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.