Sunday Dive

I lie face down I the water feeling the sun warm my back as I peer down into the gloom. The water is about 25ft deep and out here there are currents and a swell running that has reduced the visibility so I can only just make out the kelp below me. I finish my breathe up although it's hard to relax whilst trying to maintain position against the moving sea, I fill my lungs with a final deep breathe, first from my diaphragm then my chest, spit out my snorkel and begin my dive.

Finning downwards the light quickly takes on a green tint and the seaweed becomes clearer, swaying hypnotically with the rhythm of the waves. I angle my descent, aiming for a good landing point and equalise my ears, I'm lucky on a dive this deep I only have to clear the pressure once. Levelling out I drop knees first into the kelp, until I touch the rock it is anchored to and my head is level with the waving fronds.

I enjoy the tranquillity, feel the pressure of the water on my body, nearly double what you feel at the surface and watch the fish gliding towards my hiding place to investigate. As usual the first takers are juvenile Pollack, on my left I see a good number of them, their arrow shaped silhouettes circling me inquisitively. There is a sudden darting motion above me and a shoal of small streamlined fish swim into view. As always when I'm hunting I feel almost like two separate people, one part of me enjoys the spectacle, the glinting of beautiful colours catching the sun, whilst another part is identifying the fish, accessing their size and the chance of getting one. This is a big shoal of Mackerel, moving fast as I track them with my gun, I don't often see Mackerel and am hesitant to shoot, they are small targets and I don't want to shoot an undersized fish.

My pause pays dividends and I see that the smaller fish are fleeing a shoal of Bass, I adjust my focus, moving my gun slowly towards the newcomers singling out one of the larger ones and letting him move in front of the gun before shooting. It's not a great shot the gun is turned towards the bass so I'm not sighted properly, but it's secure and I swim towards the surface towing the fish with me where I quickly real it in and dispatch it with my knife.

I do some more dives hoping to find a big Pollack or more bass, but only see a shoal of Mullet at range so I just enjoy the show, watching their shapes fade into the murk. The frequent deeper dives (8-10m is the deepest I hunt at present) have tired me out so I decide to call it a day and start the long fin back to shore, circling the island until I'm out of the stronger tidal currents.

As I cross the final channel the current picks up again and I encounter some small basking sharks harvesting the plankton being swept past, I swim along side one as it passes which rounds off a great dive perfectly.



(to get the most out of the video open it up in youtube, select hi res and fullscreen it)