobia, Jack shot himself a Blackspot Tusk fish over 11kg and I am sure it is a Junior Record. We saw Whale Sharks, normal Sharks, Turtles, Sailfish, Dolphins and Sea Snakes.We dived a few places I have not been before and caught 2 crayfish that were so big they fed 8 adults!!!.

Jack landing his first fish of the trip a Somber Sweetlips.

                                          

Me bagging a Baldchin in 20+ meters.

We arrived late on the Monday afternoon and set up camp with some help and settled down to some dinner and a beer or 2 then had an early night. We woke at around 6 and after breakfast we set off for the day, first diving around the base of the cliffs and then coming back inside the bay around midday and grabbing the Crayfish in the shallows. We returned to camp for a bite to eat and then headed out to explore the shallows to the Southeast. It was while cruising the shallows I spotted a big ray with 2 Cobia in tow so having never shot a Cobia before I decided to take one of them. I was surprised at how soft the flesh was and needed a second shot to ensure I didn't loose the fish.

Back at work.

Unfortunately it happens to all of us at some point, yes we need to work to earn a living. I am now back at work for the next 3 weeks. I have a few things planned on my next break, which coincides with school holidays so my son will more than likely feature in the next lot of entries. We have at least 1 trip away planned and hopefully we can pull off 2 trips but we will see what the weather throws at us. Stay tuned.

The Grey Suited Taxman strikes.

I had Planned to go out to The FAD's on Friday with Simon, Darnie and Olivier but the wind was not very kind to us and we ended up out at Rottnest instead. We dived the Northwest end of the island in 2 spots and came up blank. With the wind dropping a little we decided to try the Southwest end instead and moved the boat. After getting a good berley trail going we started to see a few fish first off a lone Mackerel then a pair, one of which Olivier managed to land. Then a school of maybe 20 fish ranging between 15-35kg swam directly beneath me. I grabbed a quick breath and dived directly on top of a large fish. I silently dropped down slightly to one side of the fish and lined up a good holding shot right in the middle and fired. My gun was instantly torn out of my hand and I realized I had got a muzzle wrap. Thankfully I had clipped my gun on to my belt reel and the reel squealed, paying out line as the fish tore off into the distance. Then the reel jammed up dragging me through the water, thankfully I had about 30 meters of line out and was able to swim to the surface. The fish then put on a massive power run and right on its tail was a big Grey Nurse Shark about 3 meters long. I didn't have the reel sorted out yet and could not let the fish run freely, this gave the shark the advantage and it grabbed the fish and chomped off about 2ft of its tail. Darnie had also speared a fish from the same school and the shark turned it's attention to his fish giving me a chance to secure mine before it could take another bite. Once it realized my fish was getting away it gave up on Darnie's fish and came back for some more of mine but was too late, I already had hold of the fish and was not giving it up.

Darnie landed his fish no problem and then added a small Kingfish to the boat. We saw 2 more sharks that afternoon a Hammerhead and a Tiger Shark both about 3mt long but they gave us no trouble. Both had a bit of a look at my flasher but that was all the interest they paid us.

Shortly after 1pm the wind changed and started blowing from the Southwest, signaling it was time to head towards home.

A nice relaxing day on the water.

After not being able to find anyone to dive with for over a week I decided stuff it I am going out anyway. The weather looked reasonable with very light winds forecast all day, so after dropping my son at school I hitched up the boat and went. I launched at Ocean Reef Marina and a short 20 minutes later was trying to secure some Buff for berley. I bumped into a small Whaler Shark in the whitewash and he bolted as soon as he saw me. So after securing 3 buff and seeing nothing else of note I headed to a deeper ledge to try and berley up a Mackerel or 2.
After seeing nothing at all for over an hour I decided to move to another spot and try and get a WA Jewfish for dinner. So once moved I commenced to berley up again, within 5 minutes I had a reasonable sized Samson swimming in the Berley trail. Another 5 minutes and I had a large Samson join in on the action, so I decided I would take the larger one of the 2. My neighbors love making fish curry and had asked me for a Samson next time I saw one, this fish would suit them perfectly.
After a short but spirited fight I had the fish landed and in the boat, next thing was a Jewfish for myself. I swam along a sand edge where I quite often see them and sure enough I found 3 staking out a small gully.
Two of them would not make the legal size of 50cm  but the 3rd would for sure, so I silently dropped down on the fish and secured him with a well placed shot. A nice Jewfish and bottle of wine for diner, what more could one ask for, Oh yeah someone to dive with.

Samson Fish and Jewfish.