Oklahoma Spearfishing Freediver
July 9-10, 2004

Last month, Chas Broughton, owner/operator of Underwater Works Dive Shop in Fairhope, Alabama booked me on a two day spearfishing trip leaving out of the Orange Beach Marina on the "Gulf Diver" with Captain Rusty Hensley. I would be the local freediving and spearfishing guide.

My boss for the weekend would be Quintin Gomez from Bartlesville, Oklahoma along with his brother in law, Larry Jones and some of his friends David, Donnie and Devin Just. Quintin has experience freediving and spearfishing the lakes of Oklahoma but this would be his first time to dive the Gulf of Mexico and he was more than eager to get started and just as willing to pull the trigger.

Our plan was to dive the rigs, so with that in mind I went over all the safety issues and the nuances of swimming in and around this type of structure. Since there was a murk layer we discussed the importance of relaxation, visualization and focusing on the task at hand while keeping negative thoughts a bay. The current was not a factor, so we looked forward to a good weekend of spearing fish. Quintin was pumped! When I arrived at the dock on Friday morning at the scheduled time, Captain Rusty, Quintin and his crew was already boarded and ready to go. I took a picture, threw on my guns and gear and we were off. The next few minutes were spent getting acquainted with the guys which happened in short order. By the time we reached our first dive destination we were all well on our way of becoming the best of friends. It's funny how the common bond of spearfishing is the glue of many a relationship. I might add that the Alabama boys and the Oklahoma guys see a lot of things in the same light.

Our mode of operation would be for Rusty to drop us off at the rig and keep the boat running so as to retrieve a drifting diver as quickly as possible. The first spot of the morning was a capped off well head south of Fort Morgan in around 45'(FSW). Quintin, Larry, David and Donnie all jumped in without hesitation. Quintin didn't waste any time before he had shot a spadefish. "Are these good to eat?" he inquired as we swam it to the boat. "Sure", I replied. "But you don't get much af a fillet" I said smiling in return. Either way, since this was his first real gulf trip the key was to have fun. Larry was definitely doing that too. While I'm keeping an eye on Quintin, Larry is stuck to me like an Alabama tick. I don't think Larry is that interested in freedivng as Quintin but I couldn't tell. I'd make a dive down and look over to see Larry right there every time until I'd reach his max. and he'd fade away until I saw him again at the surface. We shot a red and black snapper here and I check the bottom for flounder to no avail so we decided to move on.

Captain Rusty plugs in some tunes and we are on our way. Looking back at the crew all I saw was smiles from ear to ear. Oklahomans don't get to see much of this kind of water and it showed. Luckily for everyone the seas were practically flat. Our next spot of the day is where we spent rest of the afternoon, a rig southeast of Dauphin Island. The water was murky down to 35' but Quintin managed to shoot a 25 pound barracuda that initiated him to gulf spearfishing. I watched as he fought the rather lively fish. As I assisted him with his retrieval, I had to twice dodge the mouth full of what seemed like 9" jaws of razor sharp teeth. The shot wasn't a kill shot so I did what any good dive buddy would do when given the chance, I put the fish out of its misery with a knife through the eye and into the brain. Quintin swam his trophy back to the boat and I took a picture. We made a few more dives and I shot what I thought was one black snapper. As I was taking it off my shaft, I saw another one down in the murk. I had shot two with one shot. "Ain't that somethin'" I thought. I saw only the one when I shot. The other one must have been swimming right beside it.

We make the long ride in and it is 9:00 p.m. when we finally make it to the dock. Everyone heads out planning to meet again the following morning.

I drive back to Mobile arriving around midnight and burn a disc of pictures for our guests, then crash.

Saturday morning starts out with a near bang. We fuel our boat up and head out Perdido Pass. Just north of the bridge, we see smoke. There appears to be a 32' Formula smoking like crazy. A couple of minutes later we see about six occupants up on the bow and flames coming from the cabin. We call the marine police and report what we are seeing. Just as quick the people on the boat all jump in the water. There's one yacht ahead of us and it gets to pick up all the pretty young girls as the boat continues to burn. By now, all the boats in the area are getting as far away as possible, thinking its going to blow at any time. In a couple of minutes the Fire and Rescue boat comes racing to the scene. Within a couple of more minutes the boat is soaking the fire with water and gets it under control before it explodes. We're all looking at each other on the boat thinking what a start to the day that was.

We make a short ride out the pass to the 3 mile barge and everyone bails. The water is beautiful here with only a 10-15' murky layer then clearing to 60' or more. "Hey Quintin, have you ever used a pole spear?", I ask. "No" came his reply. I was excited to be the first one to introduce him to one of my favorite weapons. I hand him my back up AB Biller pole gun and instruct him to take some target practice on a large school of spadefish which he promptly did. He held up his first kill like a badge of honor. I was feeling as happy as he was, watching how excited he was. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning :) Somehow, I think that feeling really never goes away for a spearfisherman. With all the action on the surface, I dive down and see 5' bull shark. I guess he smelled brunch. Once Larry caught a glimpse of him, he was back on the boat. I good naturedly heckle him about making a hasty retreat and he took it like a champ. He couldn't talking about his encounter so we gave him the nickname of "Parrot". He reminded me a lot of Jack deVilliers with his colorful description of his encounter.

The day slips by and we head out to a place called the Trysler Grounds. Quintin shoots an amberjack for him and one for me since he is new and needed the practice. We dive a weed line without any luck but good on the job training for Quintin. As we are kicking back on the boat about mid afternoon eating a tomato sandwich, a Navy Blue Angel does a fly over and puts on a show for us, doing barrel rolls and other maneuvers I couldn't begin to name. They were having an air show in Pensacola and we were in the position of one of their flying patterns.

The day ends with a nice sunset and smooth seas. We arrive back to the dock again at 9:00 p.m. Sunday morning the guys from Oklahoma drive to Mobile for breakfast at Dick Russell's, a famous local restaurant, to meet Robin and myself before continuing home. It's my best guess that the weekend has spoiled this bunch of "Sooners" and I'll bet that they'll be back before Christmas.

It was great meeting more like minded people like me and I'm looking forward to our next big adventure together.

Mike Wade
Stickmen Freedivers
Mobile, Alabama
in the "Heart of Dixie"