Freediving with new friends

Nico ascending - Photo by: Felix Leander

Recently I wrote about the new Ocean community called Oceanminds - since then I have met one of the co-founders, Nico Danan and have had the pleasure to dive with him. I have just returned from a marathon of a trip (business related) and really needed some downtime - literally.

Three weeks ago, Nico and I had dinner and decided to start pool training on a regular basis and of course diving in the ocean as well. So - sticking to our words, Saturday we had a great pool session (I realized how out of shape I am) and Sunday we went to Key Largo. While the ocean was rough (Nico decided to chum the water a bit), the visibility was amazing - must have been at least 100ft. Scott Hannon also joined us on the trip - coincidentally I also "met" Scott on Facebook.

Like Nico, Scott is also a great freediver and definitely shares the love for the ocean. At the very least we could still hit 65ft without any problems (considering that all of us have been inactive for at least 5 months). Besides the diving, we had some great conversations - I was intrigued by Scott's motorcycle track stories (those guys are nuts) - while Scott thought that I was nuts to be diving with Tigers - I guess it is all relevant.

Anyway - happy to have made some new friends that are "oceanminded"...check out some photos.

Diving in Key Largo

The first time my father dove in Florida was in Key Largo in 1984 with Quiescence (dive operator). Since then, we have become regulars (myself more since I live in Miami). The owners have not changed - maybe more wrinkles and less hair ;)...Last weekend they invited me to their 30 year anniversary - music, beer, bbq, and friendly people - of course there was some Jimmy Buffet going on.

What makes Quiescence so special besides the fact they only take six divers per boat are the people...

Take a look at some of the photos of photos of the history of Quiescence.

Lemon and hogs

I went diving yesterday in Key Largo - armed with pole spear and camera, a bit challenging having all the gear dangling from the weight belt. I put together a brief video, think it captures everything. I did notice that the fish had completely different reactions to me when I would film opposed to hunt - sixth sense. Plus, I can imagine my muscles being tense from pulling back on the spear.



The lemon shark was on a hook that was meant for a barracuda - it was released and swam away.

In reference to a prior posting regarding the "taste's like bacon - hog fish" - I need to give credit where it's do: a friend of mine, Craig, mentioned it when I told him about the hog.