Posts by Dan

Lets see what Dave has to say about wetsuits.

Editing those pics would take away from the character of the place, although you know well that I like sunny days too. You've been holding out Adrian, unless by Sat and Sun you mean last Those are some great pics and interesting description of how things are by you. It's true you'd have to be a really avid diver to dive there on a regular basis, due to the cold I'd think and maybe the vis is bad too, but it seems like it could be rewarding. When I lived in Canada I probably wouldn't have considered it, but now I'd rather go and experience diving there on a good day rather than shoot a ton of fish in Bahamas. You'll need a good warm suit though.

Dave, what kind of suits do you use throughout your diving season?

I'd like to put up a forum section for your area if you think you'd like to post some pics and reports there.

I think a lot of you missed the "to be continued" phrase at the bottom of the first post. I had no intention of leaving it like that, I'm going to add everything else to it in order of most important, I just got busy. Regardless it's making for a good discussion.

LOL

Very valid points John. To be clear, if the person was not already comfortable in the water, I'm talking decent snorkling skills, I will not invest my time introducing them to spearfishing whatever the benefits to me. It's just too much of a learning curve and I want to dive, not have the burden of responsibility. I'll leave the teaching to guys like Rick Hernandez or Jorge Mario who do it professionally. Or let the person demonstrate that they have enough desire to do it by starting on their own and letting the sea teach them.

Interesting analogy LB.

:bienvenido:

Not necessarily, what about a sling or a pole spear, or even a hand spear.

I don't want to see that stuff growing in the mouth piece, this way I don't think it's there.

Thanks hau, I knew what a cleat is, I didn't know what an omer cleat is. I thought it might have been your way of saying snorkel keeper

hau, what's a cleat?

Quote from red tide

Not to argue Pantoja, but how could you possibly say a knife and gloves are not essential gear?

I can tell you having dove with Pantoja many times that he doesn't use gloves. He's got rough hands though like a good guajiro And since he took a chunk off his thumb with a steel articulated wishbone that slipped and no longer uses that gun, I think he'll be alright. Some "special" <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x"> people prefer a little pain now and then instead of bothering to make sure to bring along an extra pieces of gear such as gloves.

As far as not having a knife; simply means that you can dive and get fish without a knife. Is it safe? probably not. But everything done right you can get away with not having a knife for a long time.

With that said I didn't complete my list yet and was going to add knife and gloves. I just tried to put everything in order of; nothing can be done without it - it would be nice to have.

Well said, I see your point Jeff.

Do you like your speargun ballasted to sink horizontally or nose down? What are the advantages or disadvantages of each?

An oldie but a goodie. And this time I noticed that he's using the snorkel to giddyup the bubble blower <img src= " class="smiley" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x" height="23" width="23" loading="eager" data-tooltip="biggrin" aria-label="biggrin">

I ordered a few HD Hero naked cameras. I should have them available for sale in about two weeks.

I may be introducing someone to spearfishing. The first order of the day is gear. I and others are probably going to be doing more of this in the future, and it can get tedious going over basic gear again and again. So I thought it would be a good idea to have a thread to be able to refer people to, to learn about the most essential gear they will need to start.

Gear changes in dependence of conditions but the following is a pretty safe bet for all occasions. A lot can be said about each individual piece of gear but this is not the place, this is just a basic outline.

#1 and most important, a mask. Can't do anything without it because you can't see well in saltwater. It should be a good fit not allowing water to leak in, and preferably have a black skirt to avoid sun reflecting into the mask. Another desirable characteristic for a freediving mask is lower volume.

#2 Snorkel. This is another essential piece of gear that will allow you to rest on the surface without raising your head out of the water to breath, and expend only minimal amounts of energy. Keep it simple without any purge valves and dry tops.

#3 Fins. We can spend hours talking about fins, but lets just say that for any kind of deep diving long freediving fins are necessary. A good fiberglass blade is better than plastic, and carbon is the best. But just to mess around in shallow water even plastic snorkling fins will do. Actually it's possible to get down using a frog kick without any fins, but it's not something you'll want to do for a long time. The frog kick requires sculling movements with the arms and you're going to be holding a speargun in one of your hands, not easy to do.

IMO the best carbon longfins.

Good plastic snorkling fin.

To be continued.

Superb video quality. That looked like a very long shot.

Welcome to the forum Dave. Cool pics. You're our first member actually diving in that area, should make for some interesting reports and fish pics. Seen any big sharks? Adrian, you should hook up

Thanks Davie.

Where did you buy the knives?