Almost lost a finger thanks to a lionfish

About a month ago I was out with my friend Manuel Menendez diving / spearing - all in all it was a great day...but...in Manuel's own words:

"On July 4th I went diving with Felix Leander, Manny Dobal, and Nick Bernal.  We had a decent day and got a few fish for dinner.  When I got home the kids wanted to see the fish we caught.

Lifting a grouper out of the cooler I got poked by 3 spines from one of the Lionfish in the cooler. The pain was instant and intense. The Lionfish that stung me had been dead for 4 hours and was about 13 inches long.

I had my hand under running HOT water for 3 hours and couldn't stop literally stomping from the pain. I took 3 Tylenol extra strength and 2 percasets and my hand was still on fire and swelling.

By 11 pm I went to the hospital because my finger was turning black.  When I walked into the hospital the first doctor told me she was calling the hand specialist because she was worried I might lose all or part of my finger...every few minutes a different nurse or doc would come by to ask to look at my nasty hand...

I got admitted and was in the hospital for 25 hours all because of a STING FROM A DEAD LIONFISH, I felt like such a fucking idiot...

Anyway I had 5 antibiotics administered by IV and countless shots of hydro-morphine and other painkillers.

I had been stung twice in the past 2 years by lionfish and had very minor bee sting like reactions this time the spines went deep and I got hurt bad...I have probably killed between 500 and 600 of these fish over the last 5 years and have gotten a little too comfortable with handling them...I have participated in, planned and won several Lionfish tournaments in the Bahamas and South Florida over the last 3 years and perhaps I was a little too comfortable handling them...

I have been bitten by a moray, stung by stingrays, bitten by a nurse shark, stung by bristle worms, gotten rashes all over due to a scorpion fish stinging BUT this lionfish sting was BY FAR THE WORST.

It’s been 31 days and I still cannot completely bend my middle finger and it is still inflamated …

BEWARE OF THE LIONFISH (even dead ones)"

Jack Kearns Classic 2010

Every year (three so far) the South Florida Freediving club organizes the Jack Kearns Classic spearfishing competition.  This December I went out with friends Manuel Menendez, Manny Chica, and Eddie Aixala armed with a Nikonos and video camera.  Conditions were beyond horrible and visibility was minimal, making taking pictures or video impossible.  But the bad weather did not stop Manny and Manuel from taking first and second prize in the men's gun division individual and team.  I spent most of the time on the boat giving directions to the captain (Eddie) as he was having difficulties dealing with the currents, waves, and vegan sandwiches (all an inside joke, he did fine).  We all did have our wet-suits on to deal with the cold and rain.  While the weather was not cooperating, having good company and laughs made up for it.


The same week of the competition, Manuel was featured in the Miami Herald on a story about lobstering - read here (not sure why he did not take the team ;) ).  We go out often to catch stones crabs and lobster while in season - undisclosed location.  Catching and eating your own food just makes it always taste so much better.