Freediving from a kayak for the first time is quite a learning experience. My buddy Scott Siebel loaned me a 16-foot sit-on-top model Thursday and I found out that anchoring it in an outgoing tide is a feat. Next came suiting up, but the dive bag is behind me on a bungee cord. It was quite a struggle. Next time I'll ditch the bag, but fortunately it is packed in order of need. The 28-inch wide kayak is amazingly stable, even in 2-foot waves, as long as you don't try to move around much.
I abandoned my attempt to reach the artificial reef because of the white capping 3-foot waves offshore and the darkening sky onshore. The dive flag is up and I ease over the side, speargun in hand. Eighteen-feet down through schools of bait around the channel marker legs, small sheepshead and mangrove snapper swarm. The bait heads for cover as two little cobia zoom past in 10 to 12 feet of visibility. Decaying cast nets are twisted around the barnacle encrusted I-beam legs at the bottom of the marker. Several stone crabs hunker down two days before the season opens. I swim to a nearby crab trap, also holding bait, but there are no fish to shoot here either.
Getting back in the kayak requires only an easy fin kick and the gear is quickly stowed. The speargun bungees onto one side and the paddle is retrieved from the other. A half hour later the kayak is back on my roof rack. Fuel expenditure for the adventure: zero dollars.
Chad Carney teaches diving and spearfishing in the Tampa Bay area and can be reached at (727) 423-7775 or e-mailed at chadcarney@verizon.net
Source Citation
Carney, Chad. "CAPTAIN'S CORNER." St. Petersburg Times [St. Petersburg, FL] 15 Oct. 2005: 9C. Popular Magazines. Web. 2 Jan. 2010.
Gale Document Number:CJ137598875
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