Free Divers hating on Scuba Divers

now im a bad guy just cus i say what i think of it ?? is tennis and raquet ball the same ? what i say for my opinion is that the sport is freedive no tanks if you are lazy is ok with me but dont make it right that is all , and thank you for the video .

I am 95% freediver when spearing but am not going to drop to 120fsw and tag a big AJ on a breath hold. I have been taken for dangerous rides on SCUBA to know better. I look at it like different tools in a toolbox type thing. SCUBA is just my big tool for the big jobs. It's all a bunch of BS in my opinion. Only thing I don't like is hookah and spearing; not sure if that is even legal but I have seen it. We are all doing the same thing; you want fare put a knife in your teeth, leave the long blades and weights at home and go to town. In reality spearing is no more fare than hunting with a rifle and scope but hey; it's what we do. But that is just my opinion, I could be wrong. Cheers!

Quote from tulocote

now im a bad guy just cus i say what i think of it ?? is tennis and raquet ball the same ? what i say for my opinion is that the sport is freedive no tanks if you are lazy is ok with me but dont make it right that is all , and thank you for the video .

We are from the same tribe brother. Great avatar image....very sweet composition.
A grouper or bottom fish will have a safer sanctuary from take without the hose. They know how to use structure to part a line or dislodge a hook. 99% of breath hold freedivers in the US will not be harvesting game deeper then 100FSW. The hookah diver and bubble butt killer can eliminate them from the reef in very deep water.Then, after many years of slaughter, ask;''Why can't I kill'em any more?''...''.Look at all the fish the nets and long line'ers take''.

I had to work a DEMA dive show a few times in New Orleans and the Bubble Butt Barney gunslingers took pride in showing me images of huge bloody rays/skates they hung and weighed, one even had a Mola Mola.:@ It made me want to puke. They are from a different tribe I will never support.

You brother.... I would be happy to share a dive and meal with some day.:thumbsup2:

Cheers, Don

Quote from Don Paul

the Bubble Butt Barney gunslingers took pride in showing me images of huge bloody rays/skates they hung and weighed, one even had a Mola Mola.:@ It made me want to puke.

DP, but there are abusers on both sides on the coin here. True the scuba diver can get at fish at greater depths and so without that it gives the fish a sanctuary. But in all honesty here, if the average freediver had the capacity to reach the greater depths safely on breath hold I have no doubt they would. The line you draw is not one of moral standing but more of ability and safety. When I dive with any method I stop once I have enough fish for that day or within the next few days (now that I have been at it longer anyway). I know scuba as well as freedivers who take all they can every single dive until they limit out or are done diving and that is just as much of a problem as anything. Doing that is not stewardship but desecration no matter your methods. Now I have lots of scuba friends and myself rarely use it to hunt unless I am going deep or am with a scuba trip (which is rare) and I get in many debates with them regarding some bad practices; but same goes for freedivers. Tanks or no tanks, we are all still humans and subject to the same greedy and selfish impulses.

Quote from Don Paul

They are from a different tribe I will never support.

I have to disagree with you here as well and it makes me sad that people feel this way. Perhaps different sects of the same tribe but we should all strive to be stewards of the ocean and promote conservation as a single family of spearos. I don't like seeing guys in 30' with tanks on as that seems cheap I agree; but to each his own. On top of that all the regulations passed affect us all as a group so it seems we would be more effective acting as one and not dividing ourselves. I would be happy to share a dive and meal with any fellow spearo. Peace brothers.

These are just my views and opinions and are not meant to piss anyone off but it is how I feel. I love freediving but respect everyone as equals; as it should be.

Any kind of spear diver is fine with me now,its the gill nets and long line that's really the problem.You have a good point Don Paul.
I was on Scuba a long time before I switched,less noise the better.I feed two people,not 2,000 people.If it was up to me,Id ban all nets and long lines.That goes for lobster traps also.Why limit us when there's so much commercial fishing going on. Had to get that off my chest.

papaa really hit the nail on the head for me...even a commercial scuba spearo, and I am neither condoning nor condemning them, is more selective and a better option for the ocean tha nany hook and line commercial or trawler captiain.

i agree with shawn that I respect anyone who respects the ocean and will call out any one who doesn't. freedivers can be jerks too

i have to say that in my limited exposure, i have found there to be more of the attitudes and values that I DONT like in the scuba spear community, but I am reluctant to let a few people color my whole view. I feel we need to be unified to protect our rights but i think most divers of each kind do not feel a kinship across the compressed gas threashold

I dove on a tank once about 10 years ago on a family vacation in Tobago. It was my first experience to the underwater world and it was an absolutely beautiful and liberating experience. Years later I get the same feeling free diving, the weightlessness, the sights, the sounds all without the bulky gear we had to wear while waddling to the water's edge.

I always feel like the challenge would be removed, if you could stay under longer. Free diving spearfishing feels like primitive hunting. The greatest advantages a human has over a fish in the end is intelligence and most of the time the fish still gets one over you, by knowing to stay the hell away from that strange creature descending from the sky.

That is what I think is the difference between scuba and breath hold diving.The perception of a challenge, that some men gravitate too while others shun or neglect. Whether or not the challenge/difference between the two exist is irrelevant.

Khalel I think the only way you can find the answer to that question is to try it on your own. My prediction is that you while not like, because looking at your pictures you are obviously someone who has meet many challenges under the sea on a single breath.

BTW I really want to come back home and go fishing . Can I tag along with you when I make it back? I was thinking of swimming out of Macaripe, Paria or Toco.

Also my disclaimer on my reply is I have had several scotch and ginger ales.

ok
let me say one thing first the title is no right because i know that like don and i and many more here we dont hate scuba divers , im an advance open water cetificated diver , but i use it for what is was made for , a hobby, is not even a sport . 1st i will like to know if any body knows a competitions in scuba ??. second the guys that likes to scuba hunting , do you know why scuba was created for??

one more thing we all can lear the tip for better divers but One thing that I know you can not learn is the passion for the ocean and that is no a hobby.

Don it will be a honor to dive with you .