BIG REPORT!! GWS, Lobster, Halibut and Photos

WOW. This trip is going to be fun to type up with all the CRAZY things that went down!

I needed to be in Ventura harbor by 8p on Saturday to board the Peace Boat for a 3 day dive trip. I figured I'd come down to Simi Valley Friday night after work, stay with my good buddy and solid spearo, Daniel aka "Danstro." I knew I was going to beat my body up over the next few days, so heck, why not jump in at Leo Carillo Saturday morning for a free dive spear sesh with Daniel. It was great visibility, low swell, decent structure and super fishy. There were bugs (mostly small), tons of huge opal eye (gross), and a bunch of olives and calicos. I knew I wouldn't be keeping the fish (giving it to Daniel and his wife) so I wanted to be really picky with what I shot. We swam with huge bat rays, a curious seal, and 3 different types of bait balls. After about 3 hours in the water and choosing not to shoot anything, something caught my eye , a weird movement in the sand next to some structure. Hmmm... structure, sand, bait balls... what could it be?  BAM - a PR halibut. That makes 3 butts this year and too bad this one doesn't count for DOTY cause it was meaty.


Go back, fillet the fish, shower and drive back to Ventura to have dinner at the harbor and hop on the Peace boat. I've never been lobster diving before or staying on a boat for multiple days so I wasn't sure what to expect. We left harbor at 2am and I could hardly sleep a wink due to noise, motion and excitement. Shame on me for thinking this would be a relaxing dive trip. On deck for an epic sunrise and a "pre-breakfast") meal, suited up and dive 1 underway at Talcott Shoals (spl?). The rest of the trip was a rapid fire succession of eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, try not to pass out on the deck, dive, eat, nod off, dive, sleep, repeat... brutal. I'm so glad I spent a few weeks in the gym working on my swim/kick muscles. I'm ridiculously sore typing this with bandaged fingers and wrecked muscles, and I can't imagine how much worse off I'd be if I didn't get my body in a bit of shape before this trip. Without going chronologically, here are some of the highlights, some pictures and stories.
- Sunrise.

GREAT WHITE SHARK. On dive 2, I'm at 40' on the top of a ledge that drops to 55' swimming back to the boat with a bag full of bugs. Look left and 20' away is a GWS. I hoped it was something else, but it was unmistakable and the captain warned us they've been seeing them here. It's the 2nd time this year that I've swam with one but this time I didn't have my spear gun... The first great white at Del Monte Beach must have told this one that I'm pretty good at staring contests because it came in to check me out and then bounced. I was way less nervous this time around, but still dove to the bottom of the ledge and stayed tucked in while swimming a hundred yards back to the boat. The safety stop was pretty nerve racking though... floating in 15' of wide open water for 3 minutes while doing pirouettes to scan the waters for any big grey shadows. I decided to start wearing my shark shield for the rest of the trip. I think by now, I've earned my Great White poster that Amadeo Bachar signed for me "It's better to see them on your wall than in the water - Dive Safe" - Amadeo.

ELECTRIC RAY. So, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed. I remember Big Jim taking a photo of one and I even recalled that it was called an electric ray... however in that moment, it did not dawn on me that they are actually electric. It was slow swimming, so I came up behind it to pet it. What a dummy. Thankfully it just wanted a back scratch and didn't jack me up. I was told they can pack a serious punch. One guy described how he had one swim on top of his head and pop him which he said felt like he got hit with a baseball bat.

JELLY FISH. Got a nasty sting on day 1 that still hurts today. Right on the face. Awesome.

URCHINS. Ouch... they wrecked shop on me. Going for bug after bug, face to the ground, arm stuffed shoulder deep into a tiny ledge, surge pushing me up down and sideways. Needless to say I have like 4,000,000 spines, cuts and bumps all over my hands, knees, thighs and even in my scalp. Don't be surprised if I start a go fund me campaign for a new wet suit now that mine is a pin cushion =P

LOBSTER. So much lobster. Of 14 people on the boat, we all got over 15 bugs each. I got 17 which I hear isn't 1/2 bad for a newbie. Here is a picture of the 10#er. We decided to release the biggest bugs to go back to breed more. Catching a lobster is pretty freaking hard. You have to know where to look and be super fast. Then if you miss, you better have some darn good grip strength to hold on to the horns and try to wiggle them out. The worst part was looking way back into a 10' deep cave and seeing and absolutely gargantuan bug staring at you with no way whatsoever to get it. I completely missed around 30 bugs, got 30 that were under sized and came home with 17. Not bad.


SCALLOPS. They were literally everywhere with a 6" average. I took 20 of them and ate most of them raw.

SHEEPSHEAD. So. Many. huge. fish. They let you pet them and were always around no matter what. Some of the biggest fish I've swam with so far 20#+ at almost every spot. I should have waited to see the really big ones, but I got anxious, brought my Herranen 80 down with me, double banded it and put one straight through the brain of this huge guy. The crazy story was I almost lost my really nice new wooden Herranen gun. It's like a $800 gun all things included. I had just show the two fish in the pic and hand the stringer mounted to the handle of my gun (in case the landlord visited, I could just let go of the gun instead of having them attached to me). I was handing it up to the deck hand right as I was about to get up on the swim step of the boat as a large swell came out of no where. Ripped me off the ledge, gun went somewhere to the bottom. I only had 200 PSI in my tank so I couldn't drop back down to 50'. They threw the tank fill on me while I was still wearing my gear, everyone else out of the water already (my bad guys!) and with 2K PSI I hopped back in the water. Dropped straight down and couldn't see ANYTHING. It was the last dive of the day and it was pretty dark already. I started swimming in a spiral to try and find it. Thankfully, I had the fish with the big white chin on it because I'm confident I couldn't have found it 50 yards off in the distance without that bright white flesh reflecting my spotlight. Everyone was stoked I found the gun and there were no hard feelings for keeping them waiting since it was the last dive. I love that gun - It's Matt Mattisons old gun he set me up with and it shoots well! Literally every single shot was a headshot (only a selective 6 fish total... but still - great gun). In following dives, I saw even bigger SH, but the cooler I borrowed from Jim was only so big and I didn't want to just shoot big fish. I also saw massive blues and other RF but decided this trip I didn't need fish meat, especially since it doesn't count towards DOTY. I did take one really big calico. Yum!


WHITE FISH. Everywhere! Some where huge but I learned they are pretty skiddish. I laid on the bottom for 10 minutes doing everything I could possibly think of to draw the big ones in. I took 2 mediums instead. There was one big big guy on the outskirts but never got close enough. Luckily the big calico swimming with them finally came in to see what was going on... goodnight!

PEACE BOAT. What a legit boat. Go on one of their trips. Eric Bowman is touted as the best captain in those waters and he sure knows how to put us on the hot spots. We ate like kings. I couldn't believe how hungry I was after every dive. We basically had 6 full meals a day. The hot tub was so awesome - when you live in your wet suit all day, it's great to pour hot water down it to warm up. I'll certainly be joining them again for a yellow tail or white sea bass trip in the future.

BAMBOO REEF (Monterey). A HUGE shout out to Adam at BRM. He hit me up the night before I left for my trip and said, hey, you're going for lobster tomorrow and it will be much easier if you're EANx certified. Come on down tonight. I love the comradery there. They are legitimately the best free dive spearo shop in Monterey, they have level 1 free dive cert instructors, they have a great group on face book for free diving, and it's a pleasure to point people in their direction knowing they will be well taken care of.

OVERALL it was exhausting. Got home at 11p last night, cleaned fish, shucked scallops, situated lobsters until 2a, passed out and got up for work this morning. My hands are on fire but so worth it. Tonight we are excited to have 11 friends coming over for a fillet mignon topped lobster tail with seared scallops, mashed potatoes and green salad. I even gave several coworkers bags of sheepshead fillets to make alfredo, ceviche and one is even going to make Cioppino (and share it with me! score!). There were intense sunsets, enjoyed hearing all the old timers' fish stories while sharing stogies over a flaming BBQ with Tri-tip, amazing sunrises, and a lot of lessons learned. I was super impressed that the 60+ year olds were doing every single dive every day. Savage old salts. I can't wait to get back out there.
- getting the coals ready for tri tip.
- I love scallops.

Once I get a minute to check out my go pro, I'll add more photos to this thread.

I still feel like I'm on a boat 

Thanks for reading! I hope you experience some vicarious stoke!

Where the fuck is the pic of the great white? ..... Pics or it didn't happen!!! .. Thanks for the report.

Nice report, man!  thanks for sharing.

Norm

Sounds like an epic trip!

Where the fuck is the pic of the great white? ..... Pics or it didn't happen!!! .. Thanks for the report.

hahah Capitain said his name was Bruce (Nemo) - he's there a lot. GoPro should have it. stay tuned.

  .... It would be the first from our group!! Everybody and there mother has a go pro but the batterie always seems to be dead when theres an incounter.

Great report!

 Thanks for the great write up, sounds like an epic trip!

.... It would be the first from our group!! Everybody and there mother has a go pro but the batterie always seems to be dead when theres an incounter.

I have 2 gopros... even on this trip I only wore it on the second dive of day 1 because I was so focused on everything else. I already have it but I rarely use it =P Let alone have time to edit video! =P That's why I usually just post screen shots.

and if it gives any merit at all.. 2 other guys saw the shark that dive too.

Probabaly just a mola mola.

Great report. Thanks for sharing .
I been on the peace a few times, what a great time for sure.

Probabaly just a mola mola.

Sounds like you might have a case of the "if you pretend its not there, it's not as scary" =P

Been out to the islands on about 10 different trips on the Truth Aquatic boats Conception, Truth and the Vision. Only had one large shark encounter which at first glance I thought it was a GWS. Turned out to be a 10 ft. seven gill. The tail was the big give away under the murky, kelp canopy at 80 FOW.

It was a little unnerving as he circled me for about 3 mins just on the perimeter of the vis.

Looks like you had a great time. Congrats on the bugs and flattie.

Great write up man!  Thanks for sharing

Been out to the islands on about 10 different trips on the Truth Aquatic boats Conception, Truth and the Vision. Only had one large shark encounter which at first glance I thought it was a GWS. Turned out to be a 10 ft. seven gill. The tail was the big give away under the murky, kelp canopy at 80 FOW.

It was a little unnerving as he circled me for about 3 mins just on the perimeter of the vis.

Looks like you had a great time. Congrats on the bugs and flattie.

Wow! You've been on a lot of trips!! They're expensive but I'd love to go on the freedive WSB or YT trip next.