THE LOST SPEAR GUN

THE ONE DIVE DIVE BUDDY

"I'd like to go diving with you on the wreck of the Tiger, he said..We can take my boat out of Rudee Inlet"

"When would you like to go? I asked thinking I was about to add another dive partner and this time it wouldn't have to be my boat. In those days I was diving with about 15 to 20 guys. They just couldn't always get off in the daytime. I worked the night shift at Dads restaurant and ran the bar till closing. Days were off. I always needed additional partners to keep what I considered an acceptable level of diving...at least every other day on a slow week.

Ahab (not his real name) and I agreed to meet the early the next morning at the ramp near the mouth of the inlet. I rolled up with my van, a couple of tanks for some deeper diving and my cobia rig. The cobia rig was in response to some heavy big fish action near the surface above the Tiger. Forty to eighty pound cobia swim back and forth at a depth of about 10 feet from above the ship to the buoy south of the wreck. I have been told that they sometimes exceed 100 pounds. Put a hand spear in one of those babies and you are in for it if you don't get a perfect shot. I have been dragged with my mask down around my neck for as much as thirty minutes drinking and breathing salt water like a fallen water skiier who won't let go of the ski rope.. I have broken spears. I have lost spears. What a challenge. What fun. They might be one of the ultimate game fishes for their size. And the bonus is that they are fantastic to grill staying moist.

At Dads suggestion, I took a lesson from some line fishermen and modified my regular rig shown here. I put a ten foot line to the slip tip on my hand spear to a Dacor inflatable buoy. Set the spear and pop the float. Let the fish fight the relentless desire for the float to be on the surface. The fish cannot even get any leverage against the line. I would follow the float in the boat until the fish tired, and then bring him in.

But I digress. Ahab introduced me to his girlfriend. She seemed nice. I asked if she was going in with us. She was just there to watch from the boat. I should have gotten the message then that this was not a serious diving trip, but alas, I wasn't that keen on signals at that age. I also missed the next sign. I was doing all the work loading the boat. Ahab managed to pick up the small lighter items while I Ishmael toted tanks and weight belts. Since it was his boat and gas, I didn't really mind. She watched with a small amount of interest. I asked him to make sure that he got my hand spear out of my van. My next mistake was not checking that he did it.

We left Rudee Inlet into a beautiful day for offshore diving. Smooth water and a current from the south that was pushing the clear water over the wreck. He did have a fast boat. Instead of the 40 minute ride in my little boat, we were there in about 20 minutes. Things were looking up. They always do before the vampire comes back to life, just when you think you have killed him.

It was so clear that we could see what was left of the World War Two wreck 60 feet down. We started to get ready for some initial free diving. The cobia arrived on schedule. If you are not familiar with cobia, they look a little like sharks from the surface of the water, except that sharks do not usually school like cobia and the swimming style is different. Oh boy, this was gonna be great. Ahab and I were peering over the starboard side when the great fish came under the boat.

"I can't clear my ears" he announced. I hadn't seen him try. Those great fish spooked him. He did not know that fish grew that big even though he grew up at the beach... "Are you sure they are not sharks....."

"Nope cobia...you don't need to clear your ears, just swim on the surface...lets go"

"They look like sharks..." he said without much conviction. "I don't think I can, it might mess up my ears"

"Ok just hand me my hand spear and float as soon as I get in the water." and eased in to keep from spooking my prey.

When I came around the boat he was handing me a spear gun...his brand new unused spear gun. "No" I said, "I need my handspear."

He then told me he didn't load it. It was hard to suppress the flash of rage but I did. "Quitters never win and winners never quit" so I decided to give it a try. Moments later a school of four cobia came back from their endless patrol. I picked one out and fired away. It hit behind the gill but instead of hitting the spine, it stuck in just below the spine where it did minimal short term damage but stuck firmly. The great fish exploded into action. I took up a little line to reduce the shock and keep the spear from pulling out. When he got to the end of the line, I started moving where he wanted to go so fast that my mask instantly flooded and slipped down around my neck. I had been in this predicament before and wasn't looking forward to it.

He pulled my half drowned body about 150 feet away from the boat then decided to go back. When I stopped moving I got a blurry glance of him swimming past me going back toward the boat. I grabbed the line again to reduce the shock. This time he stayed just below the surface and I was able to almost plane in that my arms that were now tucked in front of me, elbows at my sides, the spear gun in front of me, tip out of the water.. At least I was able to keep my face out of the water most of the time. It was a true Nantucket Sleigh Ride as Moby Dick was really in charge.

We were heading toward the bow of the boat. Captain Ahab was leaning over the bow rail yelling to me.

"Hand me the gun, I'll pull him in." I could see how this was going to end as images of the future flew though my mind.

"Great Idea", I lied as I pulled my way up the barrel of the gun and held the handle up in the air. He leaned further over the bow rail and grabbed the handle of the gun as I let go. Moby Dick was already on the other side of the boat with the line under the boat. The gun banged against the side of the boat and Ahab flipped over the bow rail into the water and under the boat. The fish had a new tormenter at the end of the spear line. I cleared my mask just in time to see the most wondrous sight.

Moby Dick was sounding, and in tow was Ahab dressed in his regular clothes, shoes and all, who was already at least 30 feet deep before he let go of the gun and swam up to the oxygen flavored air at the surface. I didn't see him clear his ears even once on that dive.

He hit the surface sputtering and coughing. I on the other hand could hardly contain my laughter. Sometimes the gods are just.

That was the end of the days diving. Ahab crawled into the boat dripping wet and disheartened , pulled his water soaked wallet out of his pants, and the two of them carefully spread the contents of his wallet to dry in a compartment under the bow. We headed home to the safety of Rudee Inlet. The only noise was the outboard and the slap of the waves against the bow. Normally I am a chatterbox, but what was there to say. My anger and frustration was long gone....replaced with that underwater scene. There was no mention of ever going diving another time. He never stopped by and I never gave him a call.

I am not sure that I have ever seen him since and that was at least 35 years ago except when I close my eyes rolling them up looking up into the memory section of my brain and then like a slow motion movie, I can still see him being pulled under water by the cobia like Captain Ahab and the white whale, and I have a little chuckle...ok a big chuckle.