Something different - Baja Dive Report

Since reports have been slow, thought I'd post a baja dive report from the past weekend...
Drove down, shot some fish, drank a few too many Tecates, ate till my stomach hurt, & enjoyed every minute of it.   

No one cares about the story anyway, so on to the pics   

Day 1, on the way to our camp we stopped at a seamount for a quick dive.  Visibility was poor, but huntable.  I shot these 3 fat leopard groupers(cabrilla) for our dinner that night.



Day 2 - with strong wind & surface chop, we jumped in at a spot very close to camp.  The fish were skittish, but diving hard, we managed to land some quality fish.  With the variety of game, I tried to be selective & shoot one of every quality species.  My mission was sidetracked for a while as my buddy shot a large barred pargo that holed up in 60ft of water.   After grabbing a flashlight, taking a second shot from a backdoor, and crawling into the cave to cut the original shooting line, the two of us were able to extract the fish.



I found a spot holding some BIG cabrillas, but they were smart(don't get that big being dumb) and wouldn't come in close enough.  Eventually found out that I could drop down to a ledge, pull myself on the bottom to a boulder-strewn area, then come up in between the boulder and pick off some of these beasts as they came in.  My friend also shot this nice gulf grouper on one of his first dives... which instantly turned around & went into a cave   It took 2 of them an hour and a half of diving to finally get it out!



Last stop of the trip I paired off with my buddy for safety reasons & we worked a drop-off.  The fish were skittish, but we managed to shoot some quality fish including this pair of cabrilla that Brandon shot.  Normally an awesome shot, he shot one of these fish from the hip as it went full-speed past him.



On that last dive of the trip I was tucked into a crack between 2 boulders as yellow snapper & cabrillas came in to check me out.  This gulf grouper came in from my left & I slowly pulled my speargun in then extended it towards the fish.  Took the shot, hit it on the side of the head, and it promptly pretzeled my shaft   I wrestled it up to the surface, grabbed its gills, took out my knife, & put it to sleep.  Shaft aside, it was an awesome way to end the trip.   



Northern Cortez.
Water vis between 5-30ft.
Water temp was between 59-61 degrees.
Freediving only in depths between 15-70ft.
All my fish were shot with 110cm OMER T-20 setup with Omer 50 reel & Riffe euroshaft.

Good diving, good food, great friends, & waking up to the sunrise over the beach - who could ask for anything more?   

 

Hay Fuzz,

Nice layout! You didn't happen to vacume pack any of that ocean game? Glad some one is having funnnnnnn



Rap with you latter!


 

Fuzz,
Awesome pictures! Great job! You make me sick though as I am sitting here at home listening to the rain and you're talking about waking up to sunrise on the beach, drinking Tecate.  Life is just not fair sometimes . By the way, where in Northern baja? Is it above Loreto? San Felipe?

Fuzz.... you da man! 
Stuart showed me your website at http://www.hapaboy.com/ ... and all I could say was DAMN!!!!!

Sweet site...good to know there is another hapa here!

NICE

Fuzz.... you da man! 
Stuart showed me your website at http://www.hapaboy.com/ ... and all I could say was DAMN!!!!!

wow, amazing photography and even more emazing fish. thanks for sharing that site!!

john

Awesome report, I need to start taking advantage of the possibilities in Baja for diving.  Thanks for sharing,

Chris

Alex,
I got a bag with your name on it 

ChuckE,
It was a bit south of San Felipe.  Not even close to Loreto since we were trying to make it a short trip.


As for the website - sorry, had to take that site down for construction.  Still going through lots of pictures to revamp it.  It hasn't been updated in a year & I'm a bit embarassed by the quality of some of the pictures.

I started an underwater/dive picture thread & will post a bunch in there randomly as I go through the sorting process 

http://www.norcalkayakanglers.com/bb/index.php?topic=3123.0

Hey Fuzz, I meant to ask about bringing your cannons (spearguns) down with you.  I know they are nothing like gunpowder guns.  Just wondering what the offiicial status is in Mexico?  GUNS ARE ILLEGAL!  But I am heading to colonet in May, wouldnt mind doing some free diving there, and would like to bring a spear gun.  Thanks, Chris

Pneumatic spearguns are illegal, but band-powered spearguns are legal. 

Never flown into Mexico, but from my flights to other places, I declare it as "fishing" or "diving" equipment... saying "spearfishing" only if necessary to further explain.  I've said the word "speargun" a couple times & it didn't go over too well with the word "gun" in there.   

Fuzz ... one can never have enough guns, huh?  How many do you have.   

-Allen

Fuzz ... one can never have enough guns, huh?  How many do you have.   

-Allen

 

too many

 

He has since sold some of his little "peashooters"...but unfortunately he replaced them with some big ol' tree trunk cannons. 

Buddy, you need a bigger closet!

So if any of you are looking into getting a gun, ask Fuzz first.  He has extensive knowledge of guns (most dive related topics as well), and his gear is top notch.  You can't go wrong with buying his guns.  The problem is getting him to part with them...as you can see.  But c'mon!  Who needs 30+ guns?