Hey everyone,
Greg here, checking in to the forum. Let's see..
I'm a med student originally from Canada with Jamaican background. I go to Jamaica regularly and that's where I do my spearfishing. I got into the sport when I was 13 and I've been diving for 10 years now. Not as regular as people who live near the water, just every time I'm on vacation.
I'd consider myself a little higher than intermediate and a little lower than professional. Seeing that I had to learn everything myself, and only started to reserach tips, tricks, and techniques a few years ago. I remember trying to get to 20ft at 14 years old and not even knowing what equalization was lol. My nose would bleed from the pressure and the headaches were killer! 
but I was too determined to quit
I know I shouldn't but I dive alone a lot. I trust God to take care of me. It's hard to find people to dive with, because most of my friends can swim, and the ones that can can't keep up with me when I go spearfishing and would be of little or no help if there was an emergency. Last December I had my first shark encounter when I was alone. I shot a barracuda and it took off into the blue. After reeling it in I didn't realize that I was a good distance past the reef, and when I knifed him he started to leak blood everywhere. Needless to say, I reef shark came to check it out. The worst part was that I didn't see it coming. I was at the surface, barracuda in one hand and gun in the other, when I felt a big rubbery feeling this swim into my back and over my shoulder. I almost drowned from screaming and taking in water :laughing3: He circled around and tried coming at me 3 times. I poked him off with my spear and when he swam away I booked it to shore.
I got a pretty deep cut on my knee from the barracuda hitting into me during the commotion but nothing too serious. Just needed some antibiotics and a bandage for a couple weeks.
As with most of us, I absolutely live for the water. I'll research anything fishing related before I read these medical books lol. Hope to get some useful info from this forum, as well as get to know you all.
Cheers!