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  • 2015

NO Black grouper
Florida/Atlantic Grouper Season will open in:

NO Hogfish
Florida/Atlantic Federal Hogfish Season will open in:

SpearBlog 2015

Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2015
Thu19Mar2015

Foreword 2015 - March 17, 2015 - I'm way too blue to be green...

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2015 | March 18, 2015 | Print
StPatricks, sad, green

phoca thumb l puppy st patricks daySo it's March 17th, St. Patrick's Day and everyone is excited to don their green garb and partake in their green libations. But green's just not my color today, I'm just too blue to be green. You see, blue doesn't just depict my mood because I haven't been able to dive since that memorable Saturday after Christmas when I was able to make that awesome day trip to Bimini. No... blue depicts much more than that. It exemplifies the dichotomy of my feelings, the bi-polarization of my emotions as it were. Because while blue usually depicts sadness (and accurately so in this case as well), to me and my kind, blue is the color of ecstasy as well. 

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2015
Thu7May2015

End of an era

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2015 | May 07, 2015 | Print
summer, marathon, knightskey, campground, life, change

For the past 20+ years my family and I have been heading down to Marathon during the Summer months for the purposes of spearfishing and family weekends. Over the past 15+ years since owning my web site, these Summers have offered me the opportunity to load up my site with blogs and pictures that have entertained me (and hopefully some of you) tremendously along the way. I have looked forward to my Summer escapades chasing mahi, snapper, grouper, hogfish and facing sharks and goliaths every Spring... that is, up until this year.

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2015
Sat16May2015

May 1-3, 2015 - Grouper Opening Weekend, well day anyway...

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2015 | May 16, 2015 | Print
grouper, grouper season opening, staghorn, #89, #67, grouper season
Wind Seas Viz Temp
10-25 ENE/Variable 3-4' 5-15' 78F

In South Florida, probably one of the most anticipated and planned spearfishing outings (aside from those that take you to major global destinations) is the trip we make on or about May 1 of each year for the re-opening of Grouper season. It doesn't always fall on a weekend but when it does (like this year), the planning begins early. The season closure has barely taken effect on January 1, and we already start talking about how many grouper we've seen on our winter dives and get all worked up about the 20+ pounders we'll be slaying when grouper opens up again on May 1. This year was no different with respect to the hype and anticipation, but April had been pretty windy and rough and we were running out of time for the wind and seas to lay down and the water to clean up. Yet we were still hopeful and faithful that the weather gods would be merciful and give us the window we all hoped for. 

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Written by: Bob Diaz
Category: SpearBlog 2015
Wed1Jul2015

June 4-7, 2015 - 4 Days Spearfishing Jurassic Park - Andros, Bahamas

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Bob Diaz | SpearBlog 2015 | June 30, 2015 | Print
bahamas, pole spear, hogfish, mutton, Cubera Snapper, nassau grouper, andros, adventure, yellowfin grouper, pirates

I guess it all started about 4 weeks before when I get the call from my most adventurous spearfishing bud Carlos, asking if I was up for a 5 diver, 4 day trip to Andros in the Bahamas. Being the expert that I am on the Bahamian islands, I immediately ask "Where?". After a few minutes of discussion and a quick Google Maps lookup, I realize that this is no ordinary trip he's contemplating. Andros is the largest island in the Bahamas but is the least densely populated and most of the island is considered fairly remote territory. "We're going on an adventure..." he tells me. With the 225+ mile trek to get to our destination in Congo Town as well as all the supplies we would have to carry, he needed to know who was committed to making the trip. Having previously said that I wanted to make more trips to the Bahamas this year, it was "put up or shut up" time for me. We discussed potential finances and after clearing it with my financial manager (a.k.a.. my wife), I was IN!

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SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Saturday, 30 January 2010 08:18

I finally bit the bullet and decided to sell my No-Ka-Oi. It had gotten next to no use in the time I had owned it and it seemed a shame to have it just sit there so I Ebay'd it. With the funds from that sale, I invested in a gun that is a little more multi-purpose (at least that is how I convinced myself to get it :). I was extremely torn among 3 choices. I was considering the Euro 120, 120x and 130. After a couple of weeks of deliberation and a lot of flip-flopping, I decided on the Euro 120....

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 23 June 2011 16:49

Over the 4th of July holiday I was able to break in my hawaiian sling made by HawaiianSling.net (Ray Uppstrom). I had purchased this quite some time ago in preparation for a trip to the Bahamas and I finally got to try it out in the waters around Cat Cay, South Bimini. This isn't your normal hawaiian sling. The design is completely unique and interesting in its approach compared to traditional slings. This sling is much more akin to a bow and arrow than it is to a regular sling and it looks...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Tuesday, 06 May 2014 02:55

After trying and being disappointed by the Omer Zero Cubed mask last year, I picked up a couple of other masks ( Mares Star and Sporasub Mystic ) that fit fairly well and did not disappoint, but were not the perfect fit I've been looking for in a low volume freediving mask so I didn't feel overly compelled to write a spearview about them. In defense of these masks, they are both low volume masks that are relatively inexpensive so for the money they are great purchases. Of these two, the...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 10 March 2013 12:57

Back in March of 2010 I enrolled in and completed the FII Level One freediving course . I was extremely happy with the course content and the outcome (check out the SpearView ). Unfortunately for me, I'm not a professional freediver, so as with many people, life gets in the way and complicated which in turn keeps you from building a true regimen that reinforces all the good behavior learned in the course. Needless to say, I forgot some of the basics, fell back into many of my old bad habits...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Thursday, 20 April 2017 01:50

This review is actually long overdue as I've had this mask for well over a year now and I honestly don't know why I hadn't done it before now. After trying multiple masks over several years (and several hundred dollars), some were good (Mystic, Star, Nano), and some were bad (Zero Cubed). Before this, I had actually decided upon the Cressi Nano as "the one". I thoroughly enjoyed the fit and volume of the Nano, but there were a couple of VERY minor issues with the fit. I'm convinced that the...

SpearViews

Bob Diaz - Sunday, 28 March 2010 18:32

Over the weekend of March 27 th & 28 th I took the Level 1 Freediving course offered by FII (Freediving Instructors International) at their Headquarters in Pompano Beach FL. FII was started by Martin Stepanek, a multiple time freediving world record holder. The Level 1 curriculum is taught over a 2 day course. The first day is classroom and pool based and spans almost 9 hours. This course is designed for beginning freedivers and is supposed to get novice divers to a depth of 66 feet.

Spearblogs

Spearblogs

SpearBlog 2007

Bob Diaz - Monday, 28 May 2007 01:24

Winds: 30 east Seas: 5-8 feet Surf Temp: ?F Viz: 0 feet Unfortunately, even the weather people have to get one right every once in a while. This weekend was everything just as advertised. The winds were howling at about 25-30 mph from the east which made it for very rough going for those brave few that even attempted to get on the water this weekend. We ended up breaking out some frozen fish and lobster and cooking up a big meal for everyone. While the company was great, the fishing was...

SpearBlog 2008

Bob Diaz - Tuesday, 08 July 2008 01:13

Winds: 15-20 S to E Seas: 5-8 feet (sloppy) Surf Temp: +/- 80F Viz: 40-50+ feet (depending on location) This week we were able to enjoy some incredible viz even though the seas were as rough as I can remember. We had strong winds and seas as high as 8 feet for at least 3 days. Incredibly enough the viz did not suffer. The fishing wasn't easy, but we were able to get some picture-worthy fish in spite of the seas. Of course we did have to drive ourselves most of this week as none of the ladies...

SpearBlog 1999

Bob Diaz - Monday, 02 August 1999 14:56

Winds were 2-5 out of the East. Seas were for all intents and purposes flat. Unfortunately, in the area of Marathon and Big Pine Keys, the water was extremely dirty. Actually, it looked to me like an algae bloom. The temperatures have been inordinately high lately and with a little bit of rain, these things can happen. In depths as shallow as 25 feet, the bottom was nearly unidentifiable. You could still spearfish, you just had to use a lot more bottom time just in the hunt. You also had to...

SpearBlog 2007

Bob Diaz - Monday, 09 July 2007 01:27

Winds: SE 5 Seas: 1-2 ft Surf Temp: 84 F Viz: 40+ ft This weekend was absolutely incredible for diving! As we headed out Saturday morning, we were running over areas that we can never recall being as clear as they were this day. There were times when the water actually seemed to sparkle. Driving down Friday night, I noticed the horizon was dotted with the anchor lights of dozens of night fisherman. The general area and proximity led me to believe that they were all bottom fishing for mangroves...

SpearBlog 1999

Bob Diaz - Monday, 09 August 1999 14:56

Unfortunately, right after starting this conditions journal, I have experienced a small setback. I am suffering from an inner ear problem which currently prohibits me from spearfishing. I will probably be out of commission for a couple of weeks (at least). But I guess it's worth it. I'm pretty stone cold deaf in my right ear, and the ringing is enfuriating. Hopefully I will be back in the water soon.

SpearBlog 2010

Bob Diaz - Monday, 14 June 2010 01:07

Seas: 1 feet Winds: 5-10 E/SE Viz: 50-60 feet Temp: 80 F The weather had been holding up all week and the forecast from NOAA indicated the weekend would be more of the same, so I had been anxiously waiting all week for Friday to come along. After a long week of meetings at work (which sometimes felt like they would never end), there were times I couldn't wait for the weekend but Friday was finally here and I was ready for a good day. As far as work days go, Friday was as good as one could...