The start of a beautiful friendship

My friend and I got in for an afternoon spear. The conditions weren't ideal, the wind was chopping up the surface of the sea a bit, which meant murky water, but we could see a sheltered spot in the lea of some rocks and headed across the channel to check it out. As soon as I saw the low visibility I realised that it wasn't going to be the best dive but I was just glad to be in the water, and you can never tell when you will find a patch of clear vis, or run into a big shoal of fish unexpectedly!

The water did clear up as we got further out and into the shelter of the rocks, but there were no fish to be found, then we saw the reason, a seals head just poking above the water observing us from close by. I quickly unlimbered my gun and turned on my camera hoping the seal might get close enough to get some footage.

What I never expect was for the seal to approach us and play with us for over half an hour, it was the most fantastic experience. When I have seen seals in the surf the always seem to be a little menacing, the big bull seals have a habit of surfacing near you and catching you by surprise, splashing and huffing their huge scarred heads and looking quite intimidating up close.

But this female grey seal was inquisitive and so elegant underwater as she swam circles around us, not at all threatening. Instead she was clearly curious about us and kept approaching from different angles before retreating then trying to sneak up from behind. Often she would sink down and watch us motionless from the seaweed, allowing me at times to get within 3 ft of her.

She began doing flips and lazy rotations seemingly unphased by our presence, if anything it looked as if she was showing off. She would regard us with her dark eyes then turn away, running the seaweed through her flippers. It was enchanting and one of the most memorable encounters I have ever had in the sea.

Finally she tired of us and swam off into the murk to find something more interesting to do and we returned to shore. I was buzzing all the way home. Here is the edited highlights of the footage, although the wide angled lens makes her look further away than she actually was.

Spearfishing

Spearfishing has become in the last few years one of my favorite pastimes. It began as an ethical experiment about the consumption of fish and led to me spending a even more of my time in the sea, starting to learn how to free-dive and spend a fortune on diving gear!

I have been a pescetarian (eating fish but not meat) for about 15 years and found myself getting annoyed by people that profess to love animals and yet eat them all the time without giving the slightest thought to the suffering these animals undergo. I thought that if most people had to kill their own lambs to eat it might change their perspective. Then it dawned on me that I quite happily did the same with fish (i've never liked the cruelty of fishing) and the more research I did into commercial fishing the more horrified I became by waste, the greed, the thoughtlessness and destruction caused worldwide by the industry.

I looked into my options and decided that spearfishing was the most ethical way of catching fish and I resolved that if I couldn't stomach catching a preparing my own fish I would become a full vegetarian. So I made myself a pole spear from a bamboo pole, some bungee cord and the tip of an old kitchen knife and began learning to hunt down my own dinner.

I quickly managed to catch my first fish and realised that although the spearing process looks more brutal than other forms of fishing, you quickly reel the fish in and kill it with a knife so it's suffering is swiftly cut short. Furthermore there is little or no by-catch, a spear-fisherman selects his target by eye so hardly ever takes undersized fish or other harms other sealife by mistake. Indeed 90% of your time spearfishing is spent finning around enjoying the undersea world.

I upgraded my pole spear to a spear gun and began learning the finer points of my new hobby. It wasn't long before I was kitted out with a weight belt, a proper spearfishing wet-suit and was able to catch a large percentage of the fish I eat myself.

Introduction

I have lived by the sea all my life and have always surfed, snorkeled and generally enjoyed the ocean. I've been lucky enough to have snorkeled all around the world, and spent some of my childhood years in Jeddah enjoying the fantastic reefs of the red sea. Unfortunately it was around this time I saw Jaws which gave me an enduring fear which took me years to overcome! That didn't stop me getting in the water, just led to the occasional panic!

I have only done one assisted scuba dive, which I enjoyed but did not make me more inclined to learn. I have always been put off by the amount of equipment involved. I recently read a passage that struck a chord with me:

“Scuba is not as Jacques Cousteau famously put it, 'an entry into the Silent World'. The sound of one's own breathing is amplified and compounded by the demand valve of the scuba tank. Air bubbles escaping the regulator mouthpiece make a constant burbling noise.......Underwater , the noise of my own breathing reminds me that I am an unnatural visitor to this world. A sibilant, sucking , respirator sound fills my throat and mouthpiece...”

Time Ecott. Neutral Bouyancy. 2001

A few people have suggested I write a blog of my underwater adventures so I thought I'd give it a try, please excuse my poor spelling and writing - hopefully I can get some good footage to make up for it!