I'm sitting here getting goose bumps looking at those photos. Part sadness and dismay for the people there, but also from pride, having lived and worked there for 10 years. Filipinos are amazing people. They deal with hardships that most westerners can't imagine. And they do it every day….with a smile on their face. And they will deal with this. God love them.
Posts by hank
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Dan, i have scrubbed, burnt and spit my wife's masks to death, but I cant explain it, most masks just fog for her!
Consider yourself lucky George....sounds like a good trait for a woman to have..... <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">
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The eye has passed them and it's moving fast. My buddy on Boracay is posting pics so he's okay. My buddies down in Iloilo seem good too. In a couple hours if they're still ok, I'm gonna get drunk and celebrate for my buddies. Man.....it was devastating. But Filipinos are a tough people. They get more typhoons than anywhere on the planet. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, civil wars with Islamics and communists….it's no place for pussies.
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It's hard. I'm in touch with my friends there on Facebook. I feel like I"m there with them....waiting. What else can you do? So much adrenaline flowing. I hate typhoons and hurricanes. I've been through about 10 and one was a super typhoon. Amazing what they do.
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They're calling this one of the most powerful storms in history. 195 sustained winds. 235 mph gusts. It was headed a bit north but now it's going pretty much right at Boracay. I have a very good friend living there who owns a dive shop. Man, I feel like one is headed our way I'm so wound up.
But we should beware. This was a very busy year in the Pacific, which means a strong El Nino. If as strong a La Nina follows, next year could be very busy in the Atlantic and Caribbean. It's been really quiet the last couple years.
May God watch over my buddies over there. Holy sh…….oops. Jesus Mary and Joseph…..:)
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This is Andrew like. Holy shit. Hang in there my brothers.
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Yes, they eat a LOT more per day. BUT, the food conversion ratio (FCR) is very low. We're estimating it at 1.1:1 right now (1.1 lbs of feed for 1 lb of shrimp) which is far below industry standards.
We are also running these at low density targeting only 2,400 lbs per acre (vs up to 20,000 in the new intensive systems) so the shrimp consume a higher ratio of natural food produced in the ponds in the way of copepods, protozoans etc that the shrimp also feed on. -
The test pond gained 10.5 grams in the last 14 days. That's .75 grams per day. Unbelievable. The shrimp in this pic are mostly around 35 to 40 grams. 56 days out of the hatchery. It takes at least 150 days for the whilte shrimp to get that big on farms here in Belize.
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Three tribes of Mayans, Garafuna (African), Creole (British African mix) "Spanish" which is anyone from any other Central American country who speaks Spanish, Mestizo (a mix of "Spanish and anything else), East Indian, Chinese, some Filipinos and Gringos (white people).
And of all the above, there are mixes of every and all. It's a lot like Hawaii in that regard but with different founder stocks.
It is an interesting blend to say the least.Jake is half Filipino half ....me. Chela's kids are part East Indian, part "Spanish" which I'm not sure what mix that is out of Honduras. Chela looks like she has some African blood too. She doesn't look like she has any relatives that came from Spain. Willy.....a nice mix. German, Scot and whatever Chela is. haha.
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We eat them and give them to friends. The Indians here really love to make curry soup with them, which they always share with me.
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My good friend Jorge, aka "the Spaniard" is in town for business and work but he found a little time to get out with Mo and me. Jake had to work.
He hasn't been spearing much in Viet Nam but he's still got it.
We got a lot of tasty little snappers and one 28 lb (24 gutted) black. Still no big dog snapper schools but it shouldn't be long.
We just hit a nice spot and a boatload or tourists showed up. They jumped in and a few had spearguns. One Aussie, some Americans....it was cool. Yep...I needed this. Great day. -
Marco, when the salinity drops below 28 ppt, the young larvae....for the first 8 days or so, get stressed. They like it to be 29-33. They can take it up to 35 which is open sea water salinity.
But since the salinity started dropping about 4 weeks ago, we haven't seen any schools of dog snapper in our usual spots. Only a few lone wolf ones hanging around. Only seen a couple cuberas and a few muttons. No grouper either. Maybe they headed south running ahead of the water? Or went deeper? I haven't measured the salinity out on the reef though so I can't say for sure.
Either that, or the assholes with gill nets are cleaning out our spots again. This happened a couple years ago and it took a few months for the fish to come back.
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Amazing. The white shrimp we're growing in Belize are doing good if they grow one gram per week. Our first tiger test pond gained 8 grams in 14 days. Hooollllllly Shhheett. haha.
But **** this. I gotta go kill some fish. We've had low salinity here for a month now after those tropical storms dumped all that rain in Mexico. Must be that. In eight years, I've never seen the salinity drop like this.
But now it's coming back up. Fish are gonna die. I hope we finally find some dogs this week. ya man. -
Not loading for me on a Mac. Send me one and I'll give the feedback. <img src= " height="23" srcset="https://spearfishing.world/forum/images/smilies/emojione/1f606@2x.png 2x">
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Very nice.
What was that snapper looking fish at about 2 min 25 sec? You let it go? Is it out of season?Thanks for sharing.
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whooaaaa. Thanks for starting this thread. So much to learn from folks who have gone through this kind of thing.
As you mentioned about the fuel barrels, looking back we realize some decisions made that could have been disastrous.
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I'm not that experienced in the open sea but I did have a scare a year and a half ago.
My son Willy was almost 3. It was a beautiful looking day, predicted to be calm all day so my wife convinced me to take Willy with us. Me, Mo (10) Tino (12) Willy, Chela and me. We were having a great day. I was getting some nice fish and Willy was stoked. "come on Dad, let's get some more big fish".
Then, the sky started to get dark and a strange swell kicked up from the south. It was wrapping all the way around us with the only clear sky to the north. I decided to head home. We started heading west and about 2 miles in from the reef, still 14 miles out from our canal, the wind started howling from the south. Really rare for here.
Soon the white caps were coming and the sets had caps that were 30 feet wide. I thought of turning downwind and heading north but I wasn't sure if I'd have enough fuel to get back. Maybe I should have done that though and next time I will. Worry about getting home after we survive the storm.The waves were getting bigger and it was like having a two gallon bucket of water thrown in my face every 3 seconds or so. I wasn't really afraid...or maybe I was.....but I got mad. They say we have a fight, or flight response to adrenaline surges. Maybe I should have flown. But I was cursing. "...come on you mother f**ker....is that all you got...?.....not today.....no way mother....".
But in the back of my mind I was really scared of going in the water. Willy being so small and hypothermia....
Then I got into a rhythm . Surfing experience and wave knowledge really helped. I would turn into the sets and go up the face. A few of them came over the bow. Good thing my bilge pump was cranking 25 gallons per minute but we were still building up water.Finally I could see land....only about half mile ahead. White out. It was wild. It was the best feeling stepping off the boat onto land with Willy in my arms.
3 days later we were out on the reef just south. The Coast Guard boat came up to us and asked where we came from . I told him and he asked if we saw any debris in the water. I said no and asked why. He said a commercial fishing sailing boat sank on that same Sunday we were out and they lost the crew. Really sad. I saw one boat just like that anchored by Colson Caye as we were coming home on that day. We waved. It may have been them. The found pieces of the boat out at Glovers Reef.
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NIce pics. Welcome. And your English is better than Marco's. <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">
(note, I've lived with a Honduran lady for 10 years and my Spanish is about like a 2 year old's)
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Nice pics Frank. And you're right. Somedays I come home with a feeling like I had a bad day because I didn't get a lot of snappers and no grouper. But Sunday Doc and I were out, just two of us. I was having a blast just diving down, relaxing on the bottom, no stress. And we only saw a couple cuberas and no grouper. I got a nice cero, barracuda and some small dogs. But it was a great day none the less.
I've been thinking of "shooting" with a camera more now too. Thanks for sharing.
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We see a LOT of eagle rays here. I was laying on the bottom yesterday and one ....big....200 lbs or more comes right up to me. No fear at all. We just hung out together for about 30 seconds.
Beautiful animals.
