Diving Bequia

This is the first time I am trying to start a thread and never done pic's before so forgive me if it goes sideways

So last week I got the chance to get wet and hunt after a couple of years not being able... It was fantastic to say the least :thumbsup2: Funny how the body remembers skills you are not conscious of having, for example aiming and firing, I just relaxed turned off the brain and started stoning :laughing:
Biggest help I had on the trip was that before the trip I (based on advice from reading stuff here) took my spear to a machine shop and had it straightened, WOW what a difference!! The gun (biller mahogany 54) performed better than when it was new(which was over 10 years ago), amazing that shafts can come new with a tiny bend, I learned so much from these forums... Think i convinced my dive buddy I had skills when it was just a straight shaft
Other thing was i bought a new "JBL #894 4" Gulf Break Away Stainless Steel Slip Tip with Slide Ring & 3/32" Cable for 5/16" 6mm Shaft" if anyone ever buys this immediately get rid of the stupid O-Ring :angry2:!!!Cost me nine-ish pound mutton snapper and two Spanish mackerels as it failed to deploy the breakaway tip several times :frustrated2: , my dive buddy Fred and dog Spike who are up with their boat from Trinidad, pulled the o-ring off and gave me a string to tie to the breakaway tip cable loop and pull into my bands to secure it... Worked AWESOME after that and did not lose anymore fish next dive :clap2:
We dove tanks and free but current was a major problem(full moon AND springs) with the free diving so pretty much went 120-140' and looked for the big fish with our tanks :loser:... The boys think its not manly to take pictures :boohoo: so snuck in what i could ...
Most of our dives were on West Cay which is the Westerly most end of the Grenadine island of Bequia, its famous for its great diving and fish life, most locals avoid hunting there as a number of aggressive black tips have claimed the spot as their own(we dont mind :shark4:)
First dive was a huge surprise for me as i haven't been wet in so long but I was so relaxed that it all just flowed for me, you guys know those days when your completely tuned into the ocean no intruding thoughts from real life and it all just seems so naturally effortless... Fish were everywhere but we only shoot whats going on the grill that night(picky fellas) or fill orders made by friends, this is where I lost the snapper and couple of mackerels due to spear tip malfunction, one mackerel was way above me stalked him from below, difficult shot but got him dead to rights, tip went in and he did not move for a few seconds, thought i had broken his back BUT then he took off and the tip just slipped out easy as you please :troll1: ..sooooo it goes... Few aggressive black tips were cleaning up my spear tip wastage, got to love the circle of life sharks are still my favorite creature to watch underwater, well clear water with them in-front of me that is :laughing: massive schools of Crevalle jack were around so I shot two and Fred shot a Spanish mackerel and a lovely 6-7 pound grouper...
Next day we had guests on board, a local Bequia friend who now is a lifer in the USA coast guard and his jail bait girl(we did not object :laughing:) plus my wife who is the best fish bag person i know :fishshoe:... Shot a lovely snapper as we hit bottom and of course as I shot it two decent sized Amber Jacks showed up to see what the commotion was about :angry4: only got a picture of one(sigh) ... Then ran into a small permit which was big fun being towed after i shot it(got no reel or buoy) , lots of turtles, eagle rays insanely beautiful virgin coral and massive boulders in the deep with gorgonian coral hanging everywhere ...Perfect spots fish or no fish...

Hookinfish it was awesome getting under the water for a few days, my buddy should be showing up tomorrow with his boat so should have another weekend of diving to look forward to.

Quote from Nate

Very cool George, I really like the gorgonian coral pic.:thumbsup2:

Nate thanks man, its insane the size and quantity of them in Bequia, hanging off 20 foot high boulders that form swim through's and cave systems in about 110', truly breathtaking diving and spearing at west Cay

Nate I have a cheep Cannon in a cheap canon underwater housing..lol..but if the subject matter is great then you dont need expensive stuff and talent :spam: time...here are some shots from 2 years ago from St Vincent, crap hunting but pretty for days in SVG

Been busy going back and forth on the ferry from St Vincent to Bequia to shoot with my friend Nadeem.

St Vincent

Bequia, the last bit of land all the way to the right of the picture is our main shooting grounds called West End Cay (its the most west end of the island, we are not imaginative around here :D)

Once there, it's off on my buddy's Nadeem and his first mate Spike's boat for some fun! Spike is still working on his surface technique :snorkel1:

First trip over I stayed 5 days, 3 of those days free diving every day all day with nothing to show for it but sundown drinks and the views before and after fishing from the house, and lets not forget Nadeem's famous barbecued home made jerk pork and fish of course! :thumbsup2:

We had a big green flash that sunset :cool2:

The grounds we hit every day were Moon hole and West End Cay... Moonhole has a middle earth type landscape and buildings and is called moonhole because there is a perfect arch through which you can see the equinoxes moon rise and set perfectly framed through the arch.
Further down that peninsula is West End Cay which has two inlets one of which you can safely navigate a seven foot draft boat through and the other inlet which is VERY shallow (you will see in a min why I mentioned the cuts).

Moonhole

West End Cay

Now between my first 5 days there and my second shorter trip a few days later someone decided to highlight the differences between the two cuts for me :@ Thankfully the free market economy kicked in before this right-off spilled its fluids out and destroyed our favorite hunting grounds, while the owners and insurance companies argued about what to do and the government as usual did nothing. (free market) The locals immediately boarded the boat and stole (pumped) all the diesel and oil off the boat :laughing:

The last island bump at West End Cay is where all the action is with the bottom going straight to 80 from the land, large boulders provide platforms between 15 and 50 feet for you to lay in wait for the pelagics coming in from the deep to target the bait fish which were everywhere pressed up against the land. Down in the deep you can scuba to 140 feet among giant boulders forming insane swim throughs and caves

So three days of no fish and views. Oh the fish were there, boy were they there, but just could not get in shooting range :(... There was this one big rock with three nice size snappers that played peek-ah-boo go screw yourself games with me those three days :frustrated2:, tons of Ceros just out of range... Then came the forth and final day and FISH ON :thumbsup
Nadeem stoned his snapper with a brain shot with his tiny lobster gun :clap2:
2:
The snappers who played hide and seek??
BANG!

and they just kept coming

Lots of bait around
Surface

And deep

Next day my wife came over from St Vincent and snorkeled with us and between shooting we took some time to stop and enjoy the scenery and take some pictures
YUM!

Anyone ever seen a moray so dark?

This fella went through some quick color changes

hummmm Phallic symbol much?

Next trip over was all about the bugs

And now on Tuesday it's back home to Antigua up North and real life as hurricane season is over but don't feel too bad for me it ain't too hard a life as a sail boat captain

Dan can you move this to the geographic region its supposed to be in please?

Quote from hank

Nice George. I missed this thread when you first posted it. Those are schoolmaster snappers? BIG ones.

Tons of big school masters around Hank as the locals dont like them, they dont fillet the fish so the tough skin is a deterrent (suits me just fine thank you very much ) Also get this they dont like Cero as the flesh is so soft it dissolves when they try to make fish soup so they avoid them..:laughing:

Quote from makelymyday

Tourists can't spearfish there right?

Nothing sadly is regulated so feel free to hunt... Would love to see some spero charters start and bring some much needed business to the islands, professionally licensed and controlled is better than what happens now for sure

Quote from Dan

Where is Bequia?

7 miles from St Vincent in the Southern Caribbean Dan