Ep. 10 - Chad Patti: Freediving | Spearfishing Instructor Survives Mako Shark Attack
Miracles in Meat Podcast | Ep. 10 – Chad Patti: Freediving, Spearfishing & Surviving a Mako Shark Attack
Exploring the Deep: Spearfishing, Shark Encounters & Underwater Survival
In this episode of Miracles in Meat, Shane Thibodaux sits down with Chad Patti, a freediving instructor at Benthic Ocean Sports in Destin, Florida, to discuss the world of spearfishing, underwater exploration, and extreme encounters with sharks.
Chad recounts a terrifying experience where he was struck by a Mako shark, the fastest shark in the ocean. His story is a thrilling testament to survival, respect for apex predators, and the unpredictable dangers of the deep. Beyond the adrenaline, Chad also shares the importance of proper freediving training, responsible spearfishing, and the unmatched adventure of exploring the underwater world.
Inside This Episode:
🌊 The art and precision of spearfishing—what it takes to be successful
🦈 Surviving a Mako shark strike—Chad’s firsthand account of the attack
🏊♂️ The importance of proper freediving training and safety
⚓ Why freediving is the ultimate underwater experience
Why You Should Listen:
Whether you're a seasoned diver, an outdoor enthusiast, or just fascinated by the ocean’s mysteries, this episode delivers high-adrenaline storytelling and expert insights into one of the most exhilarating sports in the world.
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🔗 Connect with Us:
🌐 Website: www.bourgeoismeatmarket.com
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📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bourgeoismeatmarket/
📩 Email: Shane@bourgeoismm@gmail.com
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Transcript
WEBVTT
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Music.
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You're listening to the Miracles in Meat Podcast. I'm Shane Thibodeau,
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a fourth-generation butcher at one of the oldest meat markets in the world.
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My great-grandfather started this business by slaughtering one cow or pig at
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a time and selling the cuts door-to-door on horse and buggy.
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Today, our products are enjoyed across the globe. I will attempt to give you
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some insight as to how we got here and explore the challenges we've had along the way.
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At Bourgeois, our mission is to preserve our heritage generation after generation
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through legendary Cajun flavors and the development of relationships, not customers.
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Since 1891, Bourgeois has maintained age-old culinary traditions that fuel the
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South Louisiana lifestyle.
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Over the past 133 years, our Cajun products have gained global recognition,
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and for tens of thousands of
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folks around the world, the Bourgeois Cajun Lady logo is a symbol of home.
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Today, the fourth-generation butchers sit at the nine-foot maple block with
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loyal customers to discuss the adventures, skills, and passions that guide each of their legacies.
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These conversations will become priceless resources for future generations of any industry.
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This is our way of maintaining the spirit, purpose, and traditions of our lost
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arts in a world of change.
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133 years, four generations. We're just getting started.
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Music.
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Here we go episode 10 chad patty is a new friend of mine and a new customer
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of ours at the meat market chad is from pensacola florida but he has more knowledge
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of our waters than most of the guys that grew up along the louisiana coast perhaps
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that's because he spends most of his time where the fish actually are underneath the water.
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Chad doesn't sit around in a boat with a line hanging down hoping and wishing for a bite.
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He'd prefer taking a deep breath and heading down the rig leg sometimes over
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100 feet deep and hunting his dinner down with a spear gun.
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Snapper, Cobia, Wahoo, Grouper, they're all on the menu when Chad's in the water.
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But the problem with being in the ocean is that you are on the menu for anything bigger than you.
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Chad has a wild story of a time where he was
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on the menu for a mako shark the fastest shark in
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the ocean the video of chad being hit by a shark will be linked in the show
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notes if you were raised on the water this episode is sure to keep you entertained
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here we go chad patty chad patty all right i ask everyone this i know yours
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because i was there but what are your earliest memories of bourgeois meat market.
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The first time I walked in there, it just reminded me of, like, an old family market.
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I say this, the first time I walked into American Seafood, which my grandfather's,
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is what it reminded me of. I mean, just an old building.
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And you can tell some of the stuff in there and, like, the interior is extremely,
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I say, not extremely old, but it's older.
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And it's got, like, to me, like, the early 90s look inside.
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And that's the first thing I remember is, like, wow, this has been here a long
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time. Your family shop has been around for how long?
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I think they started in like 1936 or 32.
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Yes, that's a while. And that's when they came over as immigrants.
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And did they do sort of what we did and keep everything looking nice and old? Not, no.
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They kind of, as they grew, expanded to what it is now. So my grandfather,
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Gerard, had the wholesale side, and then he would do a lot of the shipping and
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the wholesale side of the fishery.
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And then Joe Paddy's, which is my great uncle Frank, he ran that.
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That was more of the retail side.
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So he sold to the public. Gerard sold to the markets.
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And so you came to our place, Store and Shriever, what, a couple months ago?
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Yeah, three, two months ago. Actually, now it's been about three.
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That was the first time. And so right when the door opens, what did you think?
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That's cool. I just, you weren't intimidated by it.
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A lot of people were intimidated for the first time.
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No, no. I said it, you don't know, like I've never been in a true meat market,
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but like I said, it reminded me of, of like the old seafood market.
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You've got, you know, your, your front, front counter section.
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And then, you know, similarly behind that you have your, like,
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almost like your customer processing, like your immediate processing,
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like, Hey, I want this steak or what have you.
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And then, you know, you, you pull out the cuts of meat and you cut it same thing like
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i want i want you know 20 pounds
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of mullet cleaned or you know i want these fish cleaned and you can
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see the guy cleaning it you can't see exactly what he's doing but
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you can see his head and everything and the scale and the fish however
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you want them processed and like i said the first thing i remember is like wow
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it's been a long time since i've seen i say a small family business because
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you know there's not a lot of them right where i'm from there's one butcher
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shop there's no true meat markets and seeing that it was people love that people
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love to watch oh yeah no matter what it is dude it could be cutting green onions.
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There's something that they're just interested they just want to see how you're
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doing it you know i don't know i want to be involved in the whole process i
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grew up in it so i i don't know i only have one perspective but i see the looks
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and i see the eyes and i see the intrigue of kids,
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and their parents and they i don't
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know i don't know what it is but it is cool and we're gonna to we're going
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to keep doing it and where where's the place in florida uh
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it's in pensacola that's cool is it like downtown
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yeah joe paddy's is on the water on main street it's literally probably nine
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and a half miles from the downtown strip palafox street it's right there a b
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and a and b street dead end joe paddy's and c streets on the west side of the
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property nice nice did you
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work there as a kid I did not my grew up there I remember as far back as I can
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remember my mom started on the line and she would take me up there and I'm gonna
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run around with a fishing pole and catching all kinds of fish on one day I caught,
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50 or 60 hardheads and ended up selling them all to the Vietnamese that were cleaning fish.
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My mom was so mad, yelling at me, you can't sell those fish to those people. They're disgusting.
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Got to hustle. I gave all the money back. I had to.
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Yeah, it was great. That's hilarious. Let's hear a little more about your family.
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I came over as immigrants in the 1930s and then they started a seafood market
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right there selling fish out of the back of the house.
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And then the house used to face the water. They sold it out of the back i
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believe never saw the house but they have pictures of it they used to sell it
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out of the back of the house that faced the road and then eventually they just
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started dabbling and more and more and the seafood market started growing and
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they kind of turned it into the the i say empire it is now at the at one point
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we were like the second largest seafood market in the nation,
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and then grandfather did the wholesale side my mom did a seafood market in pace
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florida just like 40 minutes up the road.
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And then she ran Joe Patty's for a while. And like I said, still there today
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since 1932 or six, I think it's 36.
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So they do wholesale still? No, not, not anymore.
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Ivan took out American Seafood and then it wasn't worth rebuilding all the permits
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and dealing with everything.
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It just wasn't in now. It's just a building, not even a building.
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It's just a square concrete.
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Yeah. So the retail, the meat shop is still open. Oh, yeah.
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Yeah, now they have like a deli, which is where the first real company to get
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boar's head meats in, in Pensacola.
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We had boar's head meats. We got a wine shop now.
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And then my mom actually opened the wine shop when she ran it.
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And then, yeah, it's all fresh fish.
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They do like steam crawfish. They had a sushi bar. I don't think they do anymore.
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COVID kind of hurt a lot of that. So it's hard to find good work.
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Oysters? Oh yeah. A ton of oysters.
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Basically anything you get, any seafood you want, they can get.
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I mean, think of like any type of shrimp, any type of fish.
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And we import like Chilean sea bass, stuff like that too, that you see at like
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Bonefish Grill or a lot of these high-end restaurants.
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We import all that. that a lot of our, 90% of our fish fillets,
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like our snapper and stuff is caught and then filleted.
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We get it whole, whole gutted on ice and then we end up knocking the hide off
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of it and putting it on the, putting it on the counter.
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Did it get into any dry aging?
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No, they still. Now that we talk about it. Yeah, they still,
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there's a misconception with fish and they still do it the wrong way.
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But we're not going to bash them too much. And would you get the first time
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you came over to the market?
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It for you guys yeah i got it was
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jerky for a trip later on and
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then i got two steaks and two veal cuts you've
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but you've had veal before yes i worked
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at italian restaurant and we had veal but it wasn't that kind of veal it was
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you know pre pre-cut pre-packaged you whip out a little veal steak that was
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real thin you mashed it down fried it and see like a piccata we did piccata
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and we Really? Not a fan of it. So good.
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But no, as far as like actually having a veal steak or like the veal cut you
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gave, and that was the first time actually I cooked it like steak.
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It was delicious. Same thing with the steak I got from you reminded me of like
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a grass fed, like I get grass fed grain finished beef back home.
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And that's what it reminded me of. I mean, it's delicious meat. It's different.
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It's a, I guess it's an acquired taste. I just don't see how anyone could not like it though.
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No, I just say. You know, it's not. restaurant quality
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marbled real ribeye but it's good
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yeah to me like that
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restaurant quality marbled ribeye just tastes fake sure
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now like it's like it's not a gamey taste i compare it to a gamey taste that's
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the word i use too i say the same thing but i i i explain it like if anyone's
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ever had elk or bison you know which who's gonna turn their nose up at no one
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yeah you know people People are going to pay sometimes double if the word bison's on it.
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But, man, it's the same thing. No, it really is. It's got a different flavor.
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I didn't realize it either until I got it and was like, the first time I had
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it, I was like, it tastes different.
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Yeah. And then like third bite in, you're like, yeah, I like this.
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And for a third of the price?
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Yeah. It's kind of hard to beat. No, yeah, you can't beat it.
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We have a few friends that are pretty regular and they come by and get some
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of the same stuff. Like one guy will get the sirloin.
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He'll just get them like three quarters of an inch thick and just sear them
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like, like ribeyes and stuff.
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Bang for your buck oh yeah you know for sure what like
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i remember the first time looking at a cut sheet that i got and i
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was like i have no idea what any of this is i had to
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google it i did i had like what part of the cows
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is coming off of yeah and i was like i have no
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idea so i just really just put stuff down i was like
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you know i like the the eye of round like i got i've got no sticks
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from walmart i was like i'll take that i'll take those and you know one inch stakes
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which way too big way too thick and
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then like sirloin do you want top you got because you got top sirloin
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right and then was it top what are the three sirloins isn't it dude the way
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we the way we butcher our stuff is a lot different than everywhere else in the
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world because we use different cuts i guess for different reasons so if you
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go look at you know if you go watch like.
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Bearded butchers or something on youtube the way
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they're pulling everything off may be a bit different than
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the way we pull it off maybe because people don't buy
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the same cuts around here so like when
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we when we are are talking about
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a sirloin we're really talking about a chop like
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a steak cut across the bone okay you know bone in a bone in sirloin that's the
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only way we mess with sirloin you know and it look it does not look like what
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you'd order at a restaurant if you order sirloin so it trips people out a bit
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and the same thing with the roast like Like,
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you know, for like our round roast or round steak,
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we're cutting a round roast or a round steak across the bone,
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which is different than most places they peel, you know, between the membranes
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and they're taking off individual muscles,
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you know, so they have just the top round. They have just the bottom round.
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And most of our customers, they want the whole round on the saw and they want
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cut perpendicular to the bone straight across. So on your steak,
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you're getting all of the individual muscles, you know? Okay. Yeah, yeah.
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That's just the way it is around here, you know? Seldom will anyone want anything different.
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And it's just a, I don't know, cultural thing to this area, you know? Yeah.
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But I think it kind of, I don't know, maybe it makes us special.
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I don't feel special about it, but maybe it makes us special that,
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like, we might be the only place serving veal round steaks.
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I don't know where else you can get that. I've never even heard of it. Yeah.
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People, for Christmas, there's a dish called, like, a buscelloni.
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Okay. Which is, like, you take that round steak, cut it really thin.
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They stuff it with all kind of good stuff. Italian seasoning,
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stuff like that. maybe Italian sausage, some marinara, some tomato sauce, and roll it up.
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Okay. Yep. And then they'll like sear it, roast it, and then cut it into like
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little pinwheels. That sounds delicious. And kind of serve it like that.
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That's popular during Christmas, but that's what we use, a piece of veal,
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you know, just a round off of a calf cut straight across the bone,
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you know. It's not very special.
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No, I mean, it definitely is.
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I've never heard of it. it i'm not saying i know a lot about beef or anything
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but i mean i don't know if a lot of places like i said pensacola's got
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one that i know of
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true butcher shop but it's not like you guys where like you
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can whip out a quarter of a cow and throw it on a bandsaw you know what i mean
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trim it up and then hey here's your steak fresh off the bone like the ones that
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like you go to the butcher shop all the meat's laid out like a supermarket you
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can see them behind the glass processing stuff or like they may have a hanging
00:14:31.748 --> 00:14:34.888
cow but you're not walking up to the counter and and going, hey,
00:14:35.568 --> 00:14:37.808
you know, can I get, you know, A, B, and C?
00:14:37.948 --> 00:14:40.668
And then they're going to pull out a piece of a cow and start cutting it.
00:14:40.748 --> 00:14:45.288
So, yeah, I mean, so you guys are definitely pretty unique in that aspect for sure.
00:14:45.868 --> 00:14:48.048
I like that. I like to hear that. Oh, yeah.
00:14:48.808 --> 00:14:53.488
It's hard to know, you know. It's hard to see what other people are thinking or wanting.
00:14:54.608 --> 00:14:59.028
And, I don't know, we're just given what we think needs to be kept given, you know.
00:14:59.268 --> 00:15:02.608
Yeah, I mean, if it's working, don't fix it. Yeah. All right.
00:15:02.608 --> 00:15:03.628
Alright, so here's a question.
00:15:04.757 --> 00:15:10.617
You're going to get a lot, and really, it's the only important measurement of
00:15:10.617 --> 00:15:14.297
a man is how long can you hold your breath? Oh, boy. Of course.
00:15:15.057 --> 00:15:16.877
The true answer, I do not know.
00:15:17.697 --> 00:15:22.097
All right. So, we're going to get into the diving stuff.
00:15:22.537 --> 00:15:27.117
All right. It's going to be tricky because there's lots of lingo,
00:15:27.277 --> 00:15:32.777
I'm sure, and there's jargon, and there's stuff, and most people listening won't
00:15:32.777 --> 00:15:37.057
know what any of that is. Hopefully we can reach some divers and they can enjoy this too.
00:15:37.197 --> 00:15:42.377
But maybe, I don't know, I'm thinking about like my friends and family who have
00:15:42.377 --> 00:15:44.677
all the questions in the world.
00:15:45.717 --> 00:15:49.857
We have to try to keep it on their level. Okay.
00:15:50.097 --> 00:15:54.797
And it's going to be very hard for you. We'll go back to the level one class. Yes.
00:15:55.917 --> 00:16:01.717
So, I don't know. Let's just go. Just start talking about, dude, breath holding.
00:16:01.717 --> 00:16:04.857
Holding and when people whenever i say that
00:16:04.857 --> 00:16:07.977
i spearfish or dive you know obviously
00:16:07.977 --> 00:16:10.617
that's one of the first questions is oh how long can you
00:16:10.617 --> 00:16:13.537
hold your breath or oh you must be able to hold your breath for a really long time
00:16:13.537 --> 00:16:17.777
yes the the number one question not
00:16:17.777 --> 00:16:20.597
question the number one assumption is when you say you spearfish is
00:16:20.597 --> 00:16:24.017
scuba okay that is the number one and
00:16:24.017 --> 00:16:27.137
what are we talking about here free diving free diving
00:16:27.137 --> 00:16:29.797
holding your breath going down and you know
00:16:29.797 --> 00:16:32.557
sticking a fish so i didn't hear
00:16:32.557 --> 00:16:38.457
about the term free diving until i was like 33 how
00:16:38.457 --> 00:16:45.977
old are you now 34 all right right so i yes i knew what scuba was and i guess
00:16:45.977 --> 00:16:52.357
i knew what spearfishing was though i didn't i just i don't know i never gave
00:16:52.357 --> 00:16:55.537
it any thought because i didn't think it was possible right i I didn't think
00:16:55.537 --> 00:16:57.117
it was something attainable here.
00:16:59.197 --> 00:17:04.877
But, okay, so scuba is you're putting on a big tank and you are putting on some
00:17:04.877 --> 00:17:08.457
floppy fins and you're falling backwards out the boat.
00:17:08.577 --> 00:17:13.577
Yep. And you're going down and, I don't know, there's rules and there's things.
00:17:14.117 --> 00:17:16.457
Dive tables, there's a lot that can go wrong.
00:17:18.117 --> 00:17:24.137
Scuba's a lot more complex. Right. Right, but why do people assume that the
00:17:24.137 --> 00:17:25.417
free diving is more complex?
00:17:27.884 --> 00:17:34.604
Or, or, or like, it's less of a big, like, I think the assumption is that if
00:17:34.604 --> 00:17:37.584
it's like, if it's your first time or you're a beginner, you need to do scuba.
00:17:38.244 --> 00:17:41.744
Yeah. See, that's, that's a complete misnomer. I believe, I think it's because
00:17:41.744 --> 00:17:47.184
Martin Stepanek, I think talks about it and, and we briefly touch on it in the
00:17:47.184 --> 00:17:51.964
classes that, you know, scuba took over in like the sixties,
00:17:52.024 --> 00:17:54.164
fifties, sixties, even in the seventies.
00:17:54.164 --> 00:17:56.484
Because it was just more convenient, right?
00:17:56.564 --> 00:18:00.104
You tell me I don't have to do any physical, you know, training, not even training.
00:18:00.264 --> 00:18:05.324
I don't, I can basically throw on a tank on my back with a regulator with very
00:18:05.324 --> 00:18:07.064
minimal gear back then, you know what I mean?
00:18:07.104 --> 00:18:10.584
And get after it versus free diving.
00:18:10.724 --> 00:18:15.984
I've got to hold my breath and, you know, work on myself to get,
00:18:16.064 --> 00:18:18.764
you know, like I got to basically hold my breath, swim down.
00:18:18.844 --> 00:18:21.984
My time underwater is very limited due to the, you know, the, the
00:18:21.984 --> 00:18:24.844
constraints of holding your breath versus like scuba
00:18:24.844 --> 00:18:28.124
again throwing a tank on you've got a mask a regulator and
00:18:28.124 --> 00:18:31.124
a tank and this thing on your back which you
00:18:31.124 --> 00:18:33.924
know we've scuba diving has gotten a lot more complicated where you have
00:18:33.924 --> 00:18:37.224
you know your second state you're not second stage but you're your second
00:18:37.224 --> 00:18:42.424
regulator your main regulator bc dive computers all these other things when
00:18:42.424 --> 00:18:46.404
there wasn't all of that you know years ago it was very a lot simpler and then
00:18:46.404 --> 00:18:51.764
again as americans we got more lazy and the world in general got a lot lazier
00:18:51.764 --> 00:18:54.224
you know as it kind of progressed and then it turned into.
00:18:54.944 --> 00:18:57.744
Scuba just happened to be easier so i mean
00:18:57.744 --> 00:19:00.764
just the the i think the mindset
00:19:00.764 --> 00:19:03.524
was scuba was easier because you're not having you're just basically throwing
00:19:03.524 --> 00:19:06.264
a tank on going down there and breathing and just kind of looky-looing and stuff
00:19:06.264 --> 00:19:09.224
and now free diving is a lot more working and involved
00:19:09.224 --> 00:19:12.784
stuff like that so and free diving i
00:19:12.784 --> 00:19:16.004
don't know you don't really need anything right truly
00:19:16.004 --> 00:19:18.884
truly at the essentials you don't need
00:19:18.884 --> 00:19:21.584
anything no i mean if you look at this you can you don't need
00:19:21.584 --> 00:19:24.424
fins you don't need a snorkel you don't
00:19:24.424 --> 00:19:27.124
need it you don't ask you don't need a mask look at the
00:19:27.124 --> 00:19:31.864
record holders the what is it not free immersion but the no fins constant weight
00:19:31.864 --> 00:19:36.904
some of them go down with like saline solution and goggles so technically it's
00:19:36.904 --> 00:19:39.924
not a mask or some of them go down with no mask and they just hands free they
00:19:39.924 --> 00:19:46.424
got a nose clip and a line and how so how how How deep can you go free diving?
00:19:46.544 --> 00:19:51.864
Not you, but as free diving as a method. I think the record right now is 131
00:19:51.864 --> 00:19:54.924
meters, so like 430 some feet. And that's insane.
00:19:55.284 --> 00:19:58.164
Yeah. Right? That's insane to think about. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:19:58.264 --> 00:20:00.604
Because what does everyone think about? They think about, well,
00:20:00.724 --> 00:20:05.904
10 years ago, they tried to swim to the bottom of a 10-foot pool and their ears hurt.
00:20:06.004 --> 00:20:08.764
Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's everyone's experience with it, right?
00:20:08.844 --> 00:20:11.624
So they just think it's impossible to go any deeper than that.
00:20:13.103 --> 00:20:16.483
But I learned that that's not true. No, no, it's definitely,
00:20:16.623 --> 00:20:20.063
uh, there's like, like with anything, there's technique and practice and,
00:20:20.103 --> 00:20:24.003
or I say mostly just technique and knowledge because a lot of people,
00:20:24.123 --> 00:20:26.543
even one of the best things, you don't know what you don't know.
00:20:27.663 --> 00:20:31.703
That's good. There's a lot of, there's a lot of things you don't know about
00:20:31.703 --> 00:20:32.723
diving, right? No. Yeah.
00:20:32.943 --> 00:20:35.623
You don't know what you don't know. And that's like probably the number one
00:20:35.623 --> 00:20:39.063
question is how do you, how do you ears not rupture? Right. Like, how do you not?
00:20:39.963 --> 00:20:43.423
What's the answer? Equalize. And they look at me crazy.
00:20:44.623 --> 00:20:47.123
So obviously we tell you guys in this class, you probably heard it,
00:20:47.143 --> 00:20:48.863
you're not going to beat the pressure of Mother Ocean.
00:20:49.283 --> 00:20:53.023
You got this little bit of membrane. But you basically equalize the pressure
00:20:53.023 --> 00:20:55.363
from the inside of your ear to the same pressure as the outside.
00:20:56.143 --> 00:21:01.043
And how do you do this? There's three different techniques. You've got Frenzel,
00:21:01.163 --> 00:21:08.443
which is using your tongue as a gas piston, using your tongue as a gas piston
00:21:08.443 --> 00:21:12.003
to put air up through your station tubes into your ears, into your inner ear.
00:21:12.123 --> 00:21:14.503
And then you've got Valsalva, which is using your lungs.
00:21:14.763 --> 00:21:18.603
Same thing, using your lungs to apply pressure up through your throat,
00:21:18.843 --> 00:21:21.643
into the back of your mouth, through your stature tubes, your ears.
00:21:21.723 --> 00:21:26.023
And the last one is just, it's hands-free, using your jaws, using the pressure
00:21:26.023 --> 00:21:29.403
in your mouth and using your jaw muscles too, or in your tongue,
00:21:29.603 --> 00:21:32.963
basically in the same sense as Frenzel, just without pinching your nose.
00:21:33.103 --> 00:21:35.843
So on the first two, Frenzel and Valsalva, you have to pinch your nose.
00:21:36.123 --> 00:21:39.023
And then the hands-free is you do the same thing is frenzel or
00:21:39.023 --> 00:21:41.683
instead of using your tongue you can use your
00:21:41.683 --> 00:21:44.643
jaw muscles to force air up your station tubes
00:21:44.643 --> 00:21:50.123
into your inner ear and i guess an easy way to explain it would just be like
00:21:50.123 --> 00:21:53.123
pretend you're on an airplane and you need to pop your ears that's the exact
00:21:53.123 --> 00:22:00.523
same thing right so when those guys are going whatever to 50 feet or 100 feet
00:22:00.523 --> 00:22:03.023
their ears aren't hurting No.
00:22:03.583 --> 00:22:06.703
Not at all. There's no pain. And that's very hard to...
00:22:07.283 --> 00:22:11.123
It's hard to get that concept across to people because I guess they just...
00:22:11.843 --> 00:22:13.303
Yeah, until you experience the...
00:22:14.571 --> 00:22:17.251
You know, the lack of pain, you just assume there's going to be pain.
00:22:17.371 --> 00:22:20.131
Yeah. Oh yeah. If you've never done it before, it's kind of hard to believe.
00:22:21.111 --> 00:22:24.671
What is it? Until you've experienced, you know, it's hard to.
00:22:26.091 --> 00:22:29.971
I say understand until you've, you've done it. I think it's the best thing.
00:22:30.051 --> 00:22:34.111
I'm, I'm poor choice of words, but until you've experienced it,
00:22:34.151 --> 00:22:35.171
you don't know what to expect.
00:22:35.231 --> 00:22:38.871
So if all you've ever experienced is pain, you don't know how there could be anything other.
00:22:39.051 --> 00:22:43.851
And where is that? What is the depth in which that pressure will happen in your ears?
00:22:45.251 --> 00:22:49.771
I sometimes depends on your tolerance, but I mean, most of the time within the
00:22:49.771 --> 00:22:51.311
first, like five, seven feet.
00:22:51.671 --> 00:22:56.131
Okay. So most people should be able to find a pool and go test this theory and
00:22:56.131 --> 00:23:01.491
they should be able to go pinch their nose, pop their ears and go sit at the bottom of a pool.
00:23:01.611 --> 00:23:04.631
Oh, 100%. And I guess that's what I want everyone to try.
00:23:04.691 --> 00:23:09.751
And once they try it, then they know, Hey, now you can go deeper for now on.
00:23:09.751 --> 00:23:11.551
Now you can just, you can just go deeper now.
00:23:11.651 --> 00:23:16.751
Oh yeah. And that was a big, that was a big overcoming for me because I was
00:23:16.751 --> 00:23:21.231
the same way. You know, like I only went to whatever depth the pool allowed.
00:23:21.471 --> 00:23:24.891
And I definitely remember being at the bottom of a pool as a kid.
00:23:24.991 --> 00:23:30.611
And, you know, I'm not at the pain part, but something's happening that I don't like, you know.
00:23:30.631 --> 00:23:34.691
And it was never anyone to tell me, oh, you just have to clear,
00:23:34.771 --> 00:23:35.991
you just have to pop your ears. Yeah.
00:23:36.211 --> 00:23:42.371
You know, so that's the first magical moment of, of, uh, of learning how to
00:23:42.371 --> 00:23:46.171
free dive or learning anything about free diving. Oh, yeah, that's seeing the,
00:23:46.171 --> 00:23:50.491
you always get the few students a year that are looking at you like you're crazy.
00:23:51.031 --> 00:23:54.171
I guess they're, I don't know, say they're in the class just to prove you wrong
00:23:54.171 --> 00:23:56.751
or they're in the class to,
00:23:56.971 --> 00:24:01.791
I've had two students like this that, you know, that you can tell they've got
00:24:01.791 --> 00:24:07.331
a, not a hidden agenda, but a like doubt, you know what I mean?
00:24:07.331 --> 00:24:10.091
Like this dude's crazy kind of thing and the first time you
00:24:10.091 --> 00:24:13.151
get them in the pool our pool's 13 foot we teach in and you
00:24:13.151 --> 00:24:16.251
tell them to go down and you or even before that when you you get
00:24:16.251 --> 00:24:19.191
them in the class you're running through equalization techniques and you're telling them
00:24:19.191 --> 00:24:23.491
hey you know it's you move your jaw a specific way use your tongue as a piston
00:24:23.491 --> 00:24:26.631
and you should hear like a clicking noise with your mouth open what have you
00:24:26.631 --> 00:24:30.211
stuff we do in class i think you you experienced it do you remember that part
00:24:30.211 --> 00:24:33.991
of the class so the first time when they like you can see the light bulb of
00:24:33.991 --> 00:24:36.891
the person like you're saying that's their ears have always hurt and like you
00:24:36.891 --> 00:24:38.531
feel Did you hear the click in your ear?
00:24:38.611 --> 00:24:42.691
Did you feel it? And they're like, yes. I'm like, that's what you're looking for at depth.
00:24:42.851 --> 00:24:45.591
And then you're gonna do it early and often before you feel pressure.
00:24:46.131 --> 00:24:49.691
And I don't know, that's probably the hardest thing for people is early and
00:24:49.691 --> 00:24:50.891
often before you feel pressure.
00:24:51.011 --> 00:24:54.691
Cause I got a solid five or six dive buddies.
00:24:56.732 --> 00:25:00.292
Called me, bro, my ears don't hurt now. I'm like, what do you mean?
00:25:00.332 --> 00:25:02.932
I'm like, dude, I can never dive more than two days.
00:25:03.112 --> 00:25:06.672
And I'm like, what do you mean? He goes, I, I watched a video and the guy was
00:25:06.672 --> 00:25:11.872
like, yeah, you need to equalize, you know, basically reiterated what we had taught them.
00:25:12.352 --> 00:25:15.492
And then they're like, it just had to click. Cause I guess somebody else told them.
00:25:15.532 --> 00:25:18.172
And I'm like, yeah, you don't remember us telling you this, even in the level
00:25:18.172 --> 00:25:22.292
two, like, what are you talking about? I took you watching a YouTube video.
00:25:22.632 --> 00:25:25.592
There's something about that. So me and and you had talked about this but
00:25:25.592 --> 00:25:28.932
you know i've had a long jujitsu journey and
00:25:28.932 --> 00:25:31.672
it's the same thing you know i know i've done it
00:25:31.672 --> 00:25:34.652
i know i've done it to scotty where like he said
00:25:34.652 --> 00:25:37.572
something from day one i never truly
00:25:37.572 --> 00:25:40.872
listened to him never truly understood what he was saying and
00:25:40.872 --> 00:25:43.892
then yeah you go find you know the guy you like on youtube that says
00:25:43.892 --> 00:25:46.952
it and then like now you want to share it to him and be
00:25:46.952 --> 00:25:50.332
like hey look you should have just said it like this because
00:25:50.332 --> 00:25:53.092
now now i understand oh dude it makes you want
00:25:53.092 --> 00:25:56.972
it makes you want to slap him like wait what what that's
00:25:56.972 --> 00:25:59.872
the i just i don't know you need to be patient to be an instructor
00:25:59.872 --> 00:26:02.632
of anything right you're yeah oh yeah yeah
00:26:02.632 --> 00:26:05.952
so so yeah i met chad through
00:26:05.952 --> 00:26:09.792
a free diving level one
00:26:09.792 --> 00:26:19.192
course taught at benthic ocean sports in in Destin yep and my wife and I Brittany
00:26:19.192 --> 00:26:24.272
we we just kind of took this like a little vacation and just use it as a little
00:26:24.272 --> 00:26:29.032
I don't know it's like a little couple retreat for us and we were just getting into a new interesting.
00:26:29.852 --> 00:26:33.452
Hobby of sorts we love the water we love fishing and
00:26:33.452 --> 00:26:39.212
we love swimming we love whatever snorkeling looking at things exploring and
00:26:39.212 --> 00:26:44.292
it was recommended to us if we wanted to do any of that stuff in the golf or
00:26:44.292 --> 00:26:48.692
on our own that we need to do a course first to go over all of the really just
00:26:48.692 --> 00:26:51.832
to be safe to be able to do it safely because it is very dangerous,
00:26:52.532 --> 00:26:58.192
and who recommended that to you man it was actually a handful of guys probably
00:26:58.192 --> 00:27:03.792
guys through facebook and stuff that i was i was messaging like spiros or nathan
00:27:03.792 --> 00:27:07.092
nathan lancaster Yep. Nice. All right. Yeah, I know him.
00:27:07.452 --> 00:27:11.992
Nathan was one guy that mentioned it. Yeah, all guys who speared.
00:27:12.412 --> 00:27:17.812
Maybe a couple other guys. I didn't really know anyone here at the time.
00:27:17.952 --> 00:27:19.812
Okay. I didn't know, you know.
00:27:21.566 --> 00:27:26.146
It was a different world. It was weird getting into it and learning about it
00:27:26.146 --> 00:27:27.706
and seeing who's around here.
00:27:27.906 --> 00:27:32.426
And, okay, if you want to do this, how to go do it, you know?
00:27:32.646 --> 00:27:37.926
There's not a lot of information out there at all. No. This is a very new area, I guess.
00:27:38.106 --> 00:27:44.046
Maybe not new, but you need to be tight with someone to know anything about it, right?
00:27:44.286 --> 00:27:48.866
It's a very niche community, or niche community for sure. You've got guys like,
00:27:48.866 --> 00:27:52.346
like Ronnie that have been doing it for a very, very long time.
00:27:52.846 --> 00:27:57.846
No one told me about Ronnie. No one told me about him.
00:27:58.486 --> 00:28:02.586
Had I known about that, you know, in high school, I would have been interested.
00:28:03.946 --> 00:28:07.786
But yeah, the knowledge just isn't widely shared.
00:28:07.786 --> 00:28:12.606
No you know and I guess for a good reason because yeah you do want to make sure
00:28:12.606 --> 00:28:17.506
everyone out there is going take a course you know they're going to do it safely,
00:28:18.046 --> 00:28:20.806
I always like the course thing I always tell people like,
00:28:21.506 --> 00:28:26.666
how much how much is your buddy's life worth or how much is your life worth
00:28:26.666 --> 00:28:30.966
and one of the analogies we use is like I get back to that is like if,
00:28:31.766 --> 00:28:36.026
I came up to you Shane and I was like hey man let's go skydiving what would
00:28:36.026 --> 00:28:38.466
your first response be Let's go skydiving.
00:28:39.326 --> 00:28:42.866
Who's going to take us? Where are we doing this? Oh, we're going to get in a
00:28:42.866 --> 00:28:46.426
plane. And I mean, we're going to go to this facility and we're going to go skydiving.
00:28:46.586 --> 00:28:48.406
You've done it before? Have I done it before? No.
00:28:49.286 --> 00:28:53.566
You know the guy? I know the guy, yeah. But I watched a couple of videos and packed a parachute.
00:28:54.686 --> 00:28:58.086
I don't know, man. You sure? I would like to.
00:28:58.426 --> 00:29:02.066
I watched all the videos on how to pack a parachute. And I went and got one
00:29:02.066 --> 00:29:03.506
and I packed it. Do you trust me? Right.
00:29:04.266 --> 00:29:07.746
No, I'd want that guy to pack our parachutes. I got you. For sure.
00:29:08.086 --> 00:29:10.486
And that was kind of one of the analogies we use is like, hey,
00:29:10.526 --> 00:29:12.806
your buddy says, hey, let's go freediving or hey, let's go do this.
00:29:13.226 --> 00:29:15.946
And they watched a couple of safety videos and it's like, okay,
00:29:16.006 --> 00:29:21.186
what happens when you black out at 60 feet or you black out at 15 feet and you're
00:29:21.186 --> 00:29:22.546
overweighted? You're not coming home.
00:29:23.266 --> 00:29:26.086
I mean, in all reality, like if you're not, if your buddy's not there and you
00:29:26.086 --> 00:29:27.846
don't know what to do, you have a good chance of not coming home.
00:29:28.326 --> 00:29:31.126
And it's the same thing with like skydiving. If I jump out of that plane,
00:29:31.286 --> 00:29:32.686
that parachute don't open.
00:29:34.467 --> 00:29:39.347
You're not going home. Right. That's one of the analogies like Joe uses and
00:29:39.347 --> 00:29:41.667
I've picked up on it. It makes total sense.
00:29:41.787 --> 00:29:44.807
Like once you start descending below the surface of the, you know,
00:29:44.807 --> 00:29:47.047
the water, it's just like jumping out of that plane.
00:29:47.527 --> 00:29:50.467
If you don't know what you're, if your buddy on the surface doesn't know what
00:29:50.467 --> 00:29:53.247
you're doing or the guy that packed your parachute doesn't know what he's doing,
00:29:53.387 --> 00:29:58.027
there's now an inherent risk in there that you don't need to take.
00:29:58.267 --> 00:29:59.807
It can be completely avoided.
00:30:00.247 --> 00:30:03.227
You know what I mean? It's now it's like 400 and something dollars for
00:30:03.227 --> 00:30:07.387
a class it's a day and a half or two days and there's
00:30:07.387 --> 00:30:10.067
not a whole lot of situations that you're going to
00:30:10.067 --> 00:30:12.827
get yourself in as far as a freediving aspect of it
00:30:12.827 --> 00:30:16.207
that your class hasn't taught you how to handle or get yourself out of like
00:30:16.207 --> 00:30:22.627
the the mitigation techniques and stuff like that it can be handled like 99.9
00:30:22.627 --> 00:30:26.247
of all situations you're going to get yourself in we've either taught you how
00:30:26.247 --> 00:30:31.067
to handle it or how to do it safely or even like kind of think about the process of of how to doing it.
00:30:31.107 --> 00:30:33.887
Cause one of the benefits of Penthek is we're not a free diving shop,
00:30:34.007 --> 00:30:35.047
we're a spearfishing shop.
00:30:35.487 --> 00:30:39.367
So we tell everybody like, we're not the deepest divers, we're not the best
00:30:39.367 --> 00:30:44.707
divers, but we do a lot of spearfishing in a lot of different areas and there's ways to do it.
00:30:44.727 --> 00:30:49.207
And between like Mike, Joe, myself, I mean, there's a ton of knowledge in there.
00:30:49.287 --> 00:30:50.927
Joe's spearfished across the world.
00:30:51.027 --> 00:30:54.787
I've spearfished all over the Gulf of Mexico, dabbled on the East Coast.
00:30:56.045 --> 00:30:59.325
I mean, there's not a lot of situations, you know, that we haven't seen.
00:30:59.825 --> 00:31:03.385
And then we haven't, like, if people ask us, hey, we're going here, we're going there.
00:31:04.065 --> 00:31:07.025
Well, how do you feel about this situation? There's not a lot of situations
00:31:07.025 --> 00:31:11.005
that we haven't been ourselves, been into ourselves and been like,
00:31:11.045 --> 00:31:13.725
hey, this is one way that we do it to make it safety, safely,
00:31:13.805 --> 00:31:17.845
or to mitigate, you know, the chance of a blackout or to not lose your buddy.
00:31:18.265 --> 00:31:23.445
Like some of the ways we can do it, we've done it and we haven't lost anybody, thankfully. Yeah.
00:31:23.865 --> 00:31:26.745
I mean, it's, it was just really good training. I told a buddy of mine,
00:31:26.865 --> 00:31:30.865
it's worth it just as in call it an excursion.
00:31:30.865 --> 00:31:34.125
If you plan on never doing it again, it really is truly worth,
00:31:34.265 --> 00:31:39.665
it's worth 400 bucks to go do an experience and then never do it again and just
00:31:39.665 --> 00:31:41.305
have that in your pocket, you know?
00:31:41.345 --> 00:31:44.825
I mean, look at how much a snorkel excursion is going to cost. Right. Yeah.
00:31:45.665 --> 00:31:48.845
Or go rent a jet ski for 30 minutes. Yeah. You know, like.
00:31:49.245 --> 00:31:51.405
We're going to take you in a boat. We're going to throw you in the Gulf.
00:31:51.545 --> 00:31:54.025
You're going to have a instructor that's going to dive with you.
00:31:54.025 --> 00:31:58.245
You may or may not see fish, but I'm saying that it's, you're learning a new
00:31:58.245 --> 00:32:01.965
skill that you can apply in a lot of aspects in life, like just swimming or
00:32:01.965 --> 00:32:03.525
breathing techniques, what have you.
00:32:03.945 --> 00:32:07.025
I mean, and again, how you're on a boat for four hours.
00:32:07.525 --> 00:32:10.185
I don't care where you're at in Destin. You rent a boat for four hours.
00:32:10.245 --> 00:32:13.185
You pay for a boat for four hours. It's over $400.
00:32:13.485 --> 00:32:15.985
Sure. You know what I mean? And so, I mean, either way, even if you look at
00:32:15.985 --> 00:32:18.445
like that, you're seeing excursion, like it's not going to be a contender.
00:32:19.585 --> 00:32:22.265
No, no, not unless you're paying like 200 something an hour to
00:32:22.265 --> 00:32:24.925
go on a charter and it's like 265 an hour i think
00:32:24.925 --> 00:32:28.145
is going right now it's expensive so before we
00:32:28.145 --> 00:32:32.005
get into more of the instructor stuff how did you start with
00:32:32.005 --> 00:32:35.505
the freediving or did you start spearfishing so
00:32:35.505 --> 00:32:38.765
spearfishing we had friends that
00:32:38.765 --> 00:32:41.685
owned a house in port st joe florida where they always were scalloping
00:32:41.685 --> 00:32:44.745
and my mom i got thrown into
00:32:44.745 --> 00:32:47.625
the mix like i saw pictures on the wall and was like i want to go do that
00:32:47.625 --> 00:32:50.585
you know being the little kid i was kind of self-invited myself
00:32:50.585 --> 00:32:53.565
i believe and then i got taken to port st joe
00:32:53.565 --> 00:32:58.185
and we did a bunch of scalloping and i saw an old messed up yellow pole spear
00:32:58.185 --> 00:33:02.225
you know the six footers that everybody uses fiberglass it was all messed up
00:33:02.225 --> 00:33:05.605
i kept getting fiberglass in my hands when i would load it it was horrible but
00:33:05.605 --> 00:33:11.025
everybody wanted to scallop and i kept seeing these mullets swim by being the
00:33:11.025 --> 00:33:13.505
little boy like it's got to die.
00:33:15.605 --> 00:33:19.445
Yeah i just kept seeing them swim by and i was like how does that work and then
00:33:19.445 --> 00:33:22.885
i saw it and i I didn't have a band and I was trying to stab them. Didn't work.
00:33:22.965 --> 00:33:25.945
And, you know, Robbie and them are laughing at me. Cause I quit scalloping at
00:33:25.945 --> 00:33:28.645
that point, completely trying to stab a mullet with a six foot pole spear.
00:33:29.365 --> 00:33:32.565
And then they, they took it up to the little like corner store there or the
00:33:32.565 --> 00:33:35.605
little shop there. And they put a new band on it. And then it was all she wrote.
00:33:35.725 --> 00:33:37.125
I was just murdering mullet.
00:33:37.405 --> 00:33:39.785
I mean, like five years old, just slaughter them.
00:33:40.245 --> 00:33:43.985
Oh, I mean anything. I remember like two years later, like 12 foot of water,
00:33:44.065 --> 00:33:46.145
like, cause you know, you go to Port St. Joe, you have all these,
00:33:46.145 --> 00:33:47.645
these grass flats that are real shallow.
00:33:48.165 --> 00:33:51.865
And then like, Like it'll drop off like eight, 10 foot and there'll be,
00:33:51.865 --> 00:33:53.185
you know, just a sandbar.
00:33:53.745 --> 00:33:55.165
I remember I shot like...
00:33:55.982 --> 00:33:59.962
Probably like a 12 pound king. And it just went nuts. Three pronged hole spear
00:33:59.962 --> 00:34:03.742
straight to the face. Had no idea what I was doing and just stuck it.
00:34:03.822 --> 00:34:08.182
And it goes, I mean, complete ape shit and white water around me.
00:34:08.182 --> 00:34:10.422
Starts cutting circles around me. I don't know how I didn't lose it.
00:34:10.562 --> 00:34:13.822
My mom's screaming because it looks like there's blood, white water.
00:34:13.902 --> 00:34:15.302
It looks like a shark's trying to eat me at this point.
00:34:16.822 --> 00:34:19.782
And I remember getting enough that I was hooked. I
00:34:19.782 --> 00:34:22.822
went back every year and i mean it's the same every year all
00:34:22.822 --> 00:34:26.242
year shooting flounder mullet anything that
00:34:26.242 --> 00:34:29.062
i could stick that six foot yellow pole spear into
00:34:29.062 --> 00:34:31.902
i would do it didn't care from the tall of
00:34:31.902 --> 00:34:34.762
like 17 18 so a pole spear is just a long
00:34:34.762 --> 00:34:37.602
pole with a pointy tip that's it and then it's got a big rubber
00:34:37.602 --> 00:34:40.362
band attached to the back that is exactly it you put your
00:34:40.362 --> 00:34:43.442
hand in the rubber band and you choke the pole up
00:34:43.442 --> 00:34:47.502
to your back hand and you just when you let go that pole's going forward yep
00:34:47.502 --> 00:34:53.922
and that's it it's a very primitive tool doesn't take any throwing or nope yep
00:34:53.922 --> 00:34:56.442
you just you just eyeball it let
00:34:56.442 --> 00:35:00.922
her send it just let her fly so imagine a little five-year-old kid just,
00:35:01.782 --> 00:35:06.662
splashing around the coast shooting kingfish that's it i'll never forget that
00:35:06.662 --> 00:35:11.602
i saw it i mean it looked like i it looked like moby dick you're shooting like
00:35:11.602 --> 00:35:13.362
a pound two pound mullet to this
00:35:13.362 --> 00:35:17.882
This 40-something inch king comes by and you're just like, what is that?
00:35:18.042 --> 00:35:24.362
So you were ruined at five years old. Because most five-year-olds are catching hardheads and perch.
00:35:24.982 --> 00:35:29.482
And you had already shot a kingfish with a pole spear. Yeah,
00:35:29.502 --> 00:35:30.982
I think I was like seven or eight at the time.
00:35:31.182 --> 00:35:33.422
Someone should have been supervising you.
00:35:34.622 --> 00:35:39.162
Just pop, throw the kids out on the flat and go. And then everybody's grabbing scallops.
00:35:39.162 --> 00:35:41.702
And here goes the village idiot swimming out in the deep water.
00:35:41.702 --> 00:35:46.982
Water getting yelled at all the time i i mean the same robbie and tara god i
00:35:46.982 --> 00:35:51.942
love those people they were my neighbors and they i was the not the brightest
00:35:51.942 --> 00:35:58.402
kid like run around by myself i caught all kinds of snakes anything and that's they knew me as that like.
00:35:59.484 --> 00:36:02.464
I got lost in the woods a couple of times. I had to call people to come find
00:36:02.464 --> 00:36:05.084
me. Just walking by myself. Just, I'm gone.
00:36:05.624 --> 00:36:09.084
And then I, same thing. Like when he came to Port St. Joe, I didn't care.
00:36:09.204 --> 00:36:11.664
Just, I'm gone. Hit the water and go.
00:36:12.364 --> 00:36:16.564
And then how long was it until you started wanting to go deeper?
00:36:17.304 --> 00:36:21.524
I was in the Navy and my buddy called me and he said he was getting scuba surfed.
00:36:21.724 --> 00:36:24.324
I said, that sounds cool. Let's do it.
00:36:24.764 --> 00:36:30.604
That's what all the Navy guys do, huh? Yeah. They all go to like Guam and just get scuba certs.
00:36:30.704 --> 00:36:33.684
I was in Jacksonville and my buddy from Pensacola called me and was like,
00:36:33.744 --> 00:36:35.784
dude, I'm getting scuba certified. I was like, sure.
00:36:36.324 --> 00:36:41.044
And I'll come home and do it. And I remember getting the certification and I
00:36:41.044 --> 00:36:45.384
watched the French guy do the fall in the blue hole. Have you seen that video?
00:36:45.744 --> 00:36:49.104
He basically runs down the bank, not the bank,
00:36:49.204 --> 00:36:51.404
but he's under the water and he's kind of like walking down the water and he
00:36:51.404 --> 00:36:53.524
stands and does like the flying cross at the,
00:36:53.564 --> 00:36:56.924
or stands like, you know, a cross on the edge of the the blue
00:36:56.924 --> 00:36:59.904
hole and then falls into it just go yeah just drop and
00:36:59.904 --> 00:37:03.184
i remember watching that and i being a competitive swimmer i
00:37:03.184 --> 00:37:06.144
was like i can do that so you swam in high school i did and i
00:37:06.144 --> 00:37:10.624
was like i can do that if i can pretty much sprint you know 100 almost i can
00:37:10.624 --> 00:37:14.864
do it for sure sprint a 75 i'm like watching the video and i'm like he's not
00:37:14.864 --> 00:37:19.944
75 meters deep you know i my mind i'm like he's not i think i can do that like
00:37:19.944 --> 00:37:23.324
that's i'm in good enough shape now like i think and hold my breath and do that.
00:37:23.404 --> 00:37:24.404
Like, that's ingenious.
00:37:24.884 --> 00:37:29.844
Went out, bought some, you know, some freediving blades and just started, you know, buying stuff.
00:37:29.984 --> 00:37:33.804
Had no idea what freediving was. I thought I for sure was me and this dude were
00:37:33.804 --> 00:37:37.464
the only two guys in the world doing it. You know? Where'd you get your stuff from?
00:37:37.984 --> 00:37:41.924
I bought my first set of fins from Dive Pros in Pensacola. Saw a set of the
00:37:41.924 --> 00:37:44.104
long blades. They only had one. I bought them.
00:37:44.644 --> 00:37:48.244
And then you just walked out of there looking like an idiot and everyone's passing
00:37:48.244 --> 00:37:51.524
you like, what are these long fins you have? They were like,
00:37:51.564 --> 00:37:55.144
look, they were telling everything to get me out, to not sell them to me.
00:37:55.184 --> 00:37:58.864
And I'm like, I want them. The Gar 3000s, I want them. I got to have them.
00:37:59.484 --> 00:38:03.424
Didn't know what Amazon was. Didn't know what YouTube was. I saw that video
00:38:03.424 --> 00:38:06.224
on Facebook, not even Facebook.
00:38:06.964 --> 00:38:12.244
Maybe Facebook. I saw a video on something, but I specifically remember,
00:38:12.464 --> 00:38:13.804
like, I'd never YouTubed anything.
00:38:14.344 --> 00:38:17.364
I always thought YouTube was U-T-U-B-E.
00:38:18.004 --> 00:38:22.824
I sure and then I realized it was like you know obviously why are you I was like I feel like an idiot.
00:38:24.007 --> 00:38:27.787
And I again just picked it up and started going and i've never had a problem
00:38:27.787 --> 00:38:31.447
with equalization like as a swimmer and everything It just kind of It clicked.
00:38:31.547 --> 00:38:36.047
Yeah, I should say So I just picked it up and went And it was uh,
00:38:36.107 --> 00:38:37.487
you got a gun and everything.
00:38:37.647 --> 00:38:42.387
Yeah, I bought a cressy First it was like the jbl magnums, you know,
00:38:42.427 --> 00:38:43.447
everybody does and we're in port st.
00:38:43.527 --> 00:38:46.927
Joe this little corner store had not corner store just a little.
00:38:47.747 --> 00:38:50.447
Convenience store on the beach had like a little tackle shop next to
00:38:50.447 --> 00:38:53.587
it and they had these little jbl magnums i mean
00:38:53.587 --> 00:38:58.087
when i say like one was a mini and it was no joke like 15 inches long handle
00:38:58.087 --> 00:39:05.567
everything barrel trigger mac muzzle 15 inches like tiny and i bought this thing
00:39:05.567 --> 00:39:09.487
thinking i was going to be the coolest kid in town me and my buddy did and i
00:39:09.487 --> 00:39:10.987
remember i still have the thing actually,
00:39:11.547 --> 00:39:16.747
and you couldn't penetrate a pinfish with it it was bad single band just terrible
00:39:16.747 --> 00:39:21.747
and then i I remember buying a Cressy something sub single band,
00:39:21.907 --> 00:39:24.967
like six millimeter shaft, tiny with a reel.
00:39:25.107 --> 00:39:30.287
And I threw like just garden twine on it thinking I was going to be this big shot, right?
00:39:30.347 --> 00:39:33.567
Like this is, everybody's using reels like, or you got to use a reel.
00:39:33.707 --> 00:39:39.427
Cause I remember, yeah, it's not going to be smart to drag up a fish from how deep I am.
00:39:39.447 --> 00:39:41.987
You know, this is not going to be good. Now I'm starting to dabble in some stuff.
00:39:42.547 --> 00:39:45.167
And as that was like my first true gun was like this Cressy.
00:39:45.167 --> 00:39:48.887
My buddy Tim King still has it actually I sold it to him for I think a hundred
00:39:48.887 --> 00:39:52.687
bucks he still uses that thing he still loves it too I'm like I don't know how
00:39:52.687 --> 00:39:56.627
you find shafts or bands he's got a high kill count huh oh yeah I call him like
00:39:56.627 --> 00:39:59.147
Tim the Destroyer cause he kills and eats anything,
00:39:59.867 --> 00:40:04.387
just I mean as he should yeah I mean he'll fry pogies he don't care oh hell
00:40:04.387 --> 00:40:08.527
yeah he just does not care this dude's awesome I eat Jack Gravel.
00:40:10.207 --> 00:40:16.347
Yeah he's not on my level no No, I mean, yeah.
00:40:17.547 --> 00:40:18.587
I'm not going to eat that thing.
00:40:20.187 --> 00:40:24.147
All right. So you started kind of on your own. Yeah. Oh, yeah.
00:40:24.367 --> 00:40:25.927
And then you got some buddies involved?
00:40:26.687 --> 00:40:28.947
Not really. I got my one buddy involved, Bo.
00:40:30.336 --> 00:40:37.376
And then I realized there was a class for it, went to, I called Benthic, they were sold out.
00:40:38.016 --> 00:40:41.796
And this, this was in, I think Benthic's first year, second year being open.
00:40:42.356 --> 00:40:46.556
And I called them, they were sold out. So I went to Drew, Florida Free Divers,
00:40:46.716 --> 00:40:51.436
booked a hotel in like Palm, West Palm, somewhere down there and immediately,
00:40:51.676 --> 00:40:56.976
you know, went down there, bought a Florida Free Divers top and took the course.
00:40:56.976 --> 00:41:01.916
Same thing gar blades all that stuff like just plastic blades and took the course down there,
00:41:02.616 --> 00:41:05.516
totally different diving down there because we
00:41:05.516 --> 00:41:08.336
drove out like four or five miles and you're in 500 foot of water i
00:41:08.336 --> 00:41:11.596
was like whoa this is different and again
00:41:11.596 --> 00:41:14.736
took the class came back to benthic or came back to pensacola and
00:41:14.736 --> 00:41:17.896
you know started on my own got involved with
00:41:17.896 --> 00:41:20.936
a couple scuba divers that were dabbling in free diving nobody's really
00:41:20.936 --> 00:41:26.236
certified but me and then like joined agroverde days and kind of was on from
00:41:26.236 --> 00:41:29.956
there realized there was an actual community of of like military guys you know
00:41:29.956 --> 00:41:35.216
mike joe these guys that were doing it and i did it for i think five years officially
00:41:35.216 --> 00:41:39.916
like certified before i even yeah i did it for like five years probably about five years,
00:41:40.376 --> 00:41:43.356
straight four years straight before i went offshore and then kind of took a
00:41:43.356 --> 00:41:48.036
little break so that's kind of like the really really brief overview of the
00:41:48.036 --> 00:41:52.696
and then and then you so when When did you start instructing?
00:41:55.536 --> 00:42:02.316
2022 or 24, 23. October or November of 21, I believe, or 22.
00:42:03.076 --> 00:42:06.676
Yeah, because last year I didn't teach a whole lot. So it was October of 21.
00:42:06.876 --> 00:42:10.156
Going into November is when I got my official cert. Okay.
00:42:11.216 --> 00:42:13.796
And I remember I got my cert and had a class that next weekend.
00:42:13.976 --> 00:42:16.036
It was great. Nice. How'd you do?
00:42:16.556 --> 00:42:21.176
I don't know. Nerves? Oh, my goodness. Nerves? Oh, man. I was sweating. Isn't that cool?
00:42:21.656 --> 00:42:24.396
Oh it's not cool yeah that's cool no i drank way too much
00:42:24.396 --> 00:42:27.276
coffee on the way so i could i literally had to stop and go guys i'm
00:42:27.276 --> 00:42:30.316
sorry i like pulled up the yeti mug was like i drank like a 32
00:42:30.316 --> 00:42:34.036
ounce yeti rambler full of coffee it was like i drank this whole thing give
00:42:34.036 --> 00:42:39.896
me a second had to like recompose myself and finish the class it was epic so
00:42:39.896 --> 00:42:45.656
what's i don't know what's what's like the common struggles you see with with
00:42:45.656 --> 00:42:50.236
students like what's what's most commonly holding people back,
00:42:50.776 --> 00:42:57.116
if they're not just breezing right through it not listening just not or they're
00:42:57.116 --> 00:43:01.596
listening but they're just not applying like and don't you think it's because
00:43:01.596 --> 00:43:02.896
their anxiety is through the roof,
00:43:04.077 --> 00:43:08.037
yes and no because you forget what that feels like because you haven't had that
00:43:08.037 --> 00:43:15.977
you know to spike your anxiety you need to be being towed by a wahoo across the surface.
00:43:17.397 --> 00:43:23.997
But think about the guy that's just an accountant and he goes to this course and,
00:43:25.177 --> 00:43:28.117
and he's trying to listen to you and he's trying to
00:43:28.117 --> 00:43:31.697
apply himself but it's just hard it is
00:43:31.697 --> 00:43:34.717
and you're saying you're telling him to relax and he's
00:43:34.717 --> 00:43:38.137
trying to and he thinks he is but he's just not no no
00:43:38.137 --> 00:43:44.957
yeah that's probably the hardest part i mean it's yeah throwing people in the
00:43:44.957 --> 00:43:48.717
water telling them to do everything that they've never done before is definitely
00:43:48.717 --> 00:43:55.977
i i get it it is definitely not relaxing we're telling you relax in the the one place it's not
00:43:56.017 --> 00:44:00.197
relaxing no it's not no it certainly is
00:44:00.197 --> 00:44:03.277
not you got on all this new stuff
00:44:03.277 --> 00:44:06.937
you've never worn a wetsuit and you never had these 15
00:44:06.937 --> 00:44:09.697
foot fins on your feet that are just
00:44:09.697 --> 00:44:12.957
like hitting everything around you and there's
00:44:12.957 --> 00:44:15.997
so much to to hold together
00:44:15.997 --> 00:44:18.677
yeah we're me and joe talk about it we throw
00:44:18.677 --> 00:44:21.777
a lot at you once yeah i mean we we
00:44:21.777 --> 00:44:24.397
throw literally a soggy shit sandwich out of you
00:44:24.397 --> 00:44:30.037
and try to make it taste good in a day and then it's not like we our best analogy
00:44:30.037 --> 00:44:35.397
is like we we give you the cookbook right and then it's up to you to go practice
00:44:35.397 --> 00:44:40.417
it so again the the class going back to that is we understand we throw a lot
00:44:40.417 --> 00:44:42.357
at you that's why we're not like demanding perfection.
00:44:42.977 --> 00:44:46.197
But at the same time there becomes a point of of it is
00:44:46.197 --> 00:44:49.297
a controlled environment in my mind i look at and i guess the military kind
00:44:49.297 --> 00:44:51.937
of helps is it is a controlled environment at the
00:44:51.937 --> 00:44:55.257
end of the day in the class what could happen
00:44:55.257 --> 00:44:58.077
to you as a student and that's kind of what makes
00:44:58.077 --> 00:45:01.457
it hard for me to kind of i say adjust to the
00:45:01.457 --> 00:45:04.397
the anxiety of students yeah is and
00:45:04.397 --> 00:45:07.517
i get it is totally new and that's why you've seen me instruct
00:45:07.517 --> 00:45:10.757
and stuff it's i'm not i'm not a complete jerk
00:45:10.757 --> 00:45:13.857
by no means i i let a lot
00:45:13.857 --> 00:45:16.677
a lot of stuff slide but to me in my mind i
00:45:16.677 --> 00:45:19.677
guess i've been doing it for so long and doing a lot of different courses
00:45:19.677 --> 00:45:22.397
from the navy to outside of the navy you know starting new your
00:45:22.397 --> 00:45:25.417
job fields a lot in the bigger picture
00:45:25.417 --> 00:45:28.737
like what could really go wrong yeah i guess
00:45:28.737 --> 00:45:31.977
you just need to have trust in in
00:45:31.977 --> 00:45:34.737
these guys that are teaching yeah you you went
00:45:34.737 --> 00:45:37.677
there for a reason exactly obviously you trusted them
00:45:37.677 --> 00:45:41.957
before you went so now you're in the water like just just keep trusting them
00:45:41.957 --> 00:45:46.337
i guess that's that's all i have a little faith that's all it takes like i get
00:45:46.337 --> 00:45:49.537
the the open water like that's totally different that like in the pool like
00:45:49.537 --> 00:45:54.837
for me it's in the pool is like it's not a pet peeve but it's a it's a for me a confusion like.
00:45:56.146 --> 00:45:59.846
Why are you freaking out in the pool? Like if, if I were to tell,
00:45:59.906 --> 00:46:01.946
and I tell a lot of students, this is what I use.
00:46:01.986 --> 00:46:05.186
If I said, Hey, like one big thing, a lot of students struggle with is water entry.
00:46:05.286 --> 00:46:08.846
You can tell if no, if like nobody's ever had to do anything coordinating in
00:46:08.846 --> 00:46:12.906
the water, like have to use actual coordination in water to do something.
00:46:13.586 --> 00:46:16.966
You can really tell really quick, like they look goofy. They can't,
00:46:16.966 --> 00:46:22.286
you know, you can tell them do one step, two step, and you get about the third
00:46:22.286 --> 00:46:25.486
step, the whole, everything just goes to shit.
00:46:25.486 --> 00:46:29.086
Or you know everything just falls apart and and like
00:46:29.086 --> 00:46:32.306
it's hard you know
00:46:32.306 --> 00:46:35.726
for i get it's hard for people to kind of
00:46:35.726 --> 00:46:38.606
put it all together and then again in the.
00:46:38.606 --> 00:46:41.486
Gulf i can understand the anxiety of the pool there's no difference
00:46:41.486 --> 00:46:44.466
like it's if you were to go swimming on a sunday right with
00:46:44.466 --> 00:46:47.726
your family and somebody came in and said hey i.
00:46:47.726 --> 00:46:50.766
Need you to do a b and c in the pool right whether.
00:46:50.766 --> 00:46:53.526
It be you know play basketball play volleyball or you know just.
00:46:53.526 --> 00:46:56.326
Do stuff in the pool right you you'd probably do it no problem having
00:46:56.326 --> 00:47:00.406
fun but as soon as an instructor you know said
00:47:00.406 --> 00:47:03.126
hey do this this and this for some
00:47:03.126 --> 00:47:07.006
reason them gears in that in that brain just start grinding up
00:47:07.006 --> 00:47:09.966
and it's just not happening and i think it's it's mainly people
00:47:09.966 --> 00:47:12.726
that tend to overthink and overanalyze everything
00:47:12.726 --> 00:47:15.546
like i'm that way like in my
00:47:15.546 --> 00:47:18.446
you know in my mind i come up
00:47:18.446 --> 00:47:21.606
with my expectation for myself before it
00:47:21.606 --> 00:47:25.706
starts so it's like if i'm not meeting my expectation it's
00:47:25.706 --> 00:47:28.966
like stop and restart yeah it's you know and i'm
00:47:28.966 --> 00:47:32.206
the type of person like i need the guy to say i
00:47:32.206 --> 00:47:35.246
need someone to say stop thinking about it yeah just
00:47:35.246 --> 00:47:38.086
do it do what you did the pretend i never said anything now
00:47:38.086 --> 00:47:40.946
just go underwater and it's like did i
00:47:40.946 --> 00:47:43.546
do that to you probably i said hey go touch the bottom of the
00:47:43.546 --> 00:47:46.606
pool forget what i told you because i'm interested in like
00:47:46.606 --> 00:47:49.526
hey so your right hand you're leaving it here for five
00:47:49.526 --> 00:47:52.566
seconds and then you're doing this and you're like listen stop i
00:47:52.566 --> 00:47:55.346
just go touch the bottom yeah i remember you know i remember you
00:47:55.346 --> 00:47:58.226
and britney in the class yeah because
00:47:58.226 --> 00:48:01.926
i started doing that with a lot of students that like i yeah
00:48:01.926 --> 00:48:04.846
they just can't for some reason when they think about it they just can't do
00:48:04.846 --> 00:48:08.526
it and i don't know why it's it's everything we're asking you to do is natural
00:48:08.526 --> 00:48:11.466
it's not like we're asking you to do the splits or something you've never done
00:48:11.466 --> 00:48:15.426
before but a lot of times i just tell them like hey go go touch the bottom of
00:48:15.426 --> 00:48:18.886
the pool if i told you right now to lay flat on the surface and then go touch
00:48:18.886 --> 00:48:21.446
the bottom of the pool, you're going to do a water entry.
00:48:21.686 --> 00:48:25.186
Like you're going to, you're going to do it. It's not, it may not look the greatest,
00:48:25.186 --> 00:48:28.726
but then I say, Hey, do that. But only like bend one leg.
00:48:29.286 --> 00:48:32.266
Right. And then, and then I tell him, I say, okay, now think about what you just did.
00:48:33.703 --> 00:48:37.323
If I tell you to pre-equalize before you go, nine times out of 10,
00:48:37.403 --> 00:48:39.603
you point your hands at the bottom because that's where you want to go is what
00:48:39.603 --> 00:48:41.683
we're telling you to do. Leave your hands at 90 degrees, right?
00:48:41.763 --> 00:48:44.023
You're going to immediately tuck your head and roll your body,
00:48:44.103 --> 00:48:48.123
right? And then you're going to stick one leg out of the water and sink, right?
00:48:48.323 --> 00:48:51.643
And then everybody does that. Nine times out of 10, people do that.
00:48:51.723 --> 00:48:53.343
They just, they bend both legs.
00:48:53.663 --> 00:48:59.263
And we're like, hey, look, it's not wrong. We teach single leg because you're using half the energy.
00:48:59.403 --> 00:49:02.583
You're only moving one leg, the other leg's relaxed. So in freediving energy
00:49:02.583 --> 00:49:06.103
consumption, just try it with one leg and nine times out of 10,
00:49:06.243 --> 00:49:09.023
they get it. And then I say, Hey, okay, do a water entry for me.
00:49:09.103 --> 00:49:13.523
And then as soon as you say that, or you say, do you know what I just told you
00:49:13.523 --> 00:49:16.343
to do instead of going touch the bottom of the pool, it just falls apart.
00:49:16.763 --> 00:49:19.923
And it's, it's one of those, it's to me, it's, it's kind of comical.
00:49:19.923 --> 00:49:23.683
And I'm like, okay, you got it. Like you got this. It's no big deal.
00:49:24.623 --> 00:49:28.103
You speaking of like relaxing and uh-huh
00:49:28.103 --> 00:49:31.123
and anxiety and heart rate and
00:49:31.123 --> 00:49:34.983
all of that stuff i found dot so
00:49:34.983 --> 00:49:38.023
i have again i have a good intro to
00:49:38.023 --> 00:49:40.923
this through through jujitsu there's you have to
00:49:40.923 --> 00:49:43.643
learn how to relax and you learn that you don't know
00:49:43.643 --> 00:49:46.383
what you don't know about relaxing right like you you don't
00:49:46.383 --> 00:49:49.123
know what that means until it means this and then
00:49:49.123 --> 00:49:52.323
you still don't know what it means until you know i understand
00:49:52.323 --> 00:49:55.823
that so i went into it maybe
00:49:55.823 --> 00:49:59.563
loaded a little a little more than most people but i
00:49:59.563 --> 00:50:02.483
i can still see like it's still
00:50:02.483 --> 00:50:06.443
different like it is still different on the water and much
00:50:06.443 --> 00:50:11.543
more so in the golf like live action you know it's it's even if you know what
00:50:11.543 --> 00:50:14.963
to do and you're trying to do it there's still too many things calling at you
00:50:14.963 --> 00:50:18.683
like hey stop paying attention and relaxing and look at this oh yeah like there's
00:50:18.683 --> 00:50:22.883
still a lot you still still got to maintain a level of awareness in the Gulf of Mexico.
00:50:23.103 --> 00:50:28.523
But there's a huge benefit to me. There's a huge benefit, I guess,
00:50:28.563 --> 00:50:30.923
to my life of just having this,
00:50:31.849 --> 00:50:38.209
thrown in my face like here's another scenario that you can't relax like i know
00:50:38.209 --> 00:50:43.709
you think you can like operate under pressure and all and but try this like
00:50:43.709 --> 00:50:48.029
yeah i don't know what else that would have been had it not been for this you
00:50:48.029 --> 00:50:49.829
know haven't had it not been for for diving.
00:50:51.469 --> 00:50:54.949
So what is what the hell is happening what
00:50:54.949 --> 00:50:58.249
is that why is this happening why is
00:50:58.249 --> 00:51:01.269
it so hard to relax explain that there's so
00:51:01.269 --> 00:51:04.109
many variables one like if you're a hunter and
00:51:04.109 --> 00:51:06.649
you get buck fever right so if if we're diving and you know
00:51:06.649 --> 00:51:10.169
your dive buddy comes up and says hey there's a 30 pound snapper on that coop
00:51:10.169 --> 00:51:13.709
or you know there's 25 pound snapper on that coop if you've never shot a 25
00:51:13.709 --> 00:51:16.949
pound snapper you hear you'd hear about them and you know you may see them here
00:51:16.949 --> 00:51:19.829
and there and they're just hammers you know they're big giant red brim right
00:51:19.829 --> 00:51:24.669
you see those and then your body your buddy comes up and says that and he looks
00:51:24.669 --> 00:51:26.549
at you and he's like all right you're still
00:51:26.629 --> 00:51:29.789
breathing up but now you gotta okay there's a
00:51:29.789 --> 00:51:33.249
trophy fish down there not you know there's a there's a big fish down there i've
00:51:33.249 --> 00:51:36.229
got one shot i've got one dive don't mess
00:51:36.229 --> 00:51:40.649
this up very similar to bowhunting similar to a guy hanging on a tree and the
00:51:40.649 --> 00:51:44.029
buck he's been looking for has come strolling by yeah you hear that twig break
00:51:44.029 --> 00:51:46.849
you look left and you just see the horns you don't see him yet but you see his
00:51:46.849 --> 00:51:51.569
horns and you're like great how do i not get my how do i get my heart out of
00:51:51.569 --> 00:51:54.009
my throat because you know it's coming the heart's fixing to hit the throat as soon as you
00:51:54.029 --> 00:51:56.609
look over like you glance to the left or right and let's say
00:51:56.609 --> 00:51:59.269
the buck's on your bad side he's on your right side and you're right-handed and you're
00:51:59.269 --> 00:52:02.049
just like oh boy you know your heart's coming
00:52:02.049 --> 00:52:04.989
like you're fixing to fill your heart and your throat it's coming and the same
00:52:04.989 --> 00:52:08.829
thing free diving like okay hey hit the surface your buddy's done recovering
00:52:08.829 --> 00:52:11.529
you looked at him you know and he's like yeah there's a big one in the coop
00:52:11.529 --> 00:52:16.689
you're like great now i've got to relax i've got to do a dive to however deep
00:52:16.689 --> 00:52:20.749
it's level one level it's 66 feet that's the bodice of kettlebell level one.
00:52:21.389 --> 00:52:26.609
I'm level one certified now I've got to do a dive to 66 feet and pull the trigger.
00:52:27.349 --> 00:52:30.969
And hopefully I hit the fish and then in
00:52:30.969 --> 00:52:35.449
the same aspect now there's predators you're not the only predator in the water
00:52:35.449 --> 00:52:38.929
so you still got to have a level of awareness of like what's around you and
00:52:38.929 --> 00:52:43.169
then also you got to like saying focus on breathing focus on not getting snort
00:52:43.169 --> 00:52:46.669
water in your snorkel and focus on and the waves are crashing over your head
00:52:46.669 --> 00:52:49.949
oh yeah and then try not not to move, keeping up with the boat.
00:52:50.009 --> 00:52:54.769
If it's like, if you're not holding on and just trying to keep your mind empty
00:52:54.769 --> 00:52:58.789
and not thinking about the dive, that's the biggest part. And the rig's going.
00:53:02.629 --> 00:53:06.089
You can hear the supply boats driving by the rig screaming at you.
00:53:06.109 --> 00:53:09.209
If you're in Louisiana or like by us, there's nothing. And so you've,
00:53:10.046 --> 00:53:12.466
Like by us, you've never, you haven't dove by us. No, no, no.
00:53:12.466 --> 00:53:14.006
You got to come because it's Tyler.
00:53:14.206 --> 00:53:17.866
Tyler loves it because there's nothing. Like you're swimming in the blue abyss
00:53:17.866 --> 00:53:21.586
and then all of a sudden, like the sand comes into view and there's a little
00:53:21.586 --> 00:53:23.806
black square and the fish is in it.
00:53:24.186 --> 00:53:28.226
So you better hope you land next to it or like, because the fish is in it.
00:53:28.246 --> 00:53:29.726
Like it's either in it, on it, or around it.
00:53:29.786 --> 00:53:33.126
So if you're 30 feet from that black square, you got to close the distance.
00:53:33.566 --> 00:53:36.166
And again, there's nothing. There's no rig legs. It's just you.
00:53:36.166 --> 00:53:39.466
Now you've got to, again, you don't know what's meeting you.
00:53:39.486 --> 00:53:41.186
And Tyler talks about it. It's like there's nothing.
00:53:41.286 --> 00:53:46.246
So you're kicking into the abyss with nothing around you at all.
00:53:46.586 --> 00:53:50.286
Then all of a sudden, it's either a pile of fish or sand.
00:53:50.946 --> 00:53:55.346
And then you're like looking around, where do I go?
00:53:55.726 --> 00:53:58.626
Do that or like, okay, you got lucky. Not lucky, but you know,
00:53:58.646 --> 00:54:01.846
you have spatial awareness. Like, hey, the coops on the front right side of the boat.
00:54:02.046 --> 00:54:04.626
So you do the dive and you kind of orientate yourself to where when you get
00:54:04.626 --> 00:54:05.506
the depth, you can see it.
00:54:05.886 --> 00:54:09.686
And that is a big thing for a lot of people is the dive itself,
00:54:09.866 --> 00:54:12.246
not letting that dive get in your head as well.
00:54:12.426 --> 00:54:14.886
Because let's say the dive before you didn't make it, right?
00:54:15.466 --> 00:54:17.906
And, you know, your heart was through your roof because as soon as you left
00:54:17.906 --> 00:54:19.086
the surface. You didn't make it like you died.
00:54:19.586 --> 00:54:22.726
No, no, no, no. You didn't make depth. Like a lot of people,
00:54:22.806 --> 00:54:24.686
like they didn't, they don't make depth.
00:54:24.866 --> 00:54:29.586
Like for by us, we say you've got to be comfortable to hit 66 or you got to
00:54:29.586 --> 00:54:30.586
be comfortable to hit 60.
00:54:30.706 --> 00:54:35.326
If you're not comfortable hitting 60, diving in the panhandle is really hard. It's a desert.
00:54:35.506 --> 00:54:38.806
With, you know, a bunch of artificial reefs that people have put out.
00:54:38.846 --> 00:54:40.086
And it's not like mud bottom.
00:54:40.606 --> 00:54:43.186
There's a few places in mud, but it's all sand. It really is a desert.
00:54:43.246 --> 00:54:45.266
And people don't quite comprehend that when we tell them.
00:54:45.546 --> 00:54:48.246
If you're used to diving like central Florida, east coast of Florida,
00:54:48.346 --> 00:54:49.826
south Florida, there's coral everywhere.
00:54:50.046 --> 00:54:54.846
We don't have coral. We have sand and very select few, you know,
00:54:54.846 --> 00:54:57.666
reefs that people put out or stuff that the county sank stuff.
00:54:57.746 --> 00:55:02.806
And, uh, so when you are diving a coop, you have a four by eight square, you're trying to hit.
00:55:03.502 --> 00:55:06.582
In not ideal conditions sometimes it's murky sometimes
00:55:06.582 --> 00:55:10.562
it's not but again you're doing a 60 foot dive to hit
00:55:10.562 --> 00:55:13.182
a four by eight square and there's a 25 pound snapper in
00:55:13.182 --> 00:55:15.862
it and now you've got to pull the trigger on that
00:55:15.862 --> 00:55:19.422
snapper and hopefully not let it wreck all your gear in a coop and then you
00:55:19.422 --> 00:55:22.262
know make it back to the surface if she does hole up in the coop which probably
00:55:22.262 --> 00:55:26.302
is going to then you got to swim back up with a reel attached to it and then
00:55:26.302 --> 00:55:30.482
again complete the dive a little different than fishing right it's hard to get
00:55:30.482 --> 00:55:33.822
try to get buck fever while fishing It really is.
00:55:34.062 --> 00:55:36.562
Right. I think it's only times like when you calf them, maybe.
00:55:36.982 --> 00:55:39.262
Maybe. I don't think I've ever gotten bug fever fishing. No.
00:55:40.502 --> 00:55:48.022
All right. Let's talk a little bit about dive reflex and what that is and how it works. And is it real?
00:55:49.662 --> 00:55:54.562
Do we believe in it? Are you talking to a doctor or are you talking to a diver? Diver.
00:55:55.162 --> 00:56:00.262
So dive reflex is real. I think the modern science is starting to adapt to it.
00:56:00.262 --> 00:56:03.882
Because I know when I first started, I talked to a few doctors and they said
00:56:03.882 --> 00:56:04.822
it was just all hokey pokey.
00:56:05.302 --> 00:56:08.922
And then talking to a NOAA dive doctor, he said, if you want a really good PhD,
00:56:09.262 --> 00:56:11.422
a real low hanging fruit is the dive reflex.
00:56:11.722 --> 00:56:14.702
And like the mammalian dive reflex or MDR.
00:56:15.262 --> 00:56:20.242
He said he was going to do his thesis on it, but for his degree, he couldn't.
00:56:20.242 --> 00:56:26.402
But he thought about going back for a second PhD just to get it with the studying
00:56:26.402 --> 00:56:31.722
the dive reflex, how it's done. or how your body reacts and what it actually is.
00:56:32.867 --> 00:56:35.907
In short the dive reflex is something that your body naturally does
00:56:35.907 --> 00:56:38.947
to you know help help you
00:56:38.947 --> 00:56:41.807
cope with being in the water or diving so it slows your
00:56:41.807 --> 00:56:45.287
heart rate down your veins your extremities
00:56:45.287 --> 00:56:50.327
phasor constrict so they basically forces all your blood to your core and then
00:56:50.327 --> 00:56:54.327
your brain vasodilates at time like this is the extreme end but your vein your
00:56:54.327 --> 00:56:57.847
brain will start vasodilating along with your main organs your heart lungs brain
00:56:57.847 --> 00:57:02.027
and then it's drinking drops your heart rate so it.
00:57:02.867 --> 00:57:08.407
Again it's a reflex for diving it's a reflex your body has to compliment you
00:57:08.407 --> 00:57:12.367
on diving we're one of the only land mammals that have it besides you know whales
00:57:12.367 --> 00:57:14.187
dolphins seals they all have it.
00:57:14.707 --> 00:57:18.067
As far as like walking land mammals i believe we're the
00:57:18.067 --> 00:57:20.747
only ones that have it so again when our face hits
00:57:20.747 --> 00:57:23.767
the water you know our heart rate is slow down it depends on how big it
00:57:23.767 --> 00:57:26.567
is a reflex so if you don't train it it's not
00:57:26.567 --> 00:57:29.587
as strong so somebody's never dove before won't have
00:57:29.587 --> 00:57:32.647
a reflex at all so you hear the guy gary i forget
00:57:32.647 --> 00:57:35.367
his name talk about it like that's why you put your face in the water for the
00:57:35.367 --> 00:57:38.547
like a cold plunge it the mammalian
00:57:38.547 --> 00:57:42.067
dive reflex does all this thought all that it's that's crap
00:57:42.067 --> 00:57:44.887
if you've never dove in your life you've never got the squeeze on
00:57:44.887 --> 00:57:47.587
your lungs or you've never i say you've never
00:57:47.587 --> 00:57:50.507
actually used your your mdr it's not going
00:57:50.507 --> 00:57:53.347
to really do anything for you um because i mean you can ask any any
00:57:53.347 --> 00:57:56.287
free diver or any competitive diver and you've
00:57:56.287 --> 00:57:59.087
probably that you experienced it when you first started diving you know your dives are
00:57:59.087 --> 00:58:01.827
not that great and then the more you dive the more you get back
00:58:01.827 --> 00:58:04.607
into it and the more you start you know your dives
00:58:04.607 --> 00:58:07.667
get better and better your heart rate slows down more even though you've worked more your
00:58:07.667 --> 00:58:10.587
heart rate you know you recover a lot faster you know you feel a lot more relaxed
00:58:10.587 --> 00:58:14.007
that's all your your dive reflex so but
00:58:14.007 --> 00:58:19.827
how do you feel your dive reflexes right now i don't really know i guess i don't
00:58:19.827 --> 00:58:25.707
have a i think i'm i'm too inconsistent to really have a a finger on it or an
00:58:25.707 --> 00:58:33.867
understanding so it's kind of hard i can't say that you know if i go once this week once next week.
00:58:34.467 --> 00:58:39.527
If i feel any different that second time than if i would just randomly go do
00:58:39.527 --> 00:58:43.567
you feel different throughout the day like the longer you got yeah yeah yep
00:58:43.567 --> 00:58:48.127
it's like a warm-up period i guess yeah i don't know probably three hours in
00:58:48.127 --> 00:58:51.387
yeah something like that like i start feeling good and And I start,
00:58:51.507 --> 00:58:53.527
you know. So, yeah, that's your reflex.
00:58:53.827 --> 00:58:57.647
Yeah. That's your reflex getting kicked in, right? And so, if you think back
00:58:57.647 --> 00:59:01.907
to your first time actually diving, it probably never happened to it.
00:59:02.027 --> 00:59:04.907
Or it took forever for you to start feeling good on dives. Yeah.
00:59:06.077 --> 00:59:10.297
I say that when I say feeling good, like, you know, the prep for the dive,
00:59:10.497 --> 00:59:13.977
you know, your breathe up, you're relaxing, all that stuff.
00:59:14.157 --> 00:59:17.377
And when you first started, it probably was not that great, right?
00:59:17.477 --> 00:59:20.817
Until towards the end of the day when you're like, man, that dive felt amazing.
00:59:20.937 --> 00:59:23.537
Right. Right. Everything lined up, right? So the more you dive,
00:59:23.617 --> 00:59:28.857
you'll realize that time between, you know, the time it takes for that to kick
00:59:28.857 --> 00:59:30.997
in gets significantly shorter, right?
00:59:31.057 --> 00:59:34.157
So a lot of these competitive freedivers, they'll do like no warmup dives to
00:59:34.157 --> 00:59:37.717
really hit it hard to hammer that reflex so they really they'll
00:59:37.717 --> 00:59:41.997
breathe up and then they'll crack out a dive i mean deep i'm
00:59:41.997 --> 00:59:44.797
not gonna say exact numbers but in a lot and talk about it they'll crack out some
00:59:44.797 --> 00:59:47.677
deep dives like without warming up at all just to shock that
00:59:47.677 --> 00:59:50.717
reflex and to kind of like suffer through it and then
00:59:50.717 --> 00:59:54.397
it kind of jump starts their diving so that's kind
00:59:54.397 --> 00:59:57.977
of what the reflex is like there's a pile into it like you
00:59:57.977 --> 01:00:01.757
you've got sensors on your face and know you're in water your body some
01:00:01.757 --> 01:00:05.057
of the things we teach in the class that are part of the reflex is like laryngospasm
01:00:05.057 --> 01:00:07.817
so if you've ever drank water and you know if
01:00:07.817 --> 01:00:10.997
you start coughing right you say oh it's the wrong pipe that's actually
01:00:10.997 --> 01:00:16.097
part of your dive reflex that's water going you know it's your larynx spasming
01:00:16.097 --> 01:00:20.957
kind of shutting to stop water prevent water from going into your lungs the
01:00:20.957 --> 01:00:26.317
blackout is again is your body's protective state and so if you were to you
01:00:26.317 --> 01:00:30.137
know blackout let's say you You held your breath to the point of where your oxygen levels dropped,
01:00:30.237 --> 01:00:33.277
where your body can't function. Your brain says, all right, we're shutting it down.
01:00:33.797 --> 01:00:39.437
So you're not dead. But if your body was a laptop, one of the analogies we use
01:00:39.437 --> 01:00:43.637
is your laptop's fine just because the screen's off, right? The keyboard may not work.
01:00:43.797 --> 01:00:46.937
The screen may not work. All the accessories may not work, but your hard drive's
01:00:46.937 --> 01:00:49.077
fine, right? That's what a blackout is.
01:00:50.317 --> 01:00:53.857
Your all your senses are shut down except for
01:00:53.857 --> 01:00:56.777
everything externally shut down except for your brain
01:00:56.777 --> 01:01:00.037
your heart and your lungs they keep they keep functioning and
01:01:00.037 --> 01:01:04.577
then your heart keeps pumping blood all your again your extremities vasoconstrict
01:01:04.577 --> 01:01:09.437
and your brain vasodilates and it basically pumps all of the oxygenated blood
01:01:09.437 --> 01:01:12.737
to your brain for as long as it can and then you'll have what's called a terminal
01:01:12.737 --> 01:01:17.337
gasp which is your body's final attempt to breathe for the most part that's why
01:01:17.417 --> 01:01:20.177
it's called terminal gasp you know that's it like once your body
01:01:20.177 --> 01:01:23.717
does that there's no more there's no more oxygen left and your body's basically
01:01:23.717 --> 01:01:26.077
like hey this is it we're throwing in the towel whether we're underwater or
01:01:26.077 --> 01:01:29.637
not we're throwing in the towel it's our last ditch effort and that's why we
01:01:29.637 --> 01:01:34.377
preach like diving with a buddy even if your buddy let's say you do have water
01:01:34.377 --> 01:01:38.317
in your mouth he can't release laryngeal spasm and you're rolled over right
01:01:38.317 --> 01:01:41.277
your face is out of the water and you do say get all the way to the terminal
01:01:41.277 --> 01:01:43.637
gasp you're not face down you're gonna going to live.
01:01:43.817 --> 01:01:48.737
You know, you're going to take that big breath and you'll wake up in a couple seconds after that.
01:01:49.576 --> 01:01:52.816
But again, it's the importance of diving with a buddy. Yeah.
01:01:53.896 --> 01:01:57.336
You know, you choke someone out on the mat. Exact same thing.
01:01:57.456 --> 01:01:59.716
They're out and everyone starts laughing. Yeah.
01:02:01.116 --> 01:02:05.856
That's it. But everyone seems to be really afraid of it in water. And yes, it is scary.
01:02:06.136 --> 01:02:09.356
But yeah, if you have someone there right next to you, as long as you can't
01:02:09.356 --> 01:02:12.316
open your mouth and take a breath of water, you're just out.
01:02:12.336 --> 01:02:15.256
Just like you'd be if someone choked you out on the mat. It's the exact same
01:02:15.256 --> 01:02:19.596
thing. You just need to find a way to safely wake them back up.
01:02:19.676 --> 01:02:20.896
You can't do it underwater.
01:02:21.316 --> 01:02:24.496
No, no, no. If you're sinking, you're done. Someone blacks out underwater,
01:02:24.836 --> 01:02:29.356
get to them, close their mouth, pinch their nose. Yep.
01:02:29.656 --> 01:02:32.816
Bring them to the top. And make sure their next breath is above water. That's it.
01:02:32.916 --> 01:02:37.136
Just fucking lock them down and then hold them there until when you hit the
01:02:37.136 --> 01:02:39.156
surface. Obviously, we teach you blow tap talk.
01:02:39.596 --> 01:02:42.956
We teach you the do-si-do, which is an efficient way to drag somebody back to
01:02:42.956 --> 01:02:44.976
the boat or keep Keep their airway out of the water and then,
01:02:45.016 --> 01:02:46.696
you know, blow tap talk, remove the mask,
01:02:46.876 --> 01:02:50.676
blow on their face, let those sensors that on your face that know when water's
01:02:50.676 --> 01:02:54.256
there, letting those air, and then you blow across their face to give them the,
01:02:54.276 --> 01:02:56.816
also to apply positive pressure to the larynx, you know, that way.
01:02:56.856 --> 01:02:58.176
And then, hey, they're going to wake up.
01:02:58.536 --> 01:03:01.716
The only difference is like when you choked out in jujitsu, it was just an immediate,
01:03:02.136 --> 01:03:03.756
you know, loss of oxygen to the brain.
01:03:04.276 --> 01:03:07.196
Or freediving is you just have a loss of oxygen throughout the entire body.
01:03:07.196 --> 01:03:12.416
So your entire oxygen stores are pretty much depleted.
01:03:13.276 --> 01:03:16.016
Versus like jiu-jitsu, the rest of your body still has oxygen.
01:03:16.376 --> 01:03:18.976
Yeah, I got you. And then freediving, there is none.
01:03:19.756 --> 01:03:23.016
There's some, but it's not enough to function, right? So your body understands
01:03:23.016 --> 01:03:26.636
that, hey, we got to shut it down to conserve oxygen, right?
01:03:26.716 --> 01:03:29.236
And then that's where your body comes in to kind of save the day.
01:03:29.536 --> 01:03:31.816
And obviously, if you black out or LMC, don't continue diving.
01:03:31.816 --> 01:03:37.736
So, yeah, if you get choked out on the mat, you're not going into hypoxia. No.
01:03:38.776 --> 01:03:42.876
Because the count is still high. It's just not in your brain. Exactly.
01:03:43.356 --> 01:03:47.716
But in the water. The count's low. The count's low. Your total count is low.
01:03:47.856 --> 01:03:52.916
Yeah. Your total blood oxygen level or partial, not partial pressure of oxygen,
01:03:53.056 --> 01:03:55.796
your total O2 saturation is down.
01:03:56.696 --> 01:04:01.616
There's no O2 in the bloodstream in your muscles anymore versus in jiu-jitsu when you get choked out.
01:04:01.656 --> 01:04:05.036
It's just that isolation of lack of O2 is just in the brain.
01:04:05.036 --> 01:04:08.056
And what i thought was really interesting is i
01:04:08.056 --> 01:04:10.956
mean all of it's interesting but like even just
01:04:10.956 --> 01:04:14.136
something like the breathing techniques they teach in
01:04:14.136 --> 01:04:17.936
a class like to enrich the oxygen count and
01:04:17.936 --> 01:04:23.336
that's that's beneficial not just in diving but just in general just oh yeah
01:04:23.336 --> 01:04:28.376
i remember coming back home and driving in my truck and i'm i'm literally breathing
01:04:28.376 --> 01:04:32.696
up just driving around like just trying to see like all right does it calm me
01:04:32.696 --> 01:04:35.116
down does it does it do this what do i I feel like,
01:04:35.116 --> 01:04:38.096
and I did that for quite a while and I still do it sometimes.
01:04:38.216 --> 01:04:41.256
And I think all that stuff's great. It drops your heart rate.
01:04:41.496 --> 01:04:44.016
Like that's, that's the whole point of this. Drop the heart rate and raise the
01:04:44.016 --> 01:04:48.616
O2 level in your blood. And then, and then in your body, I should say, not say the blood.
01:04:50.584 --> 01:04:53.964
The relaxing aspect of it you know because if you inhale every time you inhale
01:04:53.964 --> 01:04:56.964
it your your heart will your heart rate will spike a little bit you know your
01:04:56.964 --> 01:05:00.364
heart will beat a little faster right because this knows it's got oxygen this
01:05:00.364 --> 01:05:01.924
isn't science by the way something that i've noticed
01:05:02.324 --> 01:05:06.444
if you inhale your heart rate will go up and it's when you while you're exhaling
01:05:06.444 --> 01:05:09.564
your heart rate will just slow down a little bit right because there's no no
01:05:09.564 --> 01:05:13.124
there's no no oxygen it's all old right so every time you inhale you get the
01:05:13.124 --> 01:05:18.724
new you exhale it's old it's you're off gassing co2 and so if If you can take a quick inhale,
01:05:18.924 --> 01:05:22.984
a slightly quicker inhale, and a long, prolonged exhale, relax,
01:05:23.184 --> 01:05:28.504
not using your lungs to hold it in, using your tongue as a valve to kind of
01:05:28.504 --> 01:05:33.184
constrict it, you can significantly drop your heart rate and relax overall because
01:05:33.184 --> 01:05:35.464
the slower your heart beats, the more relaxed you are.
01:05:35.464 --> 01:05:38.484
Are free diving is we're called like endorphin
01:05:38.484 --> 01:05:42.104
junkies because once your heart rate gets to a certain point a slow enough point
01:05:42.104 --> 01:05:46.864
i believe your body starts releasing endorphins to kind of compensate endorphins
01:05:46.864 --> 01:05:50.804
or your feel good feel good chemicals and so as you as you free dive and your
01:05:50.804 --> 01:05:56.144
heart rate slows down enough you know your body starts slowly releasing the endorphins and i i,
01:05:56.644 --> 01:06:00.624
remember the first dive where it was like that i got that first like not endorphin
01:06:00.624 --> 01:06:07.184
rush but i I remember first good dive in my level two, where it was green water,
01:06:07.344 --> 01:06:10.524
just sitting at the kettlebell for like 66 feet,
01:06:10.764 --> 01:06:15.364
just relaxing and getting that, like the slow release of endorphins.
01:06:15.724 --> 01:06:18.424
It's almost like the dive gets like printed in your brain.
01:06:19.484 --> 01:06:23.004
It's, it's interesting to say the least. I mean, I could paint a picture of
01:06:23.004 --> 01:06:27.304
it, seeing the whale snot in the water, seeing the line, that white and blue line that Joe has,
01:06:27.444 --> 01:06:30.704
sorry, it's a white, it's a solid white line that Joe has and then
01:06:30.704 --> 01:06:33.264
seeing the kettlebell and then I had a
01:06:33.264 --> 01:06:36.444
benthic suit at the time I remember it carbonio GFT fins
01:06:36.444 --> 01:06:41.024
I was wearing those at the time instead of the all blacks and just sitting there
01:06:41.024 --> 01:06:46.084
looking at my watch Suunto green Suunto d4i just staring at it watching it count
01:06:46.084 --> 01:06:51.984
up and just almost feel the heartbeat slow yeah I mean super slow you feel it
01:06:51.984 --> 01:06:53.404
in your body almost like oh yeah,
01:06:54.244 --> 01:06:58.244
it's just one it's that's the the endorphin rush and it's not even I say a rush
01:06:58.244 --> 01:07:00.204
it's that's that release of endorphins just then.
01:07:00.344 --> 01:07:02.904
And it's just a, I say a perfect dive. It's one of those dives.
01:07:02.904 --> 01:07:03.684
It'll be with me forever.
01:07:04.284 --> 01:07:07.304
Wasn't a super long dive by no means. I just started taking level two,
01:07:07.364 --> 01:07:10.584
just, it was in my level two class and I wasn't a deep diver,
01:07:10.604 --> 01:07:14.744
still not a deep diver, but, but you know, the, the free diving community.
01:07:16.104 --> 01:07:20.484
But yeah, that endorphin rush is something else or endorphin that release of
01:07:20.484 --> 01:07:21.484
endorphins is something else.
01:07:22.064 --> 01:07:26.844
Yeah. Doesn't it kind of make you want to just stay down there? Oh yeah. Yeah.
01:07:27.368 --> 01:07:30.248
So put a tank on and just. No, no, no.
01:07:31.188 --> 01:07:34.108
No, it makes you want to train and get better so you can stay longer. It does.
01:07:34.268 --> 01:07:40.428
It's constantly self-motivating. Every single time you go down is you got something
01:07:40.428 --> 01:07:43.748
you know you can work on next time. Oh, yeah. You know.
01:07:44.728 --> 01:07:48.468
The level of awareness you get when you do a good free dive is nuts.
01:07:49.188 --> 01:07:52.548
It's almost like a constant, like, you know, post-nut clarity,
01:07:52.648 --> 01:07:56.668
right? Like, because, I mean, that is it. Like, the endorphins are wearing off, right? Right.
01:07:56.908 --> 01:07:59.328
And so while you're in the endorphin, you're getting the endorphins,
01:07:59.368 --> 01:08:01.288
you're sitting there thinking about everything. Okay. What can I fix?
01:08:01.448 --> 01:08:04.788
You know, how, what can I do to make this better?
01:08:04.928 --> 01:08:08.128
You know, how can I stay longer? Or like, like, Hey, my elbow was out,
01:08:08.188 --> 01:08:10.368
you know, like while I was equalizing, my elbow was out.
01:08:10.408 --> 01:08:13.848
I had a little drag, you know, I'm at the bottom, my legs are stiff.
01:08:14.168 --> 01:08:17.968
I need to relax my legs. Oh, you know, my knees were bent. My fins were up,
01:08:17.968 --> 01:08:19.308
look like a freaking peacock down there.
01:08:19.388 --> 01:08:22.268
And I'm trying to hunt this fish, but I got these two peacock looking fins behind
01:08:22.268 --> 01:08:24.288
me. And this thing's like, look at this idiot.
01:08:24.728 --> 01:08:28.888
You know, why didn't you come close oh yeah fins are sticking straight up so
01:08:28.888 --> 01:08:34.868
all right i grew up fishing all over here a lot of fresh water a lot of salt
01:08:34.868 --> 01:08:38.128
water not a whole lot in the gulf you know.
01:08:39.128 --> 01:08:42.608
Grand isle mostly like due large due large
01:08:42.608 --> 01:08:45.508
area the you know gulf coast but not truly in
01:08:45.508 --> 01:08:48.548
the gulf did a little bit of offshore fishing when
01:08:48.548 --> 01:08:51.428
i was younger yeah but here's something
01:08:51.428 --> 01:08:57.068
that no one knows this is on this is only only a couple people know this everybody's
01:08:57.068 --> 01:09:04.648
about to find out now almost i don't know you can pick a day and within 50 miles
01:09:04.648 --> 01:09:11.388
of grand isle you can find a boat with like five or six idiots on it.
01:09:13.768 --> 01:09:19.028
I know this is going on they got these long fins on yep and they all have these
01:09:19.028 --> 01:09:22.068
big guns with, like, four huge
01:09:22.068 --> 01:09:26.608
rubber bands on them and these reels packed away, like, 300 yards of line.
01:09:27.428 --> 01:09:35.828
And they're just taking turns. They're just taking turns going underwater next to the oil rigs. Yep.
01:09:36.947 --> 01:09:41.847
Just literally bursting through thousands of fish on the way down to like,
01:09:41.907 --> 01:09:46.507
I don't know, 60 to 80 feet past that, some of them.
01:09:48.007 --> 01:09:51.527
And they're sitting down there just relaxing.
01:09:52.267 --> 01:09:56.087
And they're just waiting for the fish that they want to pass by.
01:09:57.667 --> 01:10:02.167
They're being as still as they can be. And they're extending the gun and shooting
01:10:02.167 --> 01:10:03.607
the fish, hopefully in the head.
01:10:03.607 --> 01:10:06.607
Head and then sometimes it's not
01:10:06.607 --> 01:10:09.927
lights out and sometimes it's a fight and the fish just peels
01:10:09.927 --> 01:10:12.687
drag off of the line just as a fishing rod
01:10:12.687 --> 01:10:17.967
would but except they're holding on to a spear gun and the line is being ripped
01:10:17.967 --> 01:10:23.387
off of this reel that's attached to the spear gun while the fish is doing tornadoes
01:10:23.387 --> 01:10:27.587
around the rig legs he's fighting for his life and you're kicking for your life
01:10:27.587 --> 01:10:32.447
to the surface yeah and you get to the surface and sometimes you can pull the fish up
01:10:32.567 --> 01:10:35.427
sometimes another idiot has to go down there
01:10:35.427 --> 01:10:38.247
and and wrangle it for you or or put a
01:10:38.247 --> 01:10:40.807
second arrow in it this sounds like a hell of a
01:10:40.807 --> 01:10:45.607
weekend but man no one knows that do you know that yeah not a lot of people
01:10:45.607 --> 01:10:49.927
knows that it's all the i don't know if you've had it yet do you ever drive
01:10:49.927 --> 01:10:55.247
by somebody that's diving go who's that you ever had that yet no no no no in
01:10:55.247 --> 01:10:58.347
pensacola there's select few of us and you ride by a boat and you see like a
01:10:58.347 --> 01:11:00.167
yasbeg suit or you see suits and you're and you're like.
01:11:00.447 --> 01:11:03.627
You learn the boats, and you're like that's so and so. I have no idea who that
01:11:03.627 --> 01:11:06.047
is. Who is that? Let's go talk to him.
01:11:06.687 --> 01:11:09.367
Let's go see what, like, where are you from? What are you doing?
01:11:09.547 --> 01:11:11.387
Who's your daddy? Yeah, no, like, who, what?
01:11:12.082 --> 01:11:14.902
Wait a minute. Like that's one of my good friends, Tony.
01:11:15.102 --> 01:11:18.702
That's how I ran into him for the, I'd say the first time, like I'd heard stories
01:11:18.702 --> 01:11:22.482
about this man forever. And then I saw him die in a real public wreck with a buddy Bennett.
01:11:22.862 --> 01:11:27.342
And I saw the pathfinder and I was like, I don't know them, but they all got Yazbek suits on.
01:11:27.782 --> 01:11:30.682
Those are pretty, like they got to know what you're doing. Isn't that weird?
01:11:31.042 --> 01:11:35.362
Dude, it's a secret little society and right here in our yard.
01:11:35.402 --> 01:11:37.722
And I never knew about it until, until this year.
01:11:37.802 --> 01:11:41.722
There's probably, And what's funny is you guys have probably a larger community
01:11:41.722 --> 01:11:43.422
of freedivers than we do. Really?
01:11:43.542 --> 01:11:47.662
Like 50% of our students at Benthic every year come from Louisiana.
01:11:47.882 --> 01:11:52.982
Yeah. I mean, and we certified homelands anywhere from six to 12 every weekend
01:11:52.982 --> 01:11:56.722
from, you know, March to say April to September.
01:11:57.442 --> 01:12:00.342
So, I mean, think about, I mean, that's a lot of students.
01:12:00.582 --> 01:12:06.642
And then again, a solid 50% of them are either, most years, 50% of Louisiana.
01:12:06.642 --> 01:12:11.542
And then some years like majority like 50% are like like military and the other
01:12:11.542 --> 01:12:16.362
50% are just stragglers or locals You know like I'd say it's a solid like 50
01:12:16.362 --> 01:12:21.102
25 25 25 percent Maybe locals or people in the area from you know,
01:12:21.122 --> 01:12:24.602
Mobile to you know, Tallahassee And then you know,
01:12:24.642 --> 01:12:27.222
you got the military guys that are coming through because we're benthics that
01:12:27.222 --> 01:12:28.842
you have, you know tendal,
01:12:29.342 --> 01:12:32.442
You got tendal Eglin, you know, any expense Cola
01:12:32.442 --> 01:12:35.422
you got Panama City right there or the dive locker walker i mean
01:12:35.422 --> 01:12:38.442
there's a pile of military bases right there you got the navy eod
01:12:38.442 --> 01:12:41.402
school navy diver school you got seventh group
01:12:41.402 --> 01:12:44.202
for army there's a few seals floating around
01:12:44.202 --> 01:12:47.082
as well that are in eglon i mean there's
01:12:47.082 --> 01:12:49.722
a pile of military people there that come through they see it you know they're
01:12:49.722 --> 01:12:52.782
adrenaline junkies and they're like they're already doing something with the
01:12:52.782 --> 01:12:55.522
water in the military and like i'm gonna do this and then of course you always
01:12:55.522 --> 01:12:58.962
get the guy like there's always three or four eod guys that bought their other
01:12:58.962 --> 01:13:01.762
buddy's gear from benthic and they're coming to take a class and you're looking
01:13:01.762 --> 01:13:05.722
at it going you know so and so yeah how you know No, I,
01:13:05.842 --> 01:13:09.622
I like sold him those fins or, you know, I was, he bought those fins in my class. Yeah.
01:13:10.302 --> 01:13:12.942
You know, I guess he's gone. Yeah. Oh yeah. He's, you know, he's in Virginia
01:13:12.942 --> 01:13:16.182
right now or something. And you're talking to people and so on and so forth.
01:13:16.242 --> 01:13:19.862
You see the same gear comes through benthic, you know, from the classes and
01:13:19.862 --> 01:13:21.562
stuff like that. It's, it's pretty, it's pretty cool.
01:13:22.242 --> 01:13:29.902
So my, so me and Brittany's very first time in the water was in Venice with Captain Paul Miller.
01:13:30.542 --> 01:13:32.922
I know. All right. I think you've, you've dealt with him, right?
01:13:33.062 --> 01:13:34.622
I haven't. I've dove with his dad a lot.
01:13:34.742 --> 01:13:39.042
Okay. I've met him a few times in person, but yeah, I've never dove with him.
01:13:39.122 --> 01:13:44.282
So this is our intro. Okay. We have our stuff. We had already signed up for the benefit course.
01:13:44.502 --> 01:13:46.362
I got fins.
01:13:47.442 --> 01:13:53.102
I think we got everything in actually. I think we got wetsuits, fins, and one gun.
01:13:53.682 --> 01:14:00.942
Of course one. And we each had a mask we bought in Pensacola the year before from a shop.
01:14:00.982 --> 01:14:06.622
We went like get fitted for a mask. and so we had good masks some fins and then
01:14:06.622 --> 01:14:10.262
one gun and we were really looking to get.
01:14:11.462 --> 01:14:14.122
Like, we just wanted to get in the water now, before the course.
01:14:14.202 --> 01:14:18.182
Like, basically, can I be better prepared for the course, you know?
01:14:19.222 --> 01:14:23.922
Can't tell you how many people do that. Yeah, we had talked to Paul,
01:14:24.082 --> 01:14:29.762
and we had did a podcast here, and then we talked to Paul, and one day he just
01:14:29.762 --> 01:14:33.462
randomly reached out, and he was like, hey, y'all doing anything on Sunday?
01:14:33.682 --> 01:14:38.142
We're like, no. He's like, I don't have any clients on Sunday.
01:14:38.182 --> 01:14:40.002
If y'all want to go dive, we'll go get in the water.
01:14:41.602 --> 01:14:47.882
So i'm a yes man but i was also like oh crap we're doing we're actually doing this like,
01:14:49.142 --> 01:14:54.962
venice too like like which has its own mystique you know i don't have much i
01:14:54.962 --> 01:14:59.462
don't have much experience with venice so uh it can either be great or it can
01:14:59.462 --> 01:15:04.742
be gnarly right so we get out there we're in his we're in his blue waves got
01:15:04.742 --> 01:15:09.102
like a 26 blue wave we head out we stop like
01:15:09.162 --> 01:15:15.142
in the uh shallow water platforms i guess on the east side yep brown muddy brown
01:15:15.142 --> 01:15:22.722
water and we stop at some of those rigs and he you know he pulls up i tie up to the front,
01:15:24.322 --> 01:15:29.782
and before like i tie my cleat okay i don't know what to expect i don't know
01:15:29.782 --> 01:15:32.982
what's going to happen but he's basically like yeah let's tie up here we'll
01:15:32.982 --> 01:15:35.882
take a look so keep in mind there's nothing,
01:15:36.442 --> 01:15:40.922
there's no gear visible on the boat okay like everything's just in it I didn't
01:15:40.922 --> 01:15:43.882
even see any of his stuff okay so oh yeah,
01:15:44.562 --> 01:15:46.342
boat's tidy we pull up,
01:15:47.678 --> 01:15:50.658
By the time I looped the rope on the rig, it's a little tiny.
01:15:51.438 --> 01:15:53.378
One of the little natural gas. Yeah, a little well.
01:15:54.358 --> 01:15:59.638
So by the time I looped the rope and then cleated off to the boat and I turned
01:15:59.638 --> 01:16:06.858
back around, Paul already has fins on, mask on, and he's just falling in the water with his gun.
01:16:06.938 --> 01:16:11.138
And I didn't see where any of it came from, but he just slapped some fins on,
01:16:11.278 --> 01:16:14.718
kept all his, you know, he had all his clothes on. Yeah.
01:16:14.998 --> 01:16:17.918
And just falls in the water with a gun. and i'm like
01:16:17.918 --> 01:16:21.178
all right this is something different
01:16:21.178 --> 01:16:24.358
buddy so he kicks and
01:16:24.358 --> 01:16:27.818
keep in mind like you can only see what's out of the water that's how brown
01:16:27.818 --> 01:16:33.218
the water is and he goes to the he goes to the platform and at this time i'd
01:16:33.218 --> 01:16:37.738
already been watching youtube videos so i'm i know about breathe ups and i know
01:16:37.738 --> 01:16:42.158
about duck dives and all this stuff so i'm like all right i'm checking
01:16:42.358 --> 01:16:45.078
him out right so i'm watching him
01:16:45.078 --> 01:16:47.898
watching him watching him i can hear him breathing up through the snorkel i
01:16:47.898 --> 01:16:51.138
can hear it i'm like all right he's actually
01:16:51.138 --> 01:16:54.478
doing it this is this is real all
01:16:54.478 --> 01:16:57.258
right it's happening he goes down and i'm
01:16:57.258 --> 01:17:00.558
like checking watch i'm like all right i'm good i'm
01:17:00.558 --> 01:17:04.098
ready to jump in if you don't come up in and out you know i'm gonna
01:17:04.098 --> 01:17:07.018
give him a minute and i'm getting in the water so i'm he
01:17:07.018 --> 01:17:10.078
didn't tell us anything he just got i'm like like me
01:17:10.078 --> 01:17:13.078
and britney there standing there i'm like do we need to be suiting up do
01:17:13.078 --> 01:17:16.558
i need to be ready to rescue him i don't know what's happening right now so
01:17:16.558 --> 01:17:19.418
i'm literally just like i'm half
01:17:19.418 --> 01:17:22.158
like grabbing my stuff and then i like put it back down and i'm just
01:17:22.158 --> 01:17:27.318
watching and waiting and like maybe we should just gear up i don't know so he
01:17:27.318 --> 01:17:32.878
comes up and i'm just looking at him and he's like there's some big ones puts
01:17:32.878 --> 01:17:38.498
his face back in the water and that's it okay so he breathes up breathes up
01:17:38.498 --> 01:17:40.558
breathes up, goes back down,
01:17:40.718 --> 01:17:43.098
comes up, starts swimming to the boat.
01:17:43.458 --> 01:17:46.818
He's like, there's a good bit down here, but the visibility is not great.
01:17:46.878 --> 01:17:47.398
We're going to make a move.
01:17:47.578 --> 01:17:54.538
So he hands me his gun and he goes to the back of the boat and then the line's in the water.
01:17:54.878 --> 01:17:59.418
Yeah. So he shot. Yeah, he shot, but he didn't tell me anything. Yeah. So...
01:18:00.417 --> 01:18:03.997
The reel line is, you know, hanging out in the water. So I start pulling in
01:18:03.997 --> 01:18:06.077
and then there's a freaking fish on the line.
01:18:06.677 --> 01:18:10.317
And he just like tossed me the gun. He goes to the back of the boat and just
01:18:10.317 --> 01:18:11.257
gets in the back of the boat.
01:18:11.337 --> 01:18:15.717
And I'm like, this, I'm like, it cannot be that easy.
01:18:16.177 --> 01:18:19.857
You know, like monster mangrove. Oh yeah.
01:18:20.097 --> 01:18:24.517
You just made it look like. We just got there three minutes ago and he got this
01:18:24.517 --> 01:18:26.997
monster mangrove. He didn't put any gear on.
01:18:27.157 --> 01:18:29.977
Trophy for fit rod and reel fishing, isn't it? A trophy. you
01:18:29.977 --> 01:18:32.757
would have you would have mounted 12 13 pounds easy and i was
01:18:32.757 --> 01:18:35.957
like holy and i was like i have
01:18:35.957 --> 01:18:42.577
to do this like i have to get good at this right so we don't get in there we
01:18:42.577 --> 01:18:48.377
end up going blue water so well green water but blue yeah we go out to the deeper
01:18:48.377 --> 01:18:53.037
rigs we're probably in like 700 foot of water oh yeah you guys on the edge hop
01:18:53.037 --> 01:18:54.637
in on the edge it's fairly rough.
01:18:55.337 --> 01:18:58.217
Stuff and it is as brown as
01:18:58.217 --> 01:19:01.357
it was up there out that deep you know
01:19:01.357 --> 01:19:04.077
so we get in you can't see your hand in front of your
01:19:04.077 --> 01:19:07.277
face can barely hold on to the rigs the
01:19:07.277 --> 01:19:10.837
the current was ripping it was nasty and then
01:19:10.837 --> 01:19:13.777
he's basically like hey look do one dive outside the
01:19:13.777 --> 01:19:16.697
rig go no gun just just go down i'm
01:19:16.697 --> 01:19:19.517
gonna meet you down there and just take a look you know so this
01:19:19.517 --> 01:19:22.737
was really my first this is my first look so there was
01:19:22.737 --> 01:19:26.697
like 10 foot of murk layer went down opened
01:19:26.697 --> 01:19:29.677
up and i just saw the world just
01:19:29.677 --> 01:19:32.577
i think it's golf balls i guarantee jurassic park just
01:19:32.577 --> 01:19:36.077
what is this yeah there's just so much
01:19:36.077 --> 01:19:38.897
stuff and then i just come beaming out
01:19:38.897 --> 01:19:41.697
the water like like i i don't
01:19:41.697 --> 01:19:45.937
know i had maybe 12 seconds in me like that's how amped up i was like go down
01:19:45.937 --> 01:19:49.537
because you don't know what's going on murk big breathe up big big breathe up
01:19:49.537 --> 01:19:55.677
go down feeling good open my eyes gotta get up gotta get up now the initial
01:19:55.677 --> 01:19:59.697
like uh uh yeah so uh not having this but dude.
01:20:00.615 --> 01:20:05.495
Just the the slap in the face that it is to see that for the first just to see
01:20:05.495 --> 01:20:10.855
like this is here all the time yes all the time this is here and no one knows
01:20:10.855 --> 01:20:13.035
it no like select few like,
01:20:13.515 --> 01:20:18.835
people are figuring it out now but like select few that that do it it's trying
01:20:18.835 --> 01:20:22.135
to put it it turns into like a lifestyle not a lifestyle but like a lifelong
01:20:22.135 --> 01:20:27.055
endeavor we talk about there's two types either they love or they hate it and
01:20:27.055 --> 01:20:30.575
so when you love it it's one of those it's not like Like, you know, I say like hunting,
01:20:30.675 --> 01:20:34.695
it is like hunting, but it's not like a hobby that you, you know, you, you do casually.
01:20:35.115 --> 01:20:39.395
I don't know if like terribly too many, like casual free dive spear fishermen.
01:20:39.735 --> 01:20:42.115
Right. It's more like once you see it, it's, it's nuts.
01:20:42.975 --> 01:20:47.295
It's hard to not only want to do that. It's hard to want to touch a rod again.
01:20:47.455 --> 01:20:52.415
Honestly, honestly, it's, it's hard to want to fish if the opportunity to get
01:20:52.415 --> 01:20:53.855
in the water is there. Yes.
01:20:54.275 --> 01:20:58.755
Like, yes, if I can't and I know I can't and I can't convince the guy to get
01:20:58.755 --> 01:21:03.175
in the water with me, then I'll have fun with a rod and reel.
01:21:03.195 --> 01:21:03.955
Yeah, we'll rod and reel fish.
01:21:04.055 --> 01:21:07.695
We actually, we went deep dropping a couple weeks ago and that was,
01:21:07.775 --> 01:21:09.315
it wasn't miserable, it was fun.
01:21:09.455 --> 01:21:11.495
Yeah. But it's one of those, like, you're deep dropping, you're like,
01:21:11.675 --> 01:21:15.515
I wish I could dive to 300 feet.
01:21:15.715 --> 01:21:18.895
Yeah. Because seeing what, like, when you first drop, we pulled up a Warsaw,
01:21:19.095 --> 01:21:24.175
and I'm just like, really, really, really wish I was a 450-foot diver. Right.
01:21:24.415 --> 01:21:27.395
It'd be a good day to do that. Oh, it'd be an amazing day, diving some of the
01:21:27.395 --> 01:21:30.075
reefs out there in 400 feet, and you're just, what is down there?
01:21:30.195 --> 01:21:31.855
You said, like, it's like a lifestyle.
01:21:32.195 --> 01:21:38.295
There is a lot of things that I have changed since I started spearfishing and
01:21:38.295 --> 01:21:41.735
diving, and one would be, like, the way I take care of fish now.
01:21:42.615 --> 01:21:48.895
Yes. Right? Right. So like, what do you, why? It seems that all spear fishermen
01:21:48.895 --> 01:21:56.055
have, they take more pride in the meat and in the kill. Yeah. I mean, I.
01:21:57.203 --> 01:22:02.383
I think cause you worked a lot harder for that fish and you get to see like
01:22:02.383 --> 01:22:05.503
it, I'll compare it to like bow hunting, right?
01:22:05.543 --> 01:22:07.663
That's kind of like the best comparison is bow hunting, right?
01:22:07.763 --> 01:22:11.583
Like if, if you've got your trophy deer and let's say you do eat the meat, right?
01:22:11.683 --> 01:22:13.783
Cause there are trophy hunters out there that do eat the meat,
01:22:13.823 --> 01:22:16.323
but they're not, they, they just take it to the processor and be done with it.
01:22:16.343 --> 01:22:19.123
But like when you're bow hunting and you put in that time, that effort,
01:22:19.263 --> 01:22:23.323
that, you know, the work to get that animal and you do get it,
01:22:23.363 --> 01:22:25.103
you're not just going to throw it.
01:22:25.103 --> 01:22:27.783
Like you don't just not take care of the meat if that
01:22:27.783 --> 01:22:31.103
makes sense and you know what i mean like you do get an opportunity where when
01:22:31.103 --> 01:22:34.563
you do shoot it and you do get the stone shot the
01:22:34.563 --> 01:22:37.463
fish didn't struggle you already are a step ahead of you
01:22:37.463 --> 01:22:41.223
know the fishermen right you're already the fish hasn't struggled it hasn't
01:22:41.223 --> 01:22:46.123
like built up the lactic acid and it's in its muscles and then you know it's
01:22:46.123 --> 01:22:49.963
not hard to you know go ahead and bleed it immediately if it is stoned or if
01:22:49.963 --> 01:22:53.183
you spined it go ahead and you know put a knife to its brain after you bled
01:22:53.183 --> 01:22:55.723
it to go ahead and get the rest of the blood out So, and again,
01:22:55.763 --> 01:22:58.843
I think it's the almost like respect as well.
01:22:59.083 --> 01:23:01.903
You kind of have a little respect for the fish, especially if it's a big one.
01:23:01.943 --> 01:23:07.703
If it's a one you've been hunting for a while, I know a lot of people dedicate a ton of time to big fish.
01:23:08.183 --> 01:23:11.423
And once, once you make it happen, you don't want to, you know,
01:23:11.423 --> 01:23:12.703
ruin the fish, ruin the meat.
01:23:12.803 --> 01:23:17.643
Cause I, I, a lot of the stuff or I either eat it or, you know,
01:23:17.663 --> 01:23:19.663
I, I give it to friends and family and stuff like that.
01:23:19.683 --> 01:23:22.803
I'm not going to give my friends and family like junk, especially once you've
01:23:22.803 --> 01:23:26.183
taken care of it like i don't mean you've talked about it like one
01:23:26.183 --> 01:23:28.983
of the biggest misconceptions with fish
01:23:28.983 --> 01:23:31.663
is because it came out of the water you know wash it clean it put it back
01:23:31.663 --> 01:23:35.063
in water like that's the worst thing you can do for fish if you don't believe
01:23:35.063 --> 01:23:38.263
me just try it wet a piece of fish and then don't wet a piece of fish and see
01:23:38.263 --> 01:23:42.283
what happens like the one you wet it's gonna start turning white gritty nasty
01:23:42.283 --> 01:23:45.963
yeah just it's always got a gamey flavor where if you take one and you don't
01:23:45.963 --> 01:23:49.683
wet it you you take care of it it's gonna look totally different it's gonna
01:23:49.683 --> 01:23:51.643
taste totally really different, I mean, it's delicious.
01:23:52.663 --> 01:23:59.743
I've started using that process for riding real fish, like, which I've never done before.
01:23:59.983 --> 01:24:04.903
I had, my uncle taught me to bleed like big bull reds.
01:24:05.383 --> 01:24:11.503
He would kind of pop them behind that fin and dig his thumb in there and that's it.
01:24:11.603 --> 01:24:19.023
Maybe huge, 30 pound channel cats, we would cut the tail and let as much come out as we can.
01:24:20.024 --> 01:24:26.464
But I've never, you know, I've worn out the redfish or mangroves before and just thrown them in.
01:24:26.524 --> 01:24:31.744
And the difference it makes killing each one of them and bleeding it, it's very significant.
01:24:31.904 --> 01:24:37.084
Oh, it's, it's night and day. And like, if you were to just immediately brain
01:24:37.084 --> 01:24:38.804
a fish or bleed it, then brain it.
01:24:39.024 --> 01:24:42.844
Right. But in any order, it doesn't matter if you were to take the, like by bleeding it.
01:24:42.904 --> 01:24:45.884
I mean, if you go right underneath the top of the gills, like stick a knife
01:24:45.884 --> 01:24:48.424
in underneath the gills, you're going to see where they all meet.
01:24:48.524 --> 01:24:51.284
There's their hearts right there. you can literally take a knife and just cut
01:24:51.284 --> 01:24:53.684
it and you can cut both sides and you'll you'll know when you hit it because
01:24:53.684 --> 01:24:57.064
it starts pouring blood out of it and that fish is going to die within seconds
01:24:57.064 --> 01:25:00.584
it's like hitting the femoral artery you've got a few you got a handful of seconds
01:25:00.584 --> 01:25:03.604
you know what i mean if you somebody severs your femoral artery you're gone
01:25:03.604 --> 01:25:06.424
like you're going to bleed out it's the same thing for that fish if you cut
01:25:06.424 --> 01:25:07.644
that heart right there that that.
01:25:08.644 --> 01:25:11.864
Artery they're going to bleed out pretty quickly you take a knife put
01:25:11.864 --> 01:25:14.904
it right behind their eye and dispatch them quickly and humanely
01:25:14.904 --> 01:25:18.144
that the quality of meat is it's going
01:25:18.144 --> 01:25:21.704
from um you know like walmart you
01:25:21.704 --> 01:25:25.084
know white white styrofoam thing white styrofoam container
01:25:25.084 --> 01:25:27.904
the bottom of the barrel beef to you know an a5
01:25:27.904 --> 01:25:30.764
wagyu it's almost like it's comparable to that like
01:25:30.764 --> 01:25:33.964
you're going from a cut that's just garbage to now you're
01:25:33.964 --> 01:25:36.624
you're paying 40 a pound for this
01:25:36.624 --> 01:25:39.764
steak it's amazing what that what that can do and along
01:25:39.764 --> 01:25:42.664
with that icing fish properly yes you know keeping
01:25:42.664 --> 01:25:45.784
them cold and getting them cold immediately like yes
01:25:45.784 --> 01:25:48.604
as soon as that like getting that rigor mortis to set in quick
01:25:48.604 --> 01:25:51.544
yeah like getting them cold get keeping the
01:25:51.544 --> 01:25:55.084
keeping the meat cold don't let the decomposition enzymes start
01:25:55.084 --> 01:25:57.924
to grow or the bacteria start to grow the enzymes start to start
01:25:57.924 --> 01:26:00.824
to come out or i don't know the exact process but
01:26:00.824 --> 01:26:05.744
don't let those enzymes start to form that is huge and also helps you with cleaning
01:26:05.744 --> 01:26:10.904
fish yeah and you know everyone knows to keep fish cold and throw it in the
01:26:10.904 --> 01:26:15.544
cooler and shut the cooler and yeah and all that but like it really it really
01:26:15.544 --> 01:26:18.884
did become a a different connection to it, like, no,
01:26:19.044 --> 01:26:23.604
you need to take this fish and you need to lower the internal temperature of it. Quick.
01:26:23.824 --> 01:26:27.144
That's what you're doing. You're not just putting it in the cooler.
01:26:27.284 --> 01:26:30.044
Yep. That's what has to happen. It doesn't matter if it's in the cooler and
01:26:30.044 --> 01:26:32.424
that's not happening. Like, that needs to be happening.
01:26:32.584 --> 01:26:35.104
Yeah, got it. So, yeah, ice.
01:26:35.284 --> 01:26:38.224
More ice. Yeah, got it. You know, I grew up fishing with my grandpa,
01:26:38.284 --> 01:26:41.564
and he would take, you know, a bottle of water like that, frozen,
01:26:41.744 --> 01:26:44.984
and that'd be the only ice we had in the cooler.
01:26:45.404 --> 01:26:48.724
I know exactly what you're talking about. We'd have like 20 speckled trout in
01:26:48.724 --> 01:26:52.764
there with a two liter bottle of ice. Oh, yeah. You know?
01:26:53.044 --> 01:26:59.344
And nothing was ever wrong with that until I seen what can come of it if you really do baby it.
01:26:59.424 --> 01:27:03.284
Yeah. If you take that little couple extra one minute, you know, here and there.
01:27:03.524 --> 01:27:07.324
Just take care of it. Like, I don't know how to explain it.
01:27:07.384 --> 01:27:10.464
Yeah. Like, once I figured it out, I was like, oh my gosh, this is like a whole
01:27:10.464 --> 01:27:12.404
new ball game. Yeah. It makes...
01:27:13.498 --> 01:27:16.758
Eating fish is that much more enjoyable you can treat it like you
01:27:16.758 --> 01:27:19.758
can do a lot more with the fish too like if you're if you like cooking
01:27:19.758 --> 01:27:22.518
right you're not just like i i used to
01:27:22.518 --> 01:27:25.658
being in a seafood market stuff like that smelling fish
01:27:25.658 --> 01:27:28.838
and eating fish a lot i just i don't like it i i it's
01:27:28.838 --> 01:27:31.538
my palate now is just i don't want anything to
01:27:31.538 --> 01:27:34.238
do with it but when you take care of
01:27:34.238 --> 01:27:38.318
it it opens the door a lot because that gamey taste is almost gone like you
01:27:38.318 --> 01:27:42.978
can you can turn like for me like gag grouper you can take a gag take care of
01:27:42.978 --> 01:27:46.938
it properly and eat it and it has a similar taste to like a shellfish it's got
01:27:46.938 --> 01:27:52.398
a real sweet taste and you can then use that to cook a dish that is,
01:27:52.898 --> 01:27:56.218
you know very unique for that flavor like yeah and
01:27:56.218 --> 01:27:58.858
so that i mean that just opens so many so many doors at that
01:27:58.858 --> 01:28:01.598
point you're not just frying it you're not just blackening it and when you do blacken it
01:28:01.598 --> 01:28:04.358
you don't have to cake it in seasoning because then all you taste is
01:28:04.358 --> 01:28:07.378
blackening seasoning taste the fish because you're used to compensating for
01:28:07.378 --> 01:28:10.438
all the fish flavor or all that gamey taste now it's just a sweet
01:28:10.438 --> 01:28:13.278
piece of meat that has like you can
01:28:13.278 --> 01:28:16.118
you can see the fat in it like if it's a real like if
01:28:16.118 --> 01:28:19.538
it's a real fatty grouper that's about to spawn or even
01:28:19.538 --> 01:28:22.418
if they've you know they're they're getting ready to start you
01:28:22.418 --> 01:28:25.218
know producing roe and what have you and getting ready to spawn they haven't
01:28:25.218 --> 01:28:28.078
started producing yet they're going to put on a bunch of weight and so you can
01:28:28.078 --> 01:28:32.338
actually like we shot a mar permit a few weeks ago and it there was marbling
01:28:32.338 --> 01:28:36.558
in it never seen a fish with marbling in my life i mean i'd seen like tuna and
01:28:36.558 --> 01:28:39.958
stuff with you see their fat rings and stuff like that. But I'd never seen a fish with marbling.
01:28:40.498 --> 01:28:44.538
And then I, again, I cooked it up. I pan fried it or pan seared it, I should say.
01:28:44.578 --> 01:28:47.318
I put a little bit of olive oil and then you could just see the fat coming out
01:28:47.318 --> 01:28:49.058
of it. And it started cooking like a steak.
01:28:49.178 --> 01:28:53.078
It was, it was, it was a totally different experience.
01:28:53.178 --> 01:28:56.778
I mean, I've been doing it for 12 years, 11 years now. And it's something I
01:28:56.778 --> 01:28:57.958
still learn stuff all the time.
01:28:58.398 --> 01:29:00.818
Still see new stuff all the time. Right. I'd never seen that.
01:29:02.198 --> 01:29:05.598
Yeah. You had mentioned we're, you know, we're talking about just,
01:29:06.747 --> 01:29:09.627
wanting to do better by the fish and just feeling better about it.
01:29:09.627 --> 01:29:10.967
Cause you, cause you worked for it.
01:29:11.167 --> 01:29:17.967
I found that I wanted to share fish so much more that, you know, a fish I shot.
01:29:18.487 --> 01:29:23.267
Yes. I really want, cause I did take care of it and I want people to,
01:29:23.287 --> 01:29:26.267
I want people to be like, that's the best fish I've ever had in my life.
01:29:26.387 --> 01:29:31.387
Not once to this day that I've given somebody fish that I've taken care of and
01:29:31.387 --> 01:29:33.367
then not tell me it's the best fish I've ever had in my life.
01:29:33.387 --> 01:29:34.927
Right. And it's a cool thing.
01:29:35.447 --> 01:29:39.287
It's, it's, Seeing that smile and that, like, how did you do it?
01:29:39.327 --> 01:29:42.387
Like, the questioning after the follows is, like, their mind is blown.
01:29:42.627 --> 01:29:46.287
It's just, like, telling them, like, you spearfish or you freedive spearfish.
01:29:46.407 --> 01:29:47.827
It's almost the exact same thing. Yeah.
01:29:48.227 --> 01:29:54.267
Wait, what? And the species available to a spearfisherman here in Louisiana, right?
01:29:54.547 --> 01:30:00.367
You know, sometimes 20 miles off of Fouchon, it's just, I mean,
01:30:00.367 --> 01:30:04.647
it's 5X what you can do on a rod and reel.
01:30:04.647 --> 01:30:08.187
Because you can go see a trigger fish yeah
01:30:08.187 --> 01:30:11.207
like last like you you know what i mean it just opens up
01:30:11.207 --> 01:30:15.087
a whole it's a whole different palette of availability that
01:30:15.087 --> 01:30:20.527
you don't know you don't know unless you're in that yeah that circle i mean
01:30:20.527 --> 01:30:25.147
there's you can so like fishermen are gonna argue and i'm not i'm not saying
01:30:25.147 --> 01:30:28.507
they're not right or they're wrong uh like when you go deep dropping there is
01:30:28.507 --> 01:30:31.907
like there's stuff that you physically can't get to spearfishing we get it but like in
01:30:31.987 --> 01:30:38.067
that shallow range sub 100 or sub 150 the amount of fish that you see that you
01:30:38.067 --> 01:30:42.407
that won't eat anything you put in front of them and that you can go harvest
01:30:42.407 --> 01:30:44.607
spearfishing is is is ridiculous.
01:30:45.087 --> 01:30:47.807
It's not ridiculous i mean there's a there's a handful out there that you
01:30:47.807 --> 01:30:50.647
would never realize like i last year
01:30:50.647 --> 01:30:54.407
i shot a snook off of louisiana came up
01:30:54.407 --> 01:30:57.267
asked a buddy said hey what's your regulations on snook he goes
01:30:57.267 --> 01:31:00.127
that's not a you ain't got a snook down there so i'm telling you it's
01:31:00.127 --> 01:31:02.787
a snook he goes we ain't got snook up here it's a
01:31:02.787 --> 01:31:05.887
snook go find it all right follow me i couldn't find it and i said you sure
01:31:05.887 --> 01:31:08.847
i can shoot he goes shoot it i said all right next dive we go down there and
01:31:08.847 --> 01:31:12.007
plug it and come up he goes where's that ass it's coming hold on started pulling
01:31:12.007 --> 01:31:18.147
on it held it up and he goes that's a snook we don't have that i told you it's
01:31:18.147 --> 01:31:21.387
a snook like i'm from florida i know what they look like great i'll have a lot
01:31:21.387 --> 01:31:22.727
by me but i know what a snook is,
01:31:23.267 --> 01:31:26.787
and then sure enough we threw in the boat we get to the had the same conversation
01:31:26.787 --> 01:31:28.447
was like probably five people.
01:31:29.067 --> 01:31:33.027
That's how I snuck. Yeah. Okay. Where are you from? You're from Grand Isle.
01:31:33.247 --> 01:31:34.407
How do you know what a snook looks like?
01:31:35.807 --> 01:31:41.027
I shot the snook. And then it's like, I shot a queen triggerfish out here.
01:31:41.955 --> 01:31:46.595
A few weeks ago, same, same, same trip with the permit. And are they full of colors?
01:31:46.795 --> 01:31:51.995
Oh my goodness. The one I, I, I made a conscious decision not to shoot one because
01:31:51.995 --> 01:31:53.655
of the, the safety aspect of it.
01:31:53.695 --> 01:31:58.955
We were at a wreck or not a wreck, but sorry, we were at a, a rig in like 500
01:31:58.955 --> 01:32:01.115
foot of water and there was a deck.
01:32:01.195 --> 01:32:05.575
The first deck was like 105 and I went down and I was, I told Tyler,
01:32:05.595 --> 01:32:07.235
hey, I'm gonna, I'm gonna do a good dive.
01:32:07.395 --> 01:32:10.755
Just watch me. You know what I mean? and he said okay did my
01:32:10.755 --> 01:32:13.595
breathe up and i go down and lay on the deck and i
01:32:13.595 --> 01:32:16.355
see we you've seen the blue damsels down there they're
01:32:16.355 --> 01:32:19.255
neon blue they've got like a little a little gray
01:32:19.255 --> 01:32:22.095
right below their dorsal fin and their dorsal fins
01:32:22.095 --> 01:32:25.035
just as neon blue it looks like a dory without a black without the
01:32:25.035 --> 01:32:28.335
black on it but they get like this big i mean
01:32:28.335 --> 01:32:31.875
they're neon blue like a color blue that you can't
01:32:31.875 --> 01:32:35.355
find on like paint any of the your your computers
01:32:35.355 --> 01:32:38.255
it's it's it's one of the coolest those colors but
01:32:38.255 --> 01:32:41.315
anyways i hit the deck at 105 and i remember looking
01:32:41.315 --> 01:32:43.915
up and seeing the the queen trigger but i thought it was
01:32:43.915 --> 01:32:47.775
one of those damsels and i was like okay that's a damsel something in
01:32:47.775 --> 01:32:52.115
my head it didn't click at first that that was a you know 25 pound queen trigger
01:32:52.115 --> 01:32:56.715
fish i mean she was a giant or he was giant and like i look behind me and there's
01:32:56.715 --> 01:33:00.155
a hammer of a cobia i don't know how big he was because you know the cobia and
01:33:00.155 --> 01:33:02.895
the merc look a lot bigger than they are so you may look like you may shoot
01:33:02.895 --> 01:33:07.315
one it looks like it's 50 pounds but it's 35 this one was in blue water and it was a hammer.
01:33:07.555 --> 01:33:10.275
We don't know how big it was. It wouldn't come...
01:33:11.104 --> 01:33:14.124
When I saw it, it was towards the end of my dive and I was, I made the conscious
01:33:14.124 --> 01:33:16.044
decision of don't shoot it. Right.
01:33:16.124 --> 01:33:19.324
So I saw the Coby, but it was below me at like 120. I said, and he was coming up.
01:33:19.944 --> 01:33:23.144
I turned back around and looked at the platform and then it dawned on me that
01:33:23.144 --> 01:33:24.884
that's a giant queen trigger.
01:33:25.284 --> 01:33:28.184
I mean, it's a hammer. There's three of them, but the one that I'd saw that
01:33:28.184 --> 01:33:32.764
I thought was a damsel was, you know, 10 feet away from me, but it was a solid.
01:33:33.604 --> 01:33:37.884
Almost 30 inches without the tassels, like nose to fork without tassels was
01:33:37.884 --> 01:33:40.044
a solid, like 30 to 30 plus inches.
01:33:40.164 --> 01:33:44.024
I mean, she was every bit of like this, or he was, it's a male when they get that color.
01:33:44.744 --> 01:33:49.224
And I remember like watching him because I'm at the back of the platform, right?
01:33:49.304 --> 01:33:52.104
You got all the production pipes going down the center. I'm at the back of it
01:33:52.104 --> 01:33:53.764
on this side, looking at the Cobia here.
01:33:54.284 --> 01:33:58.044
And I watched the queen roll off the other side, like 30 feet in front of me.
01:33:58.504 --> 01:34:02.444
And I'm like, oh wow, that that's a hammer. And there's two more behind him
01:34:02.444 --> 01:34:05.704
that are, you know, they've already transitioned from female to male and, but they're small.
01:34:05.824 --> 01:34:08.704
They're like this big five six pounds i mean they're to the
01:34:08.704 --> 01:34:11.804
fork tassels are like this but i mean they're this big so i
01:34:11.804 --> 01:34:14.504
go up to the edge of the platform you know i crawl up using my
01:34:14.504 --> 01:34:17.744
hands trying to conserve i crawl up and i look over the edge and
01:34:17.744 --> 01:34:21.764
i see the queen broadside at like 115 and he's
01:34:21.764 --> 01:34:26.464
just looking at me and i had the shot and i'm like do you really want to do
01:34:26.464 --> 01:34:31.184
this right now like you got the kobe behind you you could shoot again the same
01:34:31.184 --> 01:34:36.044
thing it's like i could shoot that one i'm at 105 I'm the only one that could
01:34:36.044 --> 01:34:38.464
comfortably go get anything past this deck. Right.
01:34:38.644 --> 01:34:41.724
I look at my watch, and it's at like 141.
01:34:42.972 --> 01:34:47.272
This is going to be miserable to get this thing out if this thing holds up and
01:34:47.272 --> 01:34:50.032
you're already pushing it. So I said, you know, I'm going to leave it alone. I'm going to get it.
01:34:50.312 --> 01:34:53.152
I come back up. I tell Tyler, hey, there's a hammer Coby down there.
01:34:53.712 --> 01:34:56.672
He's at the deck at like 105. If you get to 90, you can smoke it.
01:34:56.692 --> 01:34:59.092
You get to 80, he'll come up to me and look at you and smoke him because he came up to me.
01:34:59.132 --> 01:35:02.272
He was coming up to me at 105, but I saw the giant queen and I went for that
01:35:02.272 --> 01:35:04.932
instead of the Coby. I thought I was going to be able to get to it. He said, okay.
01:35:05.372 --> 01:35:06.632
He goes down. He's the same thing.
01:35:06.712 --> 01:35:09.632
He sees it. He said, the Coby is still there. It's at the deck at 105.
01:35:12.972 --> 01:35:15.692
Giant kobe is down there what have you and i was like hey also
01:35:15.692 --> 01:35:18.952
there's three queens down there ronnie i don't think ronnie shot a queen well you've
01:35:18.952 --> 01:35:22.232
seen them they're deep they're not
01:35:22.232 --> 01:35:25.012
elusive they're just deep you can get them on scuba all
01:35:25.012 --> 01:35:28.312
the time but it's hard to get a queen up past like 100 feet so
01:35:28.312 --> 01:35:31.032
for them to be in 500 foot of water at like 100 feet is pretty
01:35:31.032 --> 01:35:34.252
rare but so we keep diving and i
01:35:34.252 --> 01:35:36.952
said hey i told tyler i'm gonna do it i'm gonna
01:35:36.952 --> 01:35:40.132
go past the deck i'm gonna get that queen just to let you know and uh
01:35:40.132 --> 01:35:42.972
i go down i said i'm gonna shoot the kobe or the queen whichever everyone
01:35:42.972 --> 01:35:45.892
comes first like it doesn't matter and we're leaving after this anyways
01:35:45.892 --> 01:35:48.872
i'm plugging one of those fish and i go down
01:35:48.872 --> 01:35:51.772
i hadn't seen the kobe of the dive before but tyler did so it
01:35:51.772 --> 01:35:55.792
was just one of those dumb lucks you know like he sees it i don't he sees it
01:35:55.792 --> 01:36:01.812
i don't like all right i'm gonna dive so i end up doing the dive i start cracking
01:36:01.812 --> 01:36:06.232
it out and i get to my my second alarm goes off to 66 so i you know i start
01:36:06.232 --> 01:36:09.772
relaxing trying to slow the heart rate from the from the kicks i I start sinking.
01:36:10.532 --> 01:36:15.372
And I remember doing like a spiral kind of, because once you go past,
01:36:15.472 --> 01:36:17.152
once you get to a certain depth, you can't look up.
01:36:17.172 --> 01:36:20.072
You start tearing trachea. You start getting like trach squeezes and stuff.
01:36:20.172 --> 01:36:22.192
You got to worry about like your head positioning.
01:36:22.532 --> 01:36:26.232
And I started doing a spiral at like 90 and I catch something out of the corner
01:36:26.232 --> 01:36:28.452
of my eye and it didn't seem right.
01:36:28.572 --> 01:36:32.292
And I didn't realize it was a permanent at the time and I ignored it.
01:36:32.412 --> 01:36:34.712
And then I'm holding onto the deck at 105.
01:36:35.532 --> 01:36:39.292
And I was like, I looked for the Cobia and I looked over and I look at the queen,
01:36:39.372 --> 01:36:42.732
the queen's at like 140 now she's almost to the second deck.
01:36:42.832 --> 01:36:44.512
And Ronnie said the second deck was like 170.
01:36:45.392 --> 01:36:49.432
I remember looking at it, like, I'm not going to make it. I shouldn't have stopped.
01:36:49.552 --> 01:36:52.152
If I was going to go even attempt to get that fish, I shouldn't have stopped.
01:36:52.252 --> 01:36:54.292
And I don't think I could have, I don't think I could have hit a 140.
01:36:55.452 --> 01:36:58.672
And so I remember looking over, like looking around, looking behind me for the
01:36:58.672 --> 01:37:01.872
Cobia. And I looked up and the same thing that They caught mine the first time. This is not right.
01:37:02.352 --> 01:37:05.672
Was in a school of horse eye jacks. And I looked over at it and I had already
01:37:05.672 --> 01:37:09.532
pushed off the deck to come up. And I looked over and it was a permit.
01:37:10.172 --> 01:37:13.252
Never landed one. I shot a few. They've been sharked. And I looked at it and
01:37:13.252 --> 01:37:14.892
was like, that's a permit.
01:37:15.777 --> 01:37:18.557
Didn't click at the time i still remember it didn't click
01:37:18.557 --> 01:37:21.277
and then like i started kicking up and i was
01:37:21.277 --> 01:37:24.297
like oh that's a permit like didn't
01:37:24.297 --> 01:37:27.317
you get these out here yeah i didn't line it up smoked it and
01:37:27.317 --> 01:37:30.737
ended up fighting me the whole way up and i ended up like horsing it
01:37:30.737 --> 01:37:33.397
out from underneath the platform because i shot it i pulled the trigger
01:37:33.397 --> 01:37:36.397
at like 90 something i think it was like 96 i pulled the trigger and
01:37:36.397 --> 01:37:39.257
it went straight underneath the platform like out try to go outside the rig
01:37:39.257 --> 01:37:42.297
and then go around the platform i remember like just trying to manhandle it
01:37:42.297 --> 01:37:45.777
got it out just kept kicking kept kicking i thought
01:37:45.777 --> 01:37:48.677
i was a lot higher a lot shallower than i was and i remember cranking my
01:37:48.677 --> 01:37:51.477
head up and looking at from like 85 feet and
01:37:51.477 --> 01:37:54.157
i felt it i tore my trachea i felt a little tickle and i was like
01:37:54.157 --> 01:37:57.157
oh you idiot so what happens your trachea
01:37:57.157 --> 01:38:00.037
is one of the semi flexible air spaces uh that you have so
01:38:00.037 --> 01:38:02.857
your trachea is a bunch of rings with muscle like air
01:38:02.857 --> 01:38:05.777
rings with muscles so as you dive obviously air compresses so what
01:38:05.777 --> 01:38:08.917
happens is those air rings will compress to nothing and when
01:38:08.917 --> 01:38:12.957
you look up based on the pressure in between your muscles and that air with
01:38:12.957 --> 01:38:16.077
there's nothing there it'll actually tear a little bit like that little air
01:38:16.077 --> 01:38:19.117
ring will tear like it'll put a little incision in it for the most part a little
01:38:19.117 --> 01:38:23.197
tear laceration whatever you call it and basically it just makes it itch for
01:38:23.197 --> 01:38:25.477
the most part it feels like literally somebody takes a feather and tickles the
01:38:25.477 --> 01:38:27.797
back of your throat and you cough up you don't cough up.
01:38:28.377 --> 01:38:32.897
You can hock a loogie and blood will come up and so that's just all it is is
01:38:32.897 --> 01:38:36.217
you tear your trachea The downside, obviously, it's not like life-threatening
01:38:36.217 --> 01:38:38.417
by no means. It's an inconvenience, if anything.
01:38:38.597 --> 01:38:42.597
The only downside is scar tissue is not as flexible as healthy tissue.
01:38:42.897 --> 01:38:46.797
So if you start tearing your trachea, you're really limiting the depth you can dive.
01:38:46.937 --> 01:38:50.657
Because at some point, your trachea is not going to be able to give at all.
01:38:50.757 --> 01:38:52.117
Like you're going to basically tear it.
01:38:52.437 --> 01:38:55.297
I can't say continuously. I've never dove that deep. But eventually,
01:38:55.497 --> 01:38:59.517
you're going to get to a point where your trachea is just not flexible enough to make certain dives.
01:38:59.937 --> 01:39:02.757
But I torn it. and I remember looking
01:39:02.757 --> 01:39:06.037
up and just in the back of my head going you idiot you just
01:39:06.037 --> 01:39:08.797
you did exactly what you harp on your students to
01:39:08.797 --> 01:39:13.457
not do don't look up because there was a there's a cross member at like 60 feet
01:39:13.457 --> 01:39:17.617
and I thought I was at the cross member but I was like 15 feet below it I didn't
01:39:17.617 --> 01:39:21.077
realize that the permit I hadn't made any any ground on the permit and I end
01:39:21.077 --> 01:39:25.137
up hitting the I go past the cross member and Tyler comes down and meets me
01:39:25.137 --> 01:39:28.317
and he's just shaking his head because is I didn't realize at the time I,
01:39:28.337 --> 01:39:32.317
it was a, it was a, I don't want to say like a two 10 dive. I had no idea.
01:39:33.117 --> 01:39:37.397
Tyler looks at me cause he, he had done a one 30 on top of me trying to safety me.
01:39:37.457 --> 01:39:41.357
Cause when we do stuff like that, we, Tyler will meet me or,
01:39:41.377 --> 01:39:42.177
you know, I'll meet Tyler.
01:39:42.257 --> 01:39:44.677
If he says, Hey, I'm cracking one, it's going to be a, it's going to be a struggle.
01:39:45.137 --> 01:39:48.377
Uh, he'll meet me at like 50, 60 feet. And in case something goes wrong,
01:39:48.457 --> 01:39:51.337
like the fish is wolfing me or what have you, he'll either grab the gun or he
01:39:51.337 --> 01:39:52.957
can grab me, assist me up, what have you.
01:39:52.997 --> 01:39:55.877
But again, same thing. He met me at like 30 feet. Cause I was like, where's Tyler?
01:39:56.237 --> 01:39:58.897
First thing I did, like when I hit that cross member, I was like, where's Tyler?
01:40:00.122 --> 01:40:03.542
I'm not, I'm struggling at this point. I can feel it. My legs are starting to tangle.
01:40:03.682 --> 01:40:07.362
I've got certain signs, symptoms that I know in my body when I'm getting,
01:40:07.422 --> 01:40:10.902
I'm going to black out or, and, or I'm gonna have an LMC and I'm getting really
01:40:10.902 --> 01:40:12.402
close to that, like 30 feet.
01:40:12.902 --> 01:40:16.042
And so I'm looking for Tyler and Tyler hits me at 30 feet and he gives me the
01:40:16.042 --> 01:40:19.782
okay. And I just immediately shake my head. Like, nah, man, I'm not good.
01:40:20.962 --> 01:40:24.942
I'm not good. I'm not okay, man. Yeah.
01:40:25.882 --> 01:40:30.262
He looks at me man. He just, you can, I could see it in his face. Like you idiot.
01:40:30.422 --> 01:40:34.402
Not even know crap. Like you idiot. You're here. But yeah, the surface and I
01:40:34.402 --> 01:40:35.502
start, I start hook breathing.
01:40:35.622 --> 01:40:38.862
And I remember just like laying my head back, like Vixen, go see the wizard.
01:40:38.962 --> 01:40:40.042
Like it's coming. It's coming.
01:40:40.442 --> 01:40:43.842
I feel it. I start like, you can hear it. My, like my voice,
01:40:43.922 --> 01:40:46.422
my, my breathing starts getting a little like sporadic.
01:40:46.542 --> 01:40:48.782
It's not like I'm trying to think what, but you can hear it's getting shaky.
01:40:48.942 --> 01:40:52.842
And I'm like, oh man, this is rough. And then I, I keep breathing, keep breathing.
01:40:52.942 --> 01:40:55.742
And he goes that was a good one man i'm like
01:40:55.742 --> 01:40:58.822
yeah that wasn't fun he goes no i saw you
01:40:58.822 --> 01:41:02.602
coming up and then i heard the trigger pull what was
01:41:02.602 --> 01:41:07.282
that i said i don't know man it was a permit i had to do it and it was one of
01:41:07.282 --> 01:41:12.262
those funny things like that was probably that was the closest i've come to
01:41:12.262 --> 01:41:18.002
like actually having a blackout and a severe lmc in the water i've had one more
01:41:18.002 --> 01:41:19.742
before that that That wasn't as bad.
01:41:20.382 --> 01:41:23.482
I shot a mangrove. I got holed up. And I was impatient.
01:41:23.782 --> 01:41:25.942
Wasn't waiting for my buddy. And I cracked a dive and I hit the surface and
01:41:25.942 --> 01:41:29.302
it was not good. Same thing. Real long dive. I had one incident.
01:41:29.802 --> 01:41:35.122
Oh, let's hear it. In the Bahamas. The Bahamas trip. I think you mentioned it briefly.
01:41:35.582 --> 01:41:39.682
So I went down, shot, came up, went back down to recover.
01:41:39.942 --> 01:41:45.082
So I pulled a grouper out and it wasn't super deep. It might have been 50.
01:41:45.382 --> 01:41:49.282
Might have been 50 foot. But it was kind of up in some rocks. It all went down.
01:41:50.660 --> 01:41:56.340
Kind of had to be patient getting it out and just the excitement of it and kicking everything.
01:41:57.080 --> 01:42:04.620
And probably the last 10 feet, I felt like I kind of knew it was close,
01:42:04.740 --> 01:42:05.860
like I was going to be pushing it.
01:42:06.140 --> 01:42:10.420
And when I'm looking up, my buddy isn't super close to me. Oh, that's never good.
01:42:10.640 --> 01:42:15.240
Yeah, I saw where, you know, crystal clear water. He's looking at me.
01:42:15.260 --> 01:42:16.280
He's just not super close.
01:42:17.780 --> 01:42:20.640
So i'm coming straight up and then i find him
01:42:20.640 --> 01:42:23.260
and i was like oh i need to cut an
01:42:23.260 --> 01:42:26.100
angle towards him like i felt like i needed to get try to
01:42:26.100 --> 01:42:28.880
get closer to him yeah so i'm i'm still
01:42:28.880 --> 01:42:31.820
at the moment kind of messing you know fish is probably running around me
01:42:31.820 --> 01:42:34.800
and i'm and i'm on a pole spear and when i
01:42:34.800 --> 01:42:38.020
get to the surface i didn't stop kicking towards
01:42:38.020 --> 01:42:41.060
the guy i think i have i have all this on camera too but
01:42:41.060 --> 01:42:44.520
i remember the second i came up i
01:42:44.520 --> 01:42:47.340
just started saying grab me yeah and i just i
01:42:47.340 --> 01:42:50.100
probably said it 10 times while i'm going to him and he
01:42:50.100 --> 01:42:53.160
kind of just not really reacting so i
01:42:53.160 --> 01:42:55.820
come up and i'm i was probably slurring a
01:42:55.820 --> 01:42:58.640
little bit i was just like grab me grab me grab me grab me
01:42:58.640 --> 01:43:01.480
grab me grab me grab me like i remember just repeating it
01:43:01.480 --> 01:43:04.420
over and over like hold on to me like i don't know i'm
01:43:04.420 --> 01:43:07.480
not good buddy yeah i may just kind of
01:43:07.480 --> 01:43:10.260
fall right now this isn't fun right now just grab me but i
01:43:10.260 --> 01:43:13.380
think if i had grabbed onto him i i
01:43:13.380 --> 01:43:17.120
was hugging the fish i basically just grabbed around his shoulders i was just
01:43:17.120 --> 01:43:20.500
like grab me grab me grab me got my breaths in and i was like all right that
01:43:20.500 --> 01:43:25.060
was that was about as far as you know you want to go pushed it yeah yeah yeah
01:43:25.060 --> 01:43:30.420
yeah oh yeah they're not it's never fun but it does take something it takes
01:43:30.420 --> 01:43:33.180
something like that and i guess i'm glad it I'm glad it happened there.
01:43:33.340 --> 01:43:36.720
I'm glad it happened with that crew, you know, that's very experienced crew.
01:43:36.980 --> 01:43:43.100
And I mean, there was six other, you know, very highly trained divers near me.
01:43:44.620 --> 01:43:48.460
Clear water couldn't couldn't ask for a better spot to have something happen
01:43:48.460 --> 01:43:51.360
for you know, the first like oh crap moment Mm-hmm.
01:43:51.720 --> 01:43:57.280
It's just to put the things in the clarity and be like, all right That is let's
01:43:57.280 --> 01:44:02.580
call that some type of limit You need to know what the 15% before that feels
01:44:02.580 --> 01:44:05.380
like so, you know Like after that happened,
01:44:05.480 --> 01:44:08.320
how does you treat like after that happened?
01:44:08.820 --> 01:44:12.560
You've been diving in Louisiana since right? How do you treat?
01:44:12.560 --> 01:44:16.640
Like what's your mentality after that is i guess is what i'm is what i'm asking,
01:44:17.460 --> 01:44:20.300
dude your mentality i try to be by the books man
01:44:20.300 --> 01:44:22.980
i really do i try to look them in the eye i
01:44:22.980 --> 01:44:25.980
try i try to look in their eyes on their way up if they're
01:44:25.980 --> 01:44:28.700
not coming to me i'm trying to meet i'm trying to be
01:44:28.700 --> 01:44:32.220
within at least arm's reach yeah you know or if
01:44:32.220 --> 01:44:35.920
i see someone else within arm's reach but i'm
01:44:35.920 --> 01:44:40.680
trying to actually assess them yeah like i don't care what they're doing with
01:44:40.680 --> 01:44:46.240
their hands I'm actually trying to decide can I turn my back to this guy right
01:44:46.240 --> 01:44:51.280
now or no yes I'm really trying to decide that because I understand you can
01:44:51.280 --> 01:44:54.140
give because it's easy to do this yep.
01:44:55.040 --> 01:44:58.140
But it's also easy to do this oh yeah
01:44:58.140 --> 01:45:01.220
that latent hypoxia is something I've seen
01:45:01.220 --> 01:45:03.980
a few cases of latent hypoxia one of
01:45:03.980 --> 01:45:07.360
them was recently on the trip after the permit it
01:45:07.360 --> 01:45:10.360
was the next day we had a diver come up he said
01:45:10.360 --> 01:45:13.080
he was gonna punch a good one can i watch him and i said okay i was
01:45:13.080 --> 01:45:15.920
watching i watched him come up and he uh he did something that normally.
01:45:15.920 --> 01:45:18.920
If you're going deep you don't stop on the way and he stopped at like 75 feet
01:45:18.920 --> 01:45:21.980
and then he kept going to 90 wasn't it wasn't
01:45:21.980 --> 01:45:24.720
a terribly long dive but it was it was a long one he talked he
01:45:24.720 --> 01:45:27.680
said yeah it was a long one he came up he got one breath in
01:45:27.680 --> 01:45:30.400
i said you okay and he gave me the he gave me like the head nod
01:45:30.400 --> 01:45:33.220
and i kind of i kept watching me and tyler both were
01:45:33.220 --> 01:45:35.860
watching him and then all of a sudden he just i'm gonna
01:45:35.860 --> 01:45:38.680
sit up and kind of imitated he just kind of head started going
01:45:38.680 --> 01:45:41.420
down and like normally like if
01:45:41.420 --> 01:45:44.180
you if you let your just your head drop it's one thing but
01:45:44.180 --> 01:45:46.860
like you can tell when somebody's losing it because their whole body kind
01:45:46.860 --> 01:45:49.640
of follows like you know they're just doing the lean with the head
01:45:49.640 --> 01:45:52.940
and it's like okay you've kind of lost you've lost like again
01:45:52.940 --> 01:45:55.960
motor control for the most part not maybe not 100 but you're
01:45:55.960 --> 01:45:58.620
not cognizant you're not
01:45:58.620 --> 01:46:01.480
physically aware of what you're doing right because it's not a full-on
01:46:01.480 --> 01:46:04.520
lmc like you're not twitching you're not i mean it wasn't a full-on blackout wasn't
01:46:04.520 --> 01:46:07.340
a full-on lmc but you're not there like you're starting you're at
01:46:07.340 --> 01:46:10.440
that you're at the verge of it and sure enough like he got
01:46:10.440 --> 01:46:14.020
a good breath in maybe two before he started doing it and then talking
01:46:14.020 --> 01:46:16.940
to him later he's like i was just looking for my snorkel and me and tyler both
01:46:16.940 --> 01:46:20.560
were like bro i think it was behind your head you didn't even move your arms
01:46:20.560 --> 01:46:25.080
man you're just like just start just doing this and i did i grabbed him i grabbed
01:46:25.080 --> 01:46:27.780
him under the shoulder he didn't say anything he said i'm fine he said i'm fine
01:46:27.780 --> 01:46:30.500
twice now you know i grabbed him by the i grabbed I grabbed him by the shoulder
01:46:30.500 --> 01:46:32.920
underneath the shoulder and said, breathe, breathe.
01:46:33.440 --> 01:46:37.120
And then, you know, he didn't really respond until I grabbed his chin.
01:46:37.860 --> 01:46:41.220
Right. So I pulled his chin up to keep, like we teach in the class, same thing.
01:46:41.280 --> 01:46:44.300
I got his elbow, my sternum, picked him up, put my hand in front of his face,
01:46:44.320 --> 01:46:47.100
but I put my palm on his chin, you know, just to catch it.
01:46:47.380 --> 01:46:51.360
And then he, then like, you see him, I didn't physically, cause it's his face is to my side.
01:46:51.400 --> 01:46:53.700
So I couldn't see his eyes or anything, but you see him kind of like,
01:46:53.780 --> 01:46:56.240
you could kind of feel, I could feel his body coming back.
01:46:56.300 --> 01:46:58.840
You know what I mean? And then he's, I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine. I'm fine.
01:46:59.320 --> 01:47:02.660
And again, we let, I mean, I let him go at that point and then he was fine.
01:47:02.760 --> 01:47:04.420
He said, I'm just looking for my snorkel, looking for my snorkel.
01:47:04.520 --> 01:47:11.280
And me Me and Tyler both were like, nah, man, you almost went and saw the wizard right there, buddy.
01:47:11.520 --> 01:47:16.380
Like a lot of scary stuff. That's why you got to go take a damn course.
01:47:16.560 --> 01:47:19.460
Oh yeah. I mean, like, and so many people are like, oh, I've watched,
01:47:19.480 --> 01:47:22.160
you know, such and such videos online or I've watched, you know,
01:47:22.160 --> 01:47:22.900
I've watched this online.
01:47:23.040 --> 01:47:27.980
It's like, you can't, every one of those things tell you does not substitute for a class.
01:47:28.240 --> 01:47:32.440
Here's another reason to go take a course is because I've heard it from you
01:47:32.440 --> 01:47:35.320
and I've I've heard it from other guys, you know, the guys that have been doing
01:47:35.320 --> 01:47:39.620
it a while, they're not going to go with anyone that hasn't been trained. No.
01:47:39.720 --> 01:47:42.700
Like you're not going to risk your life. You're not going to put yourself in a situation.
01:47:42.720 --> 01:47:46.540
So it's like, if you do want to do this around here and you want to go with
01:47:46.540 --> 01:47:51.940
guys that have experience, you have to go get certified first or you're not going to get an invite.
01:47:52.060 --> 01:47:54.520
Yeah. No. You know, like it's not just.
01:47:54.880 --> 01:47:58.280
It goes back to the packing a parachute thing. Like Shane, what is your,
01:47:58.340 --> 01:48:01.100
what's the monetary value of your life to your family?
01:48:02.060 --> 01:48:07.200
Is it $475? Right Because that's what you're I mean That's what it costs Right
01:48:07.200 --> 01:48:11.020
In any sport Anything we do in life Right So if your buddy Wanted to go hunting,
01:48:11.480 --> 01:48:15.100
But he didn't want to buy camo He didn't want to buy a bow,
01:48:15.640 --> 01:48:18.160
Or he didn't want to buy a rifle You're not going to take him hunting Are you?
01:48:18.964 --> 01:48:21.304
You know what I mean? Like if you took him once just to play around,
01:48:21.444 --> 01:48:25.284
and that's one way I look at it is like, if you're not willing to invest,
01:48:25.444 --> 01:48:31.384
you know, $400 into, it's not necessarily the biggest aspect of a class is a safety.
01:48:31.424 --> 01:48:35.304
If you're not willing to invest the $475 into your safety, like your knowledge,
01:48:35.384 --> 01:48:40.224
and then also my life, your bad buddy's life, do you really need to do this sport?
01:48:40.844 --> 01:48:44.864
Right. Yeah. I mean, there's no value in somebody's life.
01:48:45.004 --> 01:48:47.084
And that's what you're playing with at that point. It's like,
01:48:47.144 --> 01:48:48.184
again, packing a parachute.
01:48:48.184 --> 01:48:51.084
If you i shane let's go jump i i've watched
01:48:51.084 --> 01:48:53.844
a couple videos on how to pack a parachute you're probably not
01:48:53.844 --> 01:48:58.944
going to go jump with me so it's like why would i go dive with somebody where
01:48:58.944 --> 01:49:02.624
as soon as my head leaves the surface and i start diving down there's the chance
01:49:02.624 --> 01:49:06.624
that i'm not coming home you know i mean that's that's the utmost extreme i
01:49:06.624 --> 01:49:11.524
do want to say the follow-up of that that is the utmost extreme case all any
01:49:11.524 --> 01:49:13.604
time that something's happened to somebody they've broken
01:49:13.764 --> 01:49:19.064
one or said nine times out of ten several rules that we teach in any agency
01:49:19.064 --> 01:49:23.144
right they've broken a lot of those rules and then they haven't something is
01:49:23.144 --> 01:49:24.984
happening at that point right so.
01:49:25.664 --> 01:49:28.844
All right let's talk about the other thing we we said the
01:49:28.844 --> 01:49:31.924
the most common probably feedback or
01:49:31.924 --> 01:49:34.924
questions you get is how long can you hold your breath how
01:49:34.924 --> 01:49:37.784
deep can you go and what about the sharks
01:49:37.784 --> 01:49:42.124
of course so chad
01:49:42.124 --> 01:49:45.184
has i mean probably several
01:49:45.184 --> 01:49:48.804
shark encounters to tell about but there's one specific encounter
01:49:48.804 --> 01:49:55.744
that i want to hear about and i'll let you take it over yeah the one he's referring
01:49:55.744 --> 01:50:02.824
to is i got hit by mako and it wasn't like an exploratory bump it was a full-on
01:50:02.824 --> 01:50:06.184
i've I've shared it with... Which, that would have been okay, right?
01:50:06.424 --> 01:50:09.704
An exploratory bump, you're fine with. You're used to those.
01:50:10.404 --> 01:50:15.544
I mean, yes and no. Like, I mean, like, coming and checking me out is one thing.
01:50:15.664 --> 01:50:17.664
Like, okay, cool. You've made your presence known.
01:50:18.004 --> 01:50:21.824
You know, like, there's a lot of run-ins of Makos, Whites, Tigers,
01:50:21.984 --> 01:50:23.604
Bulls, where they make their presence known.
01:50:23.744 --> 01:50:26.804
And then they come in to check you out. And you poke them.
01:50:26.944 --> 01:50:30.704
And, you know, or, you know, some people, you know, they grab them by the nose.
01:50:30.764 --> 01:50:33.544
I've seen some Spheros do that. That guy was nuts.
01:50:33.744 --> 01:50:38.784
A Brazilian dude. But anyways, you redirect them as the shark people say.
01:50:39.104 --> 01:50:42.944
Or you poke them, what have you. But they've made their presence known before that.
01:50:44.567 --> 01:50:50.407
The one he's talking about it i had we had no idea it was there and it definitely
01:50:50.407 --> 01:50:55.367
took a predatory strike at me there was no it was a predator prey interaction
01:50:55.367 --> 01:50:57.687
is the best way to put it i asked the,
01:50:59.007 --> 01:51:04.507
florida natural history i think museum or archives they're the people that,
01:51:05.047 --> 01:51:07.807
archive all the shark attacks in florida or in the united
01:51:07.807 --> 01:51:10.727
states i believe and i showed him the video and he
01:51:10.727 --> 01:51:14.807
he agreed and a few other marine biologists have agreed that it was a predatory
01:51:14.807 --> 01:51:18.667
strike it wasn't a an exploratory bite it was a hey you were you were on the
01:51:18.667 --> 01:51:23.607
menu bubba she was she was coming for you but uh yeah we were basically drifting
01:51:23.607 --> 01:51:27.947
for wahoo a buddy had shot one and lost it hindsight is i think she took it
01:51:27.947 --> 01:51:30.367
um it was it was a good one probably like a 50 pounder
01:51:30.787 --> 01:51:35.847
it ran pretty hard and then it tombstone the float per usual float was up and
01:51:35.847 --> 01:51:37.287
down the float disappeared for a second.
01:51:37.367 --> 01:51:40.247
It just like, so talk about that real quick.
01:51:40.327 --> 01:51:46.367
First you fish in Wahoo or spearfish in Wahoo. And how's the float float line thing work?
01:51:46.447 --> 01:51:49.807
So like Wahoo are fast, powerful fish. And if you have them on a reel,
01:51:50.547 --> 01:51:52.467
you know, obviously the fish is extremely fast.
01:51:52.567 --> 01:51:55.047
It'll dump your reel. There's just, you're adding a ton of.
01:51:56.054 --> 01:51:58.794
Unnecessary errors in you know
01:51:58.794 --> 01:52:01.594
like there's a lot that can go wrong shooting a wahoo in a reel right it's
01:52:01.594 --> 01:52:04.354
super fast super strong it can dump you know 100
01:52:04.354 --> 01:52:07.074
yard or uh let's say 70 meter reel
01:52:07.074 --> 01:52:11.494
which is about average a 70 meter reel it can dump it quick right and then that
01:52:11.494 --> 01:52:15.634
sudden shock is gonna you're gonna lose the fish so for blue water pelagic you
01:52:15.634 --> 01:52:19.474
run a breakaway setup where when you shoot the fish the shaft goes with your
01:52:19.474 --> 01:52:23.374
shooting line and that's rigged to a bungee or a float line that's It's rigged
01:52:23.374 --> 01:52:26.294
to a three atmosphere or a float on top of that.
01:52:26.474 --> 01:52:30.514
So when you pull the trigger, your entire setup goes away and you're just left with your gun.
01:52:30.694 --> 01:52:35.734
And then the, yeah. Why who's out there basically on a large jug line? Pretty much. Yeah.
01:52:36.334 --> 01:52:39.934
That's it. You're basically, you've injected your jug line into the fish.
01:52:40.014 --> 01:52:44.114
Right. And now you just wait for it to tire itself out and then you go pull
01:52:44.114 --> 01:52:48.014
it up, fight it, maybe shoot it again if you have to. Yeah, pretty much. Yeah. That's it.
01:52:48.114 --> 01:52:51.314
Like I try not to let it get away from me. So I try to plug it and then hold
01:52:51.314 --> 01:52:52.554
on to the float, let it drag me.
01:52:52.554 --> 01:52:56.114
Or if it's a if it's good if i know it's going to take the float obviously let
01:52:56.114 --> 01:52:59.934
the float do the work and then you know follow it up so y'all are out there
01:52:59.934 --> 01:53:01.714
drifting blue water shooting wahoo,
01:53:02.274 --> 01:53:06.354
messing with flow lines and oh yeah yeah i mean we'd been on the spot for an
01:53:06.354 --> 01:53:11.394
hour and a half i want to say it's the last spot of the day and i had done a
01:53:11.394 --> 01:53:16.954
dive and i could see i don't share this part of the video but i could see two
01:53:16.954 --> 01:53:21.234
divers in the video they were like maybe 75 feet from me 80 feet from me.
01:53:21.954 --> 01:53:25.014
Simple diving. We weren't necessarily the safest at that point.
01:53:25.414 --> 01:53:28.594
But again, I wasn't doing deep dives. I was doing 40 foot dives.
01:53:29.034 --> 01:53:33.074
Um, I didn't have a direct safety that was, you know, like arms reach, what have you.
01:53:33.134 --> 01:53:37.094
I will say that it was not the smartest thing, but knowing your limits and also
01:53:37.094 --> 01:53:41.414
knowing that I'm not, I have less weight on the normal and I'm not diving.
01:53:41.714 --> 01:53:45.994
I think my average dive was like 45 seconds at 40 feet. You know what I mean?
01:53:46.054 --> 01:53:49.974
Completely relaxed, blue water, just looking for water, hit the surface. Um,
01:53:50.455 --> 01:53:53.215
started breathing. My head was out of the water for 18 seconds.
01:53:53.455 --> 01:53:56.815
And in the video, it looks like I'm sitting straight up and down, but I'm not.
01:53:56.895 --> 01:54:03.935
I'm actually gently kicking towards the boat because the boat had picked up Josh Laux.
01:54:03.955 --> 01:54:07.475
It picked him up and it was doubling back to come get me. I was the last diver in the water.
01:54:07.555 --> 01:54:12.455
And I got 30 feet from me, 40 feet from me, and she hit me from behind.
01:54:12.955 --> 01:54:18.175
She ended up, I did basically a somersault in the water. She hit me my right
01:54:18.175 --> 01:54:19.575
rear corner, grabbed my right fin.
01:54:20.555 --> 01:54:23.835
She hit me. I rolled over. And when you see her in the video,
01:54:24.075 --> 01:54:26.715
I'm actually, I've done a 180.
01:54:26.815 --> 01:54:30.595
So my face was facing the boat and now I've rolled completely over.
01:54:30.695 --> 01:54:34.795
And it would be like, if I'm facing that door right there is what it's like.
01:54:34.835 --> 01:54:37.015
So if I'm talking to you, right, it would be like, when I see here,
01:54:37.135 --> 01:54:40.635
I've rolled completely around facing that door when, when you actually see her.
01:54:40.715 --> 01:54:43.635
And so she rolled me over and then ripped my
01:54:43.635 --> 01:54:47.815
fin off crushed it you can kind of hear her crush it in the video um you can
01:54:47.815 --> 01:54:51.955
see her crush it you can see her gills move you can see them rake one time and
01:54:51.955 --> 01:54:55.355
that's her actually crushing the fin she folds it over hot dog style i challenge
01:54:55.355 --> 01:54:58.535
you to try that fold one of the fins over and see how close you see how hard
01:54:58.535 --> 01:55:02.275
it is right she folded that over and just completely crushed it and then,
01:55:03.035 --> 01:55:08.195
just gently drifted down there's about 80 to 90 foot of viz she drifted down
01:55:08.195 --> 01:55:13.595
you hear me let's you hear me scream bloody murder, because I didn't know this at the time,
01:55:14.295 --> 01:55:19.795
makos, they use their bodies to tear flesh, their fins and their body.
01:55:19.895 --> 01:55:22.695
So if they go for a strike on a fish, and let's say they miss,
01:55:22.875 --> 01:55:26.295
they can use their, according to certain marine biologists, they can use their
01:55:26.295 --> 01:55:28.875
pec fins to make, to swipe at something. Really?
01:55:29.075 --> 01:55:33.635
And they'll use the sandpaper skin to get an abrasion out of it,
01:55:33.675 --> 01:55:35.455
to like tear, just basically rip flesh.
01:55:36.898 --> 01:55:42.778
So I had pressure from like my ankle, like basically my entire right from the
01:55:42.778 --> 01:55:43.718
knee down, I had pressure.
01:55:43.818 --> 01:55:46.878
And if you remember watching shark week, I watched it every week.
01:55:46.898 --> 01:55:50.718
You hear the surfer, the female surfer that got her arm bitten off by the white.
01:55:51.138 --> 01:55:55.458
She talks about, she didn't feel anything. She just felt pressure on her arm. The arm wasn't there.
01:55:55.818 --> 01:55:59.638
And I remember the first, I remember just having immediate pressure from the
01:55:59.638 --> 01:56:04.158
knee down and just thinking like, you don't have a foot period.
01:56:04.238 --> 01:56:07.658
Like you're dead. you're in a 21 foot boat 70 miles offshore it's
01:56:07.658 --> 01:56:10.378
two and a half hour run in your garment in reach is dead
01:56:10.378 --> 01:56:13.538
you don't have a radio you've got an iphone
01:56:13.538 --> 01:56:16.438
sos is your only safety that's the only way you can contact
01:56:16.438 --> 01:56:21.358
the outside world you're dead you idiot and i i remember like the first shriek
01:56:21.358 --> 01:56:26.178
was pure terror like that's the sound i make when i know i'm dead right if you
01:56:26.178 --> 01:56:29.758
ever wondered and then i remember like the second shriek isn't as bad because
01:56:29.758 --> 01:56:33.278
i i physically remember looking looking down and counting to five and I counted
01:56:33.278 --> 01:56:35.578
five toes and went, holy shit,
01:56:36.178 --> 01:56:38.258
you're alive. You're not going to die.
01:56:39.198 --> 01:56:46.918
You're good. So what did you feel? I don't know. You just feel a big one in rush of water.
01:56:47.058 --> 01:56:50.118
No, I don't know. Like you, you ever shoulder check the doorframe?
01:56:51.138 --> 01:56:57.638
I'm not kidding. Like, have you ever showed up? Boom. Just felt like you ever
01:56:57.638 --> 01:56:59.478
had your buddies tackle you fucking around?
01:56:59.558 --> 01:57:03.598
You know how, but like their shoulder gives, Now I was like getting shoulder
01:57:03.598 --> 01:57:05.078
checked by the doorframe from behind.
01:57:05.338 --> 01:57:08.898
It was like, it was literally like getting hit by a linebacker with pads from behind.
01:57:09.878 --> 01:57:12.358
That's the best way to put it. Like it didn't move. I moved.
01:57:13.078 --> 01:57:18.038
And then the same thing, like it was the weirdest, the weirdest thing. You're helpless.
01:57:18.218 --> 01:57:20.058
Right. That's the best way to put it. You're completely helpless.
01:57:20.118 --> 01:57:22.358
Probably never turned that fast in water.
01:57:22.478 --> 01:57:25.918
Right? No. So I have the gun in my right hand. Right. So I have the gun in my
01:57:25.918 --> 01:57:27.338
right hand. I'm looking at the boat.
01:57:27.778 --> 01:57:30.798
And in the video you can see me lose the gun when
01:57:30.798 --> 01:57:33.798
i roll over and the gun ends up in my left shoulder because like you
01:57:33.798 --> 01:57:38.298
just did that literally so like did that right there maybe that's the best way
01:57:38.298 --> 01:57:42.958
to do it like if i was to try to think if you were to grab my head and grab
01:57:42.958 --> 01:57:46.238
my right foot and pull them together and flip me that's exactly what happened
01:57:46.238 --> 01:57:49.958
she put my knee in my chest and then flipped me over and that was it i mean
01:57:49.958 --> 01:57:53.478
yeah nuts again the best thing to describe is like getting
01:57:53.578 --> 01:57:57.358
shoulder checked by a doorframe. And you watched it drop down after?
01:57:57.918 --> 01:58:03.458
Yeah, so she hit me. My buddy, Nathan Lancaster, he says I look like a top-bar
01:58:03.458 --> 01:58:05.098
lure. I'm in a red wetsuit.
01:58:05.796 --> 01:58:09.276
She hits me at my right rear corner. So all the guys that want to talk like,
01:58:09.356 --> 01:58:11.336
oh, that's why you keep your face in the water, all that stuff.
01:58:11.916 --> 01:58:14.756
I wouldn't have seen her coming either way. At the end where she hit me and
01:58:14.756 --> 01:58:17.916
where she hit me from was even if I was laying face down looking,
01:58:18.096 --> 01:58:21.616
unless I physically looked back at my feet, I would have never seen her.
01:58:21.856 --> 01:58:23.376
Right. It doesn't matter how you skin that cat.
01:58:24.196 --> 01:58:27.876
He said, I look like a topwater lure. It hit me. It was just a white water and
01:58:27.876 --> 01:58:31.796
red because the red wetsuit and they saw the blue roll over because she never,
01:58:31.836 --> 01:58:33.836
her fins never really left the water when she hit.
01:58:33.836 --> 01:58:37.656
And they said you saw white water head and me and
01:58:37.656 --> 01:58:40.456
then then they same thing they're like he's he's done like they thought a
01:58:40.456 --> 01:58:43.296
white hit me and then i again i
01:58:43.296 --> 01:58:47.076
screamed you can watch the video i screamed like like bloody murder and then
01:58:47.076 --> 01:58:52.056
uh josh jumps in and i've gotten water probably up to the bottom of my eyeballs
01:58:52.056 --> 01:58:55.396
in the mask so that's another reason i'm screaming give me in the give me in
01:58:55.396 --> 01:58:59.196
the effing boat right i can't see like my eyes are burning i know i've got a
01:58:59.196 --> 01:59:00.456
shark so every time i I look down,
01:59:00.576 --> 01:59:04.976
I've got like the distillation of water. You just can't get it right. No, everything.
01:59:05.696 --> 01:59:09.456
My entire world is thrown upside down. Like it's like in bootcamp,
01:59:09.476 --> 01:59:13.256
like, you know, your basic for you when you come back to the barracks and all
01:59:13.256 --> 01:59:16.016
of your stuff is thrown everywhere and your life's in shambles.
01:59:16.076 --> 01:59:16.936
You know what I'm talking about?
01:59:17.096 --> 01:59:19.276
You're like, oh my God, that's it.
01:59:20.076 --> 01:59:25.656
And yeah, I remember specifically looking at her and watching her disappear
01:59:25.656 --> 01:59:28.896
at like 40 feet and like almost a hundred foot of this.
01:59:29.316 --> 01:59:32.236
I mean watching her just disappear it wasn't like
01:59:32.236 --> 01:59:35.676
oh she fades into the distance like no I don't
01:59:35.676 --> 01:59:38.436
know if she changed colors I don't know what happened but you
01:59:38.436 --> 01:59:43.456
can kind of see it in the video she just disappears and even like we talked
01:59:43.456 --> 01:59:45.856
about it the whole way home like that was insane it was the biggest shark Josh
01:59:45.856 --> 01:59:51.816
had seen to date until they saw the white and I mean for me you really realize
01:59:51.816 --> 01:59:55.936
how much of apex predators those things are oh yeah like even if that thing could
01:59:55.956 --> 01:59:59.096
have been cruising under me at 60 feet none of us would have ever seen it period
01:59:59.096 --> 02:00:02.216
like the only way you're gonna see her is when she knows is up and you can see
02:00:02.216 --> 02:00:03.796
her white chin because i mean.
02:00:04.776 --> 02:00:08.056
Yeah i i can't harp on enough how big we don't
02:00:08.056 --> 02:00:13.376
know i've asked a dozen people they say anywhere from 8 to 12 foot 600 to 1200
02:00:13.376 --> 02:00:17.696
pounds yeah they say it's a female probably pregnant if she was pregnant obviously
02:00:17.696 --> 02:00:22.116
a little heavier but they don't know like the marine biologists say you know
02:00:22.116 --> 02:00:25.156
8 to to 12 old salts say eight to 12.
02:00:25.276 --> 02:00:28.076
Some of them say 10 plot, like some of them say 12 for sure.
02:00:28.136 --> 02:00:30.416
Some of them say, ah, it's not bigger than eight.
02:00:31.096 --> 02:00:32.856
I've looked at my fin, the one
02:00:32.856 --> 02:00:36.716
that's left and kind of seen where she bit and her jaws are about like.
02:00:37.942 --> 02:00:40.862
Rough you know anywhere from 13 to 15
02:00:40.862 --> 02:00:44.362
inches wide so i mean that i mean you gotta think that's a
02:00:44.362 --> 02:00:47.542
big mako i've seen eight foot jaws and they're nine ten
02:00:47.542 --> 02:00:50.402
inches so she i mean she's her jaws are probably like that
02:00:50.402 --> 02:00:53.182
you can see because i've got i've still got the other fin not
02:00:53.182 --> 02:00:55.882
the one she bit the other one and i've looked at where she's kind of
02:00:55.882 --> 02:00:58.642
crushed it at like at the tendons and then i've looked at
02:00:58.642 --> 02:01:01.442
what's left of the tip because she she did she
02:01:01.442 --> 02:01:04.122
crushed it so you have a tip and then the foot it and that's it
02:01:04.122 --> 02:01:06.982
and i've kind of done met like put pieced
02:01:06.982 --> 02:01:10.162
it together and measured it and a very crude you know
02:01:10.162 --> 02:01:12.982
it's like 12 15 inches what was
02:01:12.982 --> 02:01:15.602
that boat ride like i wanted to puke the whole
02:01:15.602 --> 02:01:18.582
time were you just silent are we all talking
02:01:18.582 --> 02:01:21.622
about it we were talking and then i got i got pretty quiet because
02:01:21.622 --> 02:01:24.942
it's it's very surreal yeah i'm sure you had just things
02:01:24.942 --> 02:01:27.722
running through your brain and yeah well it's crazy as
02:01:27.722 --> 02:01:30.682
me and joe kind of my mentor in freediving and the instructor i
02:01:30.682 --> 02:01:34.122
teachers we just talked about with the with the okaloosa
02:01:34.122 --> 02:01:36.962
fads and people going out there not knowing what they're doing it's only a matter of time
02:01:36.962 --> 02:01:39.822
before somebody has a run-in with a real shark like a
02:01:39.822 --> 02:01:45.682
blue water shark or a white mako a big dusky something that like there is no
02:01:45.682 --> 02:01:50.042
forgiven there's no forgiveness like it's you or him put it pretty much and
02:01:50.042 --> 02:01:53.022
it was funny we just had that conversation like a week ago i remember i hit
02:01:53.022 --> 02:01:57.622
the dock and i called my fiancee first and told her i I loved her and she knew
02:01:57.622 --> 02:01:58.962
immediately, like I've done that twice.
02:01:59.262 --> 02:02:01.982
She knew immediately that something happened. I didn't tell her what it was.
02:02:02.002 --> 02:02:05.182
And I called Joe. Joe was my second call. Like, Hey, it happened.
02:02:05.422 --> 02:02:07.142
Yeah. You had jinx me, buddy.
02:02:07.702 --> 02:02:10.782
And then we had that conversation and he, I was like, yeah, it's giant Mako.
02:02:11.062 --> 02:02:15.242
And then I had it on, I sent the clip to the big group message and everybody,
02:02:15.322 --> 02:02:16.542
again, it was kind of that.
02:02:17.264 --> 02:02:20.124
Yeah things got real up here yeah it's real i
02:02:20.124 --> 02:02:22.884
mean because i'm not saying i'm i'm an expert by no means
02:02:22.884 --> 02:02:26.084
but i've got a lot of encounters with sharks and that
02:02:26.084 --> 02:02:28.964
was one of i don't want to do that one again i have a
02:02:28.964 --> 02:02:31.964
very big respect for blue water right
02:02:31.964 --> 02:02:35.144
because like the year before two years before doing like
02:02:35.144 --> 02:02:38.044
100 120 foot drops out there and imagine that
02:02:38.044 --> 02:02:40.704
thing coming up and hitting you at 120 even if it
02:02:40.704 --> 02:02:43.644
doesn't hit even if it misses right but it it takes a
02:02:43.644 --> 02:02:47.804
fin and all of of your juice left
02:02:47.804 --> 02:02:50.444
right like whatever you had in your body you don't get
02:02:50.444 --> 02:02:53.184
to use anymore no because it's all going straight to your heart yeah
02:02:53.184 --> 02:02:56.304
you're gonna get a giant adrenaline dump and now
02:02:56.304 --> 02:02:59.044
you've got to recover from 120 your mask is full of
02:02:59.044 --> 02:03:01.884
water oh yeah yeah and you're not gonna don't know
02:03:01.884 --> 02:03:04.544
you might not know which way up is no you're not and you don't know
02:03:04.544 --> 02:03:07.344
what it is because if she hits you at depth because your color
02:03:07.344 --> 02:03:10.384
perception's off right your your white your white balance for
02:03:10.384 --> 02:03:13.744
your eyes everything gone so like she's gonna be even more blue she's gonna
02:03:13.744 --> 02:03:18.524
blend in with everything thing it's one of those things like yeah you won't
02:03:18.524 --> 02:03:22.344
you won't catch me diving deeper than like 60 feet of an open like open blue
02:03:22.344 --> 02:03:29.464
water i won't do it yeah so so what about the the bulls and,
02:03:30.004 --> 02:03:34.524
the reef sharks and stuff they're getting a lot worse no his new commercial
02:03:34.524 --> 02:03:40.024
policies have really done a number on them but what's up with these guys diving
02:03:40.024 --> 02:03:41.304
back to shrimp boats through.
02:03:42.184 --> 02:03:44.984
Thousands of sharks why is that okay
02:03:44.984 --> 02:03:48.044
different type of sharks those are mostly like
02:03:48.044 --> 02:03:52.064
reefies not even reefies or spinners silkies and nine
02:03:52.064 --> 02:03:56.004
times out of ten you're the same size as them so it's like apex predator to
02:03:56.004 --> 02:03:59.764
apex predator right how many how many sharks do you see messing with dolphins
02:03:59.764 --> 02:04:05.224
right we're just the fat retarded ones i mean that's it we're the fat retarded
02:04:05.224 --> 02:04:09.704
marine mammals in the water like so like when you get in behind those shrimp
02:04:09.704 --> 02:04:11.164
boats there's There's not a lot of, like,
02:04:11.244 --> 02:04:14.904
those sharks don't mess with you. They treat you like an apex predator. It's prison rules.
02:04:15.144 --> 02:04:18.944
Like, don't give them a reason to punk you, or don't let them punk you,
02:04:19.084 --> 02:04:22.184
and, like, just don't get punked. So, poke them.
02:04:22.504 --> 02:04:24.564
If they do come in and check you out, just let them know, hey,
02:04:24.644 --> 02:04:27.804
like, leave me alone. I'm not messing with you. Don't mess with me kind of thing.
02:04:28.484 --> 02:04:31.784
But, like, the bulls on the reef, if they're trained, they get real aggressive.
02:04:33.104 --> 02:04:38.404
The second worst shark encounter was on a wreck with bulls. There was,
02:04:38.444 --> 02:04:40.664
like, nine of them. And I had a buddy that never dove before.
02:04:40.744 --> 02:04:41.764
He'd just taken a level one.
02:04:42.364 --> 02:04:44.224
And one of my good buddies from high school named Dylan.
02:04:45.136 --> 02:04:49.456
And my buddy Keith, they, he rolls, Stuart rolls me and Dylan in and I'm loading
02:04:49.456 --> 02:04:52.636
my wooden interceptor and the trigger was pulled. Thank God.
02:04:52.976 --> 02:04:56.836
So the shaft fell out, but he said shark. And I look over at him,
02:04:56.856 --> 02:04:58.096
didn't even look down yet.
02:04:58.136 --> 02:05:00.836
Really. I'm still looking kind of out of the boat and I've got the,
02:05:00.836 --> 02:05:06.696
the rigging on the gun and I pull it up and I say, yeah, he goes, no effing shark.
02:05:07.216 --> 02:05:12.616
And I literally put the tab, the loading tab on the fin and I like roll down and I look
02:05:12.696 --> 02:05:15.696
and i realized there's five bulls coming right at us i
02:05:15.696 --> 02:05:18.736
mean on us straight peck fins down they're
02:05:18.736 --> 02:05:21.656
hot they're not cruising like i treat them like f14 i
02:05:21.656 --> 02:05:24.756
usually have 14 tomcat as an example if their wings are out they're cruising
02:05:24.756 --> 02:05:29.636
then wings come in and down they mean business all five of them peck fins down
02:05:29.636 --> 02:05:33.956
coming and i said oh no like i they had any pants down both my hands are in
02:05:33.956 --> 02:05:35.876
the gun like i had to let if i fought
02:05:35.876 --> 02:05:38.836
to just let it go the gun would have exploded but it was just bad juju.
02:05:39.396 --> 02:05:43.956
The shaft slides out of the end of the gun and hits the bull rocketing at me in the nose.
02:05:44.436 --> 02:05:47.996
All of our women are on the boat. First time I've ever actually gone diving
02:05:47.996 --> 02:05:52.496
with women, like a significant other or something like that and had a bad situation.
02:05:52.896 --> 02:05:56.236
And I remember Dylan freaking out, screaming bloody murder.
02:05:56.816 --> 02:06:00.556
I yelled sharks and for keys to come over. Cause there was five turned into
02:06:00.556 --> 02:06:03.176
seven turned into nine. Like, I mean, instantly.
02:06:03.356 --> 02:06:06.756
And I remember I hit the one that was rocketing up, winning the biggest one,
02:06:06.816 --> 02:06:08.716
rocketing up, hit him right in the nose with the shaft.
02:06:08.896 --> 02:06:12.296
He immediately turned, went straight back down and they started hanging out
02:06:12.296 --> 02:06:16.876
like 20 feet, pulled my shaft up, re-rigged real quick, was yelling at the boat.
02:06:16.936 --> 02:06:18.776
Now I remember looking at the boat, seeing all three women.
02:06:19.768 --> 02:06:26.468
White as ghost mortified i mean just mortified and i was like oh you idiot you
02:06:26.468 --> 02:06:30.388
can't you ruined it you can't just chalk this up to like oh yeah i died doing
02:06:30.388 --> 02:06:31.968
what i love because now you got to put
02:06:32.408 --> 02:06:37.148
you know your fiancee watching you die on the boat you dummy because that was
02:06:37.148 --> 02:06:41.488
my mentality for the longest time was oh well like i swear ever since then like
02:06:41.488 --> 02:06:44.748
i've had a new this is before the make i've had a new respect for sharks like
02:06:44.748 --> 02:06:49.888
i used to not care at all about sharks you know like Like, didn't care.
02:06:49.968 --> 02:06:52.308
I'd dive through five or six bulls, wouldn't give a crap.
02:06:52.428 --> 02:06:55.248
Like, I literally had the mentality if I died doing what I love, oh, well.
02:06:55.488 --> 02:06:57.668
That was it. Just if I come home, I come home.
02:06:57.928 --> 02:07:03.028
And I wasn't doing, like, unsafe diving. I wasn't going out and basically doing
02:07:03.028 --> 02:07:05.748
four-minute dives or trying to die and diving overweight. No,
02:07:05.868 --> 02:07:07.368
I just didn't care about sharks, whatever.
02:07:08.228 --> 02:07:12.348
Seeing Brittany's face, Hillary's face, I was like, no, you freaking idiot.
02:07:12.908 --> 02:07:15.208
Like, what are you doing? It was rough.
02:07:16.048 --> 02:07:20.268
But, yeah, then I'm over him. I've started making personal protective devices,
02:07:20.968 --> 02:07:26.728
they're great you just is that the powerheads yeah so I legally sell them as
02:07:26.728 --> 02:07:27.708
personal protective devices.
02:07:28.568 --> 02:07:33.088
So they're and how's that work so they protect you for the most part like shark rushes you,
02:07:33.708 --> 02:07:36.788
um they're single use 3D print them you put a 5.56 round
02:07:36.788 --> 02:07:39.728
or 2.23 in it put it on the tip of your gun point it
02:07:39.728 --> 02:07:42.688
shoot it it goes bang for the most part this is similar
02:07:42.688 --> 02:07:45.888
they make these for like alligators yes they'll
02:07:45.888 --> 02:07:49.308
make like a bang stick or exactly what it is hogs i
02:07:49.308 --> 02:07:52.348
think too they use them for yeah they make them for scuba diving
02:07:52.348 --> 02:07:55.648
that you thread on the end of your shaft but now the shaft's dedicated for powerheads
02:07:55.648 --> 02:07:59.488
i make them to where you just slot them under your sleeve they're made out of
02:07:59.488 --> 02:08:04.068
plastic that decomposes with uv so they're not it's not terribly uv resistant
02:08:04.068 --> 02:08:06.928
so but it's not like going to fall apart you're leaving the sun for a day you're
02:08:06.928 --> 02:08:09.108
leaving the sun for a week it's going to crumble like it's just going to be
02:08:09.108 --> 02:08:13.708
gone um you can just rub it together and turn it into dust but.
02:08:14.672 --> 02:08:19.072
I'd say a week. I've left them out in the sun for quite some time, and they'd fall apart.
02:08:19.532 --> 02:08:23.152
But, no, you leave them under your sleeve, what have you, but you do see a shark.
02:08:23.292 --> 02:08:26.692
You know what I mean? You don't have to dedicate a gun to sharks.
02:08:26.832 --> 02:08:28.852
You can just pull that out, slide it on the tip of your gun,
02:08:28.972 --> 02:08:32.992
to the tip of your shaft, and then point it, shoot it at the shark, and it's fine.
02:08:33.192 --> 02:08:36.012
I mean, it's enough to deter it from attacking you.
02:08:36.372 --> 02:08:39.732
We have a lot of sharks. A pile of them. And they're eating all the fish.
02:08:40.172 --> 02:08:40.812
They're eating everything.
02:08:41.392 --> 02:08:44.372
I mean, anything and everything. It's bad. bad no one
02:08:44.372 --> 02:08:47.092
needs to fix it pretty quickly like so
02:08:47.092 --> 02:08:50.452
we had what almost record number of attacks in my area three
02:08:50.452 --> 02:08:54.012
people in one day and they're on uh san jose beach it's
02:08:54.012 --> 02:08:58.432
bad how do you fix it i'll kill them not trying to be a dick it's just it's
02:08:58.432 --> 02:09:02.372
it like a lot of the scientists don't realize i don't think they take into consideration
02:09:02.372 --> 02:09:08.212
that when you put a ton of pressure on the apex predators and And you drop their
02:09:08.212 --> 02:09:11.852
population to what you would consider dangerously low.
02:09:12.672 --> 02:09:17.572
And then you increase the food for the predator, right?
02:09:17.632 --> 02:09:20.892
Because you've made such harsh restrictions on the reef fish and the fishery.
02:09:20.892 --> 02:09:24.172
There's such harsh restrictions on it that the fishery has rebounded significantly
02:09:24.172 --> 02:09:25.472
without the apex predators.
02:09:26.092 --> 02:09:28.212
And then they still have the pressure on the apex predators,
02:09:28.332 --> 02:09:30.332
but the pressure is not on the reef fish, right?
02:09:30.392 --> 02:09:34.412
With the limits set by NOAA for red snapper, grouper, you know,
02:09:34.412 --> 02:09:37.272
all these fish. There's now there's so many regulations now that the fish have
02:09:37.272 --> 02:09:38.372
rebounded significantly.
02:09:39.292 --> 02:09:44.632
They have turned and now you've basically turned the pressure off of the predators completely.
02:09:44.832 --> 02:09:48.192
There's no more pressure on sharks. I think there's one shark boat in Alabama,
02:09:48.432 --> 02:09:49.992
period. I don't think there's any in Pensacola.
02:09:50.692 --> 02:09:54.552
That number is going to skyrocket. I mean, again, you have unlimited food source
02:09:54.552 --> 02:09:56.552
for these sharks and you have no sharks.
02:09:56.952 --> 02:10:01.152
Now every shark has a chance of survival. Like you can keep one shark per day
02:10:01.152 --> 02:10:05.152
per boat now. Now, and a lot of the clients don't want to kill the sharks on charter boats, right?
02:10:05.272 --> 02:10:08.732
And I don't want to deal with, you know, hauling an eight-foot bull in or a
02:10:08.732 --> 02:10:13.092
six-foot bull in, right? And if I go to sell it, the ice costs more than the shark meat does.
02:10:13.712 --> 02:10:16.272
Why would I even get shark quota?
02:10:17.092 --> 02:10:21.252
It doesn't make sense. Right. Before, you could hack the fins off and sell the
02:10:21.252 --> 02:10:24.772
fins, and it was worth it because you could kill a shark, get three fins.
02:10:24.992 --> 02:10:28.012
And now you can't do that. No. The sharks are coming home. hole so
02:10:28.012 --> 02:10:30.932
and you can't you know i don't think you're allowed to separate
02:10:30.932 --> 02:10:33.632
the sharks fins period right i saw the
02:10:33.632 --> 02:10:36.612
whole shark so and with that being said there's there's
02:10:36.612 --> 02:10:39.652
just a pile of and why can't they
02:10:39.652 --> 02:10:48.432
just do what they do with nutra fish huggers fish huggers fish huggers like
02:10:48.432 --> 02:10:52.672
that's it i mean people that don't really know much about the water no they
02:10:52.672 --> 02:10:57.332
really don't It's like the Jack Wagons that released the wrong type of wolves in Colorado.
02:10:58.432 --> 02:11:02.772
Geniuses. Scientists. They're trying to manage this. Dick Jagger says it best.
02:11:02.912 --> 02:11:06.352
You're trying to manage a fishery with a PhD with paintbrushes.
02:11:06.852 --> 02:11:11.412
Don't work. You need actual science. You need data. You need to understand what happens.
02:11:12.810 --> 02:11:14.910
I'm pretty sure you know about the elk they released in Colorado,
02:11:15.150 --> 02:11:18.330
the wrong breed, or not elk, but the wolves. The wolves, yeah.
02:11:18.750 --> 02:11:22.610
It's the same thing. Like, there's more elk ever in Colorado,
02:11:22.630 --> 02:11:24.850
and you just introduced wolves, and they just went rampant.
02:11:25.390 --> 02:11:31.410
Same thing with sharks. They're going rampant. Everybody wants their good idea to go public, you know?
02:11:31.790 --> 02:11:36.090
They need to, my lieutenant in the Navy had the best saying, the good idea fairy.
02:11:36.710 --> 02:11:39.870
They come drop these good ideas, and they have no idea how to execute them.
02:11:40.110 --> 02:11:44.830
Right. We have way too many of those. way too many i got i don't i don't get
02:11:44.830 --> 02:11:49.290
it i don't i don't know how to fix it which is actually i called you yesterday
02:11:49.290 --> 02:11:54.230
to talk to you about this the ducks unlimited does a ton for resources for ducks.
02:11:54.890 --> 02:11:57.650
I'd like to pick somebody's brain to figure out
02:11:57.650 --> 02:12:00.670
how to save like who somebody in
02:12:00.670 --> 02:12:04.070
ducks unlimited has got to know who to talk to somebody about
02:12:04.070 --> 02:12:06.870
conservation because like with the rigs that
02:12:06.870 --> 02:12:09.670
are destroying out here you've got this big hoopla in
02:12:09.670 --> 02:12:13.050
florida about coral reef you got this big hoopla about the
02:12:13.050 --> 02:12:16.850
fishery in florida in alabama and louisiana but
02:12:16.850 --> 02:12:19.870
these oil companies are blowing rigs left
02:12:19.870 --> 02:12:23.650
and right and they're killing more fish than
02:12:23.650 --> 02:12:26.310
they're killing more fish than commercial fishermen do on a
02:12:26.310 --> 02:12:29.210
yearly basis we're blowing 200 rigs a year out here right
02:12:29.210 --> 02:12:32.870
i mean chase and tyler they got videos of my i
02:12:32.870 --> 02:12:35.770
mean as far as you can see just white dots floating that are fish that
02:12:35.770 --> 02:12:39.450
are dead from them blowing up rigs like who
02:12:39.450 --> 02:12:42.790
can we talk to because rigs and reef isn't doing a whole lot like who
02:12:42.790 --> 02:12:46.050
can we talk to to say hey put a
02:12:46.050 --> 02:12:49.510
pause on this until we do research somebody in
02:12:49.510 --> 02:12:52.950
conservation somewhere has got enough like some politician we could say hey
02:12:52.950 --> 02:12:57.230
chillax stop blowing these things up these things aren't hurting anything they're
02:12:57.230 --> 02:13:01.010
all published on charts why do we got to take them down oh they're they're hazard
02:13:01.010 --> 02:13:04.850
to the environment no they're not look at all the coral reef that are on there's
02:13:04.850 --> 02:13:06.650
coral top Top to bottom on some of those.
02:13:06.830 --> 02:13:10.930
I mean, polyps, corals, like there's brain coral on some of them.
02:13:11.270 --> 02:13:15.630
Well, there was. Not anymore. If I'm not mistaken, there's a giant multi-million
02:13:15.630 --> 02:13:18.710
dollar study to brain coral in the Keys. So where are the fish huggers now?
02:13:19.690 --> 02:13:25.230
Why not get the fish huggers involved and say, look at this beautiful coral we built?
02:13:25.810 --> 02:13:30.690
We try. They look at it as, I'm assuming, I don't know, but they look at it
02:13:30.690 --> 02:13:32.450
as, oh, it's oil. Oil's bad.
02:13:33.190 --> 02:13:40.790
It's all about green. Yeah, but it's not oil anymore. It's not oil anymore. No. It's a re-use.
02:13:41.150 --> 02:13:42.150
Yeah, it's a reef.
02:13:43.270 --> 02:13:46.090
Yeah, it seems like they would be the people to get involved.
02:13:46.530 --> 02:13:49.670
Wow, I mean, somebody's got to... There's got to be a conservation somewhere
02:13:49.670 --> 02:13:55.010
up in Congress somewhere that could postpone idle iron.
02:13:55.430 --> 02:13:58.670
If I'm not mistaken, idle iron is the act that Obama...
02:13:59.882 --> 02:14:03.422
That Obama put in place for all the oil rigs, right? If you're not using it, you got to get rid of it.
02:14:03.822 --> 02:14:07.202
And by get rid of it, you mean like- Blow it eight feet below the surface.
02:14:07.522 --> 02:14:13.342
Blow it up and then come back and take every single piece of debris off the
02:14:13.342 --> 02:14:18.702
seafloor and pay for- We have like the death rig that goes out there.
02:14:18.742 --> 02:14:20.062
It's a giant crane. It looks nasty.
02:14:20.322 --> 02:14:23.202
It looks like something out of a movie. Giant green, greenish blue thing.
02:14:23.422 --> 02:14:24.762
It just looks like death.
02:14:25.582 --> 02:14:29.342
And they basically hook up to the top. They cut it.
02:14:29.342 --> 02:14:32.082
They put the top of it on a barge barge leaves
02:14:32.082 --> 02:14:34.762
divers come in put the charges on it
02:14:34.762 --> 02:14:37.462
and they they go eight feet below the surface of
02:14:37.462 --> 02:14:40.322
the mud because that's the stipulations if i'm not i
02:14:40.322 --> 02:14:43.242
could be completely wrong but last i remember reading it was like you have to
02:14:43.242 --> 02:14:47.902
leave it as it was before we got there so that means going eight feet down and
02:14:47.902 --> 02:14:52.922
then you blow it with charges they basically either pick it up put it on a barge
02:14:52.922 --> 02:14:56.882
or you know then they go hook up to it put it on a barge and then they get the
02:14:56.882 --> 02:14:59.342
gorilla nets which are metal nets they drag across the bottom,
02:14:59.802 --> 02:15:03.362
pick up all the debris they use big shrimp boats to do it they pay the local shrimpers to do it,
02:15:03.822 --> 02:15:07.522
pick up all the debris and then they boogie oogie but again all that debris
02:15:07.522 --> 02:15:12.562
that's on the bottom if there's any fish left any life it's gone like you're
02:15:12.562 --> 02:15:16.262
just stirring up mud if there's any coral on the bottom when not mud you've
02:15:16.262 --> 02:15:18.962
killed it you've drug it up you've just destroyed everything.
02:15:19.602 --> 02:15:23.002
All that time spent building something and
02:15:23.002 --> 02:15:25.622
like creating life dude some of these rigs have been there
02:15:25.622 --> 02:15:28.502
since like the 60s if not earlier and we
02:15:28.502 --> 02:15:31.522
have a problem keeping coral worldwide in general
02:15:31.522 --> 02:15:34.762
why doesn't someone see this as an opportunity to
02:15:34.762 --> 02:15:37.562
save the coral i have no idea and their biggest thing
02:15:37.562 --> 02:15:40.402
is oh it's a one of the arguments it's a
02:15:40.402 --> 02:15:43.862
hazard navigation they got to keep the beepers up they got to keep the lights
02:15:43.862 --> 02:15:48.402
they don't want to pay for it turn it off every one of those rigs published
02:15:48.402 --> 02:15:52.882
they're all published if you're telling me somebody with a captain's license
02:15:52.882 --> 02:15:58.562
can't read a chart can't use ectus and can't say hey there's a rig here why
02:15:58.562 --> 02:15:59.442
do you have a captain's license.
02:16:00.262 --> 02:16:02.902
Why where why do you have a 1600 ton master why do
02:16:02.902 --> 02:16:07.242
you have an unlimited master if you can't look on a chart and go dang there's
02:16:07.242 --> 02:16:11.362
52 rigs in this block i'm probably shouldn't drive through it i got fairways
02:16:11.362 --> 02:16:16.062
on left and right or i've got radar i've got all these there's so much technology
02:16:16.062 --> 02:16:18.922
on these boats now they could miss every one of them there's no need to blow
02:16:18.922 --> 02:16:21.922
them up there's no need to just leave them. Let them fall down on their own.
02:16:22.222 --> 02:16:25.682
It doesn't matter. If the wellheads are capped and there's no production in
02:16:25.682 --> 02:16:29.562
them, you know, there's no toxic chemicals on top or in the pipes, let them rot.
02:16:30.042 --> 02:16:32.702
Let them fall apart. Let the top piece fall over. It doesn't matter.
02:16:32.762 --> 02:16:35.162
Leave them there. It does not matter. They're all published.
02:16:35.782 --> 02:16:39.922
You're doing more good than evil. Like that metal, how, if you're worried about
02:16:39.922 --> 02:16:44.662
the metal, go look at all the ships that are sitting in the Northeast, just rotting away.
02:16:45.002 --> 02:16:47.362
Go look at all the ships in these islands that are just rotting away.
02:16:47.362 --> 02:16:48.702
Like go look at North Carolina.
02:16:48.802 --> 02:16:52.222
How many ships are just stuck in the mud just rotting away that estuaries a
02:16:52.222 --> 02:16:55.262
lot more fragile than the Gulf of Mexico Leave them.
02:16:56.363 --> 02:16:58.683
There's so much metal. Look at all of our dry docks. You're worried about metal?
02:16:58.743 --> 02:16:59.883
What about all the anti-fouling paint
02:16:59.883 --> 02:17:02.083
on that dry dock? What about all the anti-fouling paint on the boats?
02:17:02.823 --> 02:17:08.623
That kills all of the microorganisms in the water.
02:17:09.223 --> 02:17:11.903
Like they had to ban Island 33 paint because it killed everything.
02:17:12.043 --> 02:17:13.523
It killed harbors. Killed everything in harbor.
02:17:13.743 --> 02:17:16.923
Not necessarily the fish, but it killed all the plankton, all of the algae.
02:17:17.023 --> 02:17:20.623
It killed everything, right? So if you're worried about these rigs,
02:17:20.623 --> 02:17:23.883
it doesn't make sense. Ban anti-fouling paint.
02:17:24.523 --> 02:17:27.183
That's doing you're putting more particles anti-fouling paint
02:17:27.183 --> 02:17:30.023
rubs off over time you're putting more particles in the water that
02:17:30.023 --> 02:17:35.583
kills microorganisms than that rig is it's a huge problem sorry i could go on
02:17:35.583 --> 02:17:38.523
a rant about this all the time because it's it's made they're pulling like 200
02:17:38.523 --> 02:17:43.363
a year and it's the first time i came out here it was it was amazing now it's
02:17:43.363 --> 02:17:49.223
it's a barren wasteland right you're starting to see it like it's her rigs that were i mean we watched,
02:17:49.823 --> 02:17:53.103
we dove the tournament in july and then
02:17:53.103 --> 02:17:55.703
dove it the following week and there were three rigs gone in a
02:17:55.703 --> 02:17:59.563
week big rigs that we i mean we we had seen uh
02:17:59.563 --> 02:18:03.223
probably a thousand plus snapper on it on each rig you know that's a we could
02:18:03.223 --> 02:18:05.603
physically see not including what was in the murk not including what was out
02:18:05.603 --> 02:18:11.003
they're gone they i can guarantee you 99 of those fish died in that kill because
02:18:11.003 --> 02:18:13.903
they're i mean they're all on the rig you know i mean that rig goes boom the
02:18:13.903 --> 02:18:17.723
shockwave the concussion and they all float and then they just float off into the abyss dead.
02:18:18.463 --> 02:18:21.663
So, and then again, I guess they're not harvesting them so it's okay.
02:18:21.763 --> 02:18:24.643
So technically I can just, we can just go slaughter fish and leave them.
02:18:25.003 --> 02:18:27.623
I mean, it's not illegal, right? Right, they're doing it. Yeah,
02:18:27.663 --> 02:18:30.143
I mean, they're killing millions at a time. So. Yeah.
02:18:31.211 --> 02:18:37.491
Maybe if they just accept the fine, if they just get fined, accept it,
02:18:37.531 --> 02:18:40.771
pay for it, do what they need to do, but it comes at a price.
02:18:40.971 --> 02:18:45.311
Yeah. And then that money can just go drop a new rig out there.
02:18:45.471 --> 02:18:49.451
Yeah. I mean, there's programs that do it, but they're not, I haven't seen any
02:18:49.451 --> 02:18:52.711
of them. I know CCA, yeah, Rigs to Reefs and CCA.
02:18:52.931 --> 02:18:55.911
I just don't know if they're doing, I don't know how deep they're working,
02:18:56.111 --> 02:18:59.471
right? They're doing rock piles and barges and they're doing stuff.
02:18:59.791 --> 02:19:04.651
Yeah. But I don't know if it's the same species of fish. I know like a lot of
02:19:04.651 --> 02:19:07.431
the stuff they were doing, the CCA was doing was real shallow.
02:19:08.571 --> 02:19:12.051
And I mean, I don't know of any that are doing deep, like they've got the cutoffs
02:19:12.051 --> 02:19:17.471
and stuff, but you've got three cutoffs for every 100, even more than that,
02:19:17.491 --> 02:19:20.211
for every 200 rigs you're taking, you get one cutoff.
02:19:21.831 --> 02:19:25.631
You tell me a fishery can sustain that? There's a reason why Louisiana is the
02:19:25.631 --> 02:19:26.611
best fishery in the world.
02:19:26.631 --> 02:19:30.391
And it's not because, oh, it's the Delta. Delta, it's the rigs.
02:19:30.731 --> 02:19:33.771
No questions about it. The floaters, that's where tuna are.
02:19:34.471 --> 02:19:37.951
You know, the shelf rigs, again, an eight, 900 foot of water,
02:19:37.991 --> 02:19:39.951
that's where the tuna are, that's where the snapper are, that's where the cobia are.
02:19:40.151 --> 02:19:44.291
All these rigs have been here for 50s, 60s, you know, some of them 70,
02:19:44.371 --> 02:19:46.991
80 years almost, right? Or 50 to 80 years.
02:19:47.671 --> 02:19:51.251
That tuna that's migrating, whether it be yellowfin, bluefin,
02:19:51.391 --> 02:19:56.471
blackfin, has made a pit stop by the same rigs every year, I guarantee it.
02:19:56.611 --> 02:19:58.391
And a lot of those rigs aren't there anymore.
02:19:58.791 --> 02:20:00.931
So now what's going to happen? Like where are they going to...
02:20:00.931 --> 02:20:05.131
Now you're pulling their migratory stops. They're literally just pit stops along
02:20:05.131 --> 02:20:06.691
the way for their migration. They're pulling them.
02:20:07.431 --> 02:20:10.811
What's happening to those fish? Their migration routes are all whack,
02:20:10.931 --> 02:20:12.491
are going to be thrown off whack.
02:20:13.512 --> 02:20:17.472
You know, like it's inevitable at that point. Same thing like Cobia,
02:20:17.512 --> 02:20:20.352
the Cobia, like the guys in our area get mad about the Cobia,
02:20:20.412 --> 02:20:21.252
they're gone, they're missing.
02:20:22.052 --> 02:20:24.112
We haven't caught them like that. And it's like, well, yeah,
02:20:24.192 --> 02:20:28.712
you guys have fished the same fish that migrate the beach every year, right?
02:20:29.032 --> 02:20:32.052
Those fish are gone. That migration route is gone.
02:20:32.552 --> 02:20:35.712
All your fancy boats, your fancy towers, all your fancy sunglasses,
02:20:36.032 --> 02:20:39.192
and all your tournaments of killing, you know,
02:20:39.192 --> 02:20:41.832
hundreds of of them over 50 pounds i'm using that's a
02:20:41.832 --> 02:20:44.572
small fish i know some guys the years where there
02:20:44.572 --> 02:20:47.432
was what paul revan says nine
02:20:47.432 --> 02:20:50.792
over 90 you're not gonna see that again that's gone those
02:20:50.792 --> 02:20:54.832
90 pound fish are gone those are the same fish that every year come down through
02:20:54.832 --> 02:20:57.692
stewart come around the keys right because they shoot them off the bulls migrating
02:20:57.692 --> 02:21:01.532
come through stewart come around the keys go up the east coast or the west coast
02:21:01.532 --> 02:21:05.732
of florida they hit carabel and stuff because my buddy caleb knows when they
02:21:05.732 --> 02:21:10.552
show up hit carabel you know they start hitting saint joe they hit at the beach in Pensacola, Alabama.
02:21:10.772 --> 02:21:13.472
They run down the beach. They all do it. You could schools of them.
02:21:13.952 --> 02:21:17.432
Then they hit, you know, the Chandler islands and they run up the inside of
02:21:17.432 --> 02:21:20.612
the Chandler or the outside, hit the Delta. And that's where they go to breed.
02:21:21.252 --> 02:21:25.652
A lot of those fish are gone. Now we're starting to see them deeper again on these deep steel.
02:21:26.192 --> 02:21:30.512
I think this is the first year in a while that every time my buddies have gone
02:21:30.512 --> 02:21:33.072
out, they've limited out on Covey on the deep steel though.
02:21:33.152 --> 02:21:36.292
And you're not catching one rod and reel. They're deep Shacks are getting to
02:21:36.292 --> 02:21:39.012
it for the cobia will and everybody kicks and moans complains.
02:21:39.072 --> 02:21:42.032
There's no cobia. They're there You just killed the migrators.
02:21:42.192 --> 02:21:47.112
You've disturbed their migratory routes and so I'm drawing back into Tuna and
02:21:47.112 --> 02:21:49.392
the rigs you've disturbed their migratory router.
02:21:49.432 --> 02:21:52.492
You've killed these fish They were migrating this route now the younger fish
02:21:52.492 --> 02:21:54.972
that have are finding a different migratory route, right?
02:21:55.672 --> 02:21:58.472
I Will bet money that the fish that are making it to
02:21:58.472 --> 02:22:01.232
fuchsia on because I've got videos of them of two three hundred of
02:22:01.232 --> 02:22:04.092
kobe on a rig they didn't just you know appear
02:22:04.092 --> 02:22:06.792
out of nothing no they migrated they took a
02:22:06.792 --> 02:22:10.012
different migratory route than the coast they probably took the shelf all
02:22:10.012 --> 02:22:13.192
the way around or you know off the coast they just cruised that following
02:22:13.192 --> 02:22:16.512
sharks or following whatever they cruised up that and they ended up in fushan
02:22:16.512 --> 02:22:20.272
they ended up in venice west delta that area and again the divers now are seeing
02:22:20.272 --> 02:22:23.012
them they're popping up there so they're poking their way through kobe looking
02:22:23.012 --> 02:22:28.392
for fish and i mean they're there back to the elephant when you start pulling
02:22:28.392 --> 02:22:30.992
in these rigs, these fish are going to have to find new migratory routes.
02:22:31.552 --> 02:22:35.592
Where are these tuna going to end up? These tuna captains, they need to start
02:22:35.592 --> 02:22:39.412
complaining because that's one of the biggest revenues for Venice is tuna.
02:22:40.192 --> 02:22:44.912
What happens when there's no floaters left? What happens when all of these deep
02:22:44.912 --> 02:22:47.772
platforms like Petronas, Bullwinkle,
02:22:48.312 --> 02:22:51.592
and these platforms of 700, 800, 900 foot of water, 1,000 foot of water,
02:22:51.632 --> 02:22:53.712
what happens when they're gone and there's nothing to hold tuna?
02:22:54.152 --> 02:22:55.212
Are you going to drop fads?
02:22:57.011 --> 02:23:01.791
Is Louisiana going to pay to drop a fad that's one cable in a thousand foot of water?
02:23:01.911 --> 02:23:06.451
What's that going to do when you had, you know, 30 legs down there with coral
02:23:06.451 --> 02:23:10.091
on them that held bait fish, any kind of bait fish that tuna wanted to eat.
02:23:10.151 --> 02:23:11.971
It held snapper, cobia, grouper.
02:23:12.071 --> 02:23:16.571
It held anything on it, like from Warsaw's all the way to the little gobies.
02:23:16.851 --> 02:23:21.211
I mean, it had every walk of sea life on it. Where's all that going?
02:23:22.151 --> 02:23:25.051
Like, you're telling me those tuna are just going to come back magically every year?
02:23:25.551 --> 02:23:30.351
I don't think they will. Again, I'm not a marine biologist, but I think I've
02:23:30.351 --> 02:23:32.971
been around the water long enough to understand what's coming.
02:23:33.471 --> 02:23:36.951
Yeah. Then you got a higher concentration of predators.
02:23:37.371 --> 02:23:40.911
Oh, yeah. They know where to go get the meal at now. It's a lot easier to pick
02:23:40.911 --> 02:23:42.991
where to go shopping at for them. Yeah.
02:23:43.731 --> 02:23:46.011
They're all trained. They hear that motors. They hear the trolling motor.
02:23:46.111 --> 02:23:48.611
They hear the motors. They hear you, you know, put in reverse,
02:23:48.911 --> 02:23:51.351
what have you, getting on the spot. They know. They're trained.
02:23:51.931 --> 02:23:54.871
Or they know, hey, these rigs out here hold these fish.
02:23:55.311 --> 02:23:58.451
They're not dumb. them it's like those silkies fall in the shrimp boats i
02:23:58.451 --> 02:24:01.291
buy the i bet they'll bite up they'll bite a bait
02:24:01.291 --> 02:24:04.391
20 times in a lifetime huh what sharks
02:24:04.391 --> 02:24:07.431
oh yeah they'll bite a hook i guarantee knowing
02:24:07.431 --> 02:24:12.451
they'll get a meal and then they get to get go right back so i think some nah
02:24:12.451 --> 02:24:15.531
some of them yeah some of them how many you catch with a leader in his mouth
02:24:15.531 --> 02:24:18.751
you know oh man i mean i see him swimming around the rigs with two or three
02:24:18.751 --> 02:24:21.151
hooks in their mouths yeah you know i mean i don't think they probably never
02:24:21.151 --> 02:24:24.511
made it to the boat but like that thing's been hooked a bunch and i guarantee
02:24:24.511 --> 02:24:25.431
i that thing took a snapper.
02:24:26.011 --> 02:24:28.311
I'll bet money. You're catching them, you're seeing them at 100 foot,
02:24:28.871 --> 02:24:30.831
there's a million snapper and then you look past the snapper,
02:24:30.871 --> 02:24:34.151
there's a shark, he's got two or three hooks and it's like, he got a couple
02:24:34.151 --> 02:24:36.011
free meals. That fish didn't fight.
02:24:36.371 --> 02:24:40.631
He was already, that fish was preoccupied and didn't worry about that shark. But.
02:24:42.203 --> 02:24:45.823
I mean, that's a whole nother, that could be a whole nother podcast of just
02:24:45.823 --> 02:24:50.363
talking about the fishery and the problem and how to fix it and what's coming.
02:24:50.843 --> 02:24:54.123
I mean, the writing's on the wall, it's coming. Yeah, are our fish going to
02:24:54.123 --> 02:24:56.503
be, are our children going to be able to do this, you know?
02:24:57.003 --> 02:25:00.403
It's getting to the point where realistically with the predators and stuff,
02:25:00.423 --> 02:25:01.603
are we going to be able to do it?
02:25:01.923 --> 02:25:05.343
And, you know, there's five, six years, like I'll use a great whites example.
02:25:06.243 --> 02:25:09.443
We've always had them. We've never seen them in the middle of summer.
02:25:10.163 --> 02:25:12.983
They saw two this past weekend. right by me
02:25:12.983 --> 02:25:16.983
it's only a matter of time before that joker starts getting curious so i
02:25:16.983 --> 02:25:19.963
mean they've started seeing them on scuba diving and free diving and and
02:25:19.963 --> 02:25:22.763
in the water you see them here like very rarely but in the last
02:25:22.763 --> 02:25:27.843
three or four years they every year they're seeing them i think this year we
02:25:27.843 --> 02:25:36.363
diving nate and josh saw one we saw one first in like march we saw one and then
02:25:36.363 --> 02:25:41.823
i know some scuba divers saw one right after that some fishermen saw one right after that.
02:25:42.363 --> 02:25:45.483
And this is in the water. Nate and Josh saw theirs.
02:25:46.303 --> 02:25:49.183
That's four. My buddy Paul saw one.
02:25:49.903 --> 02:25:55.663
And then I got another report of one of my commercial buddies saw another one. So that's six.
02:25:56.343 --> 02:26:00.383
And that's inside the shelf. That's not deep water. That's just cruising where we dive.
02:26:01.283 --> 02:26:05.723
So it's only a matter of time for one. And one of those gets curious. That's a lot missing.
02:26:06.343 --> 02:26:11.503
If it takes a bite out of you, that's a big chunk of you gone. Thank you.
02:26:12.506 --> 02:26:16.546
So, it's only a matter of time before, like, some. I don't need any sharks.
02:26:17.286 --> 02:26:20.926
No, I mean, I kill them. I don't need them. I don't care. I'm not using them. No.
02:26:21.646 --> 02:26:25.426
No, I mean, to me, yeah, I don't know. I get it. They're a part of the environment.
02:26:26.806 --> 02:26:31.006
But I look at it as, I don't know. I don't know how to say it.
02:26:31.426 --> 02:26:32.486
The fisher's doing great.
02:26:33.406 --> 02:26:36.306
It was doing great. It really was without the sharks.
02:26:36.706 --> 02:26:40.366
And I'm not saying, like, kill them all. Yeah, but who's it helping to have
02:26:40.366 --> 02:26:42.566
foul millions of sharks?
02:26:42.906 --> 02:26:45.606
Nobody. Who's it helping? Nobody. Helping the sharks.
02:26:46.726 --> 02:26:49.906
I mean, we're the only place, like, Brazil hires Chinese to come in and kill them.
02:26:50.586 --> 02:26:53.686
Talking to the Brazilian divers we take out of Bentic. He goes,
02:26:53.726 --> 02:26:56.526
yeah, we don't have sharks. Why? Because we paid the Chinese to come kill them.
02:26:56.966 --> 02:27:00.986
We, they tell them, don't take the reef fish, kill the sharks. Right.
02:27:01.406 --> 02:27:06.306
And I guess that's what, that would be hard to regulate, you know, that on its own. Be easy.
02:27:06.866 --> 02:27:09.886
You give a couple Chinese you give a couple permits to Chinese guys you throw
02:27:09.886 --> 02:27:15.146
like Noah already has observers on tuna boats long line boats what's the higher
02:27:15.146 --> 02:27:21.966
give five Chinese shark Chinese boats permits throw five no observe 10 no observers that way they're like,
02:27:22.966 --> 02:27:27.446
inspector on yeah and you just say hey you know your job because one of my buddies
02:27:27.446 --> 02:27:31.006
Preston does he goes on long line boats he watches them cut giant bluefin away
02:27:31.006 --> 02:27:34.826
all the time bluefin's not not allowed to touch the deck cool and get it up
02:27:34.826 --> 02:27:39.726
it's a bluefin cut the line there it goes it's dead can't use that fish but
02:27:39.726 --> 02:27:41.646
it's same thing i mean you could do that it would cost you.
02:27:43.746 --> 02:27:48.566
Maybe a couple million a year and you could probably offset that with the cost of the,
02:27:49.546 --> 02:27:53.326
tags or the permits you know i mean if you said hey it's a million not even
02:27:53.326 --> 02:27:56.826
a million let's say you did five boats let's say you did 10 boats and you said
02:27:56.826 --> 02:28:02.726
it's a 200 000 tag two million dollars these guys make 50 60 grand a year,
02:28:04.188 --> 02:28:07.128
Put 10 of them on it. You know, two per boat, it's 120,000. That covers,
02:28:07.188 --> 02:28:09.908
they're 200,000 per permit. You got 80,000 to spare.
02:28:10.708 --> 02:28:13.048
Or you could do, you know, if it's 200,000 per permit, just say,
02:28:13.108 --> 02:28:14.268
hey, each person's going to make 100 grand.
02:28:14.408 --> 02:28:17.828
That offsets it. Now you're, and you could say, hey, we want to keep certain
02:28:17.828 --> 02:28:18.888
parts of the sharks to study.
02:28:19.568 --> 02:28:22.908
You know, you can't keep these fish, this, that. I mean, it can be done.
02:28:22.988 --> 02:28:25.648
That's just a very, very, very crude way to do it.
02:28:26.168 --> 02:28:29.548
But I mean, there's, something's got to get done. We're seeing the lack of snapper.
02:28:29.588 --> 02:28:30.548
We're seeing all kinds of stuff.
02:28:32.508 --> 02:28:37.228
So, but. but it's not good, man. No, it's not. So, and you've seen it happen.
02:28:37.388 --> 02:28:39.148
You know, you've seen it happening over time.
02:28:39.968 --> 02:28:42.788
That's what's important. It takes, it'll take more people like,
02:28:42.788 --> 02:28:46.728
like you that have paid attention to it for long enough, you know?
02:28:46.908 --> 02:28:52.968
Oh yeah. Like you, I'm very blessed to be in the area I'm in and you can put out your own reefs.
02:28:53.208 --> 02:28:58.688
I haven't put out a ton, but you can treat your fishery. Like you treat like
02:28:58.688 --> 02:29:02.788
a deer camp at that point, if you put your own reefs out where you have your
02:29:02.788 --> 02:29:06.948
own specific few spots and you can go dive them and not pressure them and not shoot fish.
02:29:07.088 --> 02:29:11.048
And you can look at them and go, Hey, you know, this has got more pressure.
02:29:11.108 --> 02:29:13.648
You know, this spot's doing better than this spot.
02:29:13.748 --> 02:29:17.388
Why? Or, Hey, you know, this area is doing better than this spot. Why?
02:29:17.528 --> 02:29:20.688
And it allows you to do your own type of like studying for the most part.
02:29:20.788 --> 02:29:23.828
Like you can learn the fish, you can learn the fishery, where they're at,
02:29:23.928 --> 02:29:26.168
what they're doing, how they're reacting.
02:29:26.268 --> 02:29:29.808
And, and there's a few aspects, you know, you can tell,
02:29:29.868 --> 02:29:32.808
you get to see what i'm getting at is you can see the direct impact
02:29:32.808 --> 02:29:38.588
things have right and so like prime example is like commercial scuba diving
02:29:38.588 --> 02:29:42.548
it's not a giant impact but there is an impact you can see it when it when it
02:29:42.548 --> 02:29:47.248
like first took off in my area and then versus now like you can you can see
02:29:47.248 --> 02:29:48.408
the direct reflection of the
02:29:48.408 --> 02:29:52.668
two right you can see when the the certain larger fish are disappearing.
02:29:53.928 --> 02:29:59.568
Versus you know takes a break they come back and then same thing like this year
02:29:59.568 --> 02:30:04.028
has been a terrible year for snapper in shallow and it could be there's a lot
02:30:04.028 --> 02:30:05.588
of variables in there and i'm i'm
02:30:05.928 --> 02:30:09.228
not saying this year is 100 on sharks or it's 100 on thermocline
02:30:09.228 --> 02:30:15.488
or it's you know it's this or that i can say overall in the past three years
02:30:15.488 --> 02:30:21.828
the amount of big snapper and the amount of snapper have slowly started declining
02:30:21.828 --> 02:30:26.628
and it could be there's a plethora of reasons it could be the amount of people
02:30:26.628 --> 02:30:27.628
fishing because of COVID,
02:30:27.688 --> 02:30:31.368
you know, everybody was fishing could be, you know, the amount of technology
02:30:31.368 --> 02:30:36.128
I pilots, these new machines that you can, you know, count the scales on a fish
02:30:36.128 --> 02:30:39.148
pretty much before you get, before you even like we run over it,
02:30:39.168 --> 02:30:42.048
or it could be the sharks. It could be, you know, global warming.
02:30:42.108 --> 02:30:46.308
If you're one of those guys, I mean, it could be again, people selling spots,
02:30:46.448 --> 02:30:49.468
commercial fishing, like there's a long laundry list of, of,
02:30:49.508 --> 02:30:54.928
of things that could be one of the direct reflections that I am seeing is I'm seeing.
02:30:55.851 --> 02:31:00.611
More boats and more sharks. Like there's a direct correlation to those two things.
02:31:00.711 --> 02:31:01.931
There are more people fishing, I agree.
02:31:02.511 --> 02:31:07.751
But there's also a lot more sharks. Like we went diving a couple times and you
02:31:07.751 --> 02:31:09.611
would see one, maybe two sharks on coops.
02:31:10.291 --> 02:31:15.091
And the pad, we went twice. Both times, it was absurd with sharks.
02:31:15.531 --> 02:31:19.651
I mean, each coop, two, three sharks, sometimes four. They're meeting you at the surface.
02:31:19.871 --> 02:31:22.331
They're coming and checking you out on the surface. And this is on like a four
02:31:22.331 --> 02:31:24.411
by eight. This is on a spot small on your desk.
02:31:24.871 --> 02:31:28.591
You know what I mean? One spot that holds fish small on your desk in a desert,
02:31:28.951 --> 02:31:31.011
and there's four sharks on it. Why?
02:31:31.571 --> 02:31:33.871
Did they hear us pull up? They could have. They could have been cruising by
02:31:33.871 --> 02:31:38.051
and heard us pull up. But again, that wasn't a thing two or three years ago.
02:31:38.931 --> 02:31:42.471
Now it's prevalent. And so, and again, but now also there's a lot more fishing.
02:31:42.551 --> 02:31:45.971
So it could be, you don't know which way to go with it. Is it the sharks?
02:31:46.031 --> 02:31:47.691
Is it the people? They're learning. Yeah.
02:31:48.391 --> 02:31:51.531
So, I mean, there's a lot that could change. but i there's not
02:31:51.531 --> 02:31:54.931
if you look at the fishery early 2000s before
02:31:54.931 --> 02:31:57.811
they did the shark ban or not the shark brand they changed
02:31:57.811 --> 02:32:01.231
the regulation of shark fishing there was the fishery was was
02:32:01.231 --> 02:32:07.571
nice it was a good it was it wasn't necessarily the there's always bad times
02:32:07.571 --> 02:32:14.291
good times it was definitely i'm trying to put it it wasn't an easier fishery
02:32:14.291 --> 02:32:17.811
it was a there was just more fish,
02:32:18.651 --> 02:32:21.731
is about the best way to put it i don't think there wasn't as a lot of pressure
02:32:21.731 --> 02:32:22.891
there wasn't as much pressure from
02:32:22.891 --> 02:32:26.911
apex predators including us is what i'm trying to say yeah for sure so,
02:32:27.611 --> 02:32:34.571
but yeah this is a tangent sorry but how about a how about a big fish story
02:32:34.571 --> 02:32:42.171
a big fish big fish story to finish this up yeah what do you just want like
02:32:42.171 --> 02:32:44.631
the one that got away do you want like Like, what do you want?
02:32:44.871 --> 02:32:47.671
I want, all right, let's do this. Okay.
02:32:48.851 --> 02:32:54.171
Sell someone on spearfishing or freediving. Oh.
02:32:54.851 --> 02:33:02.991
Like, I guess this. When you go down to 80 feet and you go down and you plane
02:33:02.991 --> 02:33:04.751
out and you open your eyes and you look.
02:33:04.971 --> 02:33:10.051
Mm-hmm. If someone's right on the side of you For the first time If never dope
02:33:10.051 --> 02:33:15.931
before And they're right on the side of you What is being experienced?
02:33:17.031 --> 02:33:20.431
Like just what is it man? Just what is it?
02:33:20.471 --> 02:33:25.431
That is a good one I can't explain it I'm not good at explaining either What is happening?
02:33:27.251 --> 02:33:34.351
That is That is a Excellent question there buddy Like you go down Yeah And me
02:33:34.351 --> 02:33:38.371
and Chad are side by side and I've never been down before and I open my eyes
02:33:38.371 --> 02:33:40.851
and then what the hell is happening?
02:33:42.160 --> 02:33:47.360
Oh, we're not supposed to be there, right? Or are we, are we supposed to be there based on the MDR?
02:33:47.480 --> 02:33:51.320
We're supposed to be there. Like we can't get there. i
02:33:51.320 --> 02:33:55.200
i don't know
02:33:55.200 --> 02:33:58.140
euphoria is kind of
02:33:58.140 --> 02:34:01.020
the best word to describe like if
02:34:01.020 --> 02:34:06.520
you one word be euphoria because it's a it's like opening the door to a new
02:34:06.520 --> 02:34:12.800
world from the inside it's not like looking from the outside in where like i
02:34:12.800 --> 02:34:18.460
say scuba or you know doing these little i've seen like the jet rides,
02:34:18.600 --> 02:34:21.820
or not the jet rides, but the little air bubble things you're riding around
02:34:21.820 --> 02:34:26.700
on little scooters, you're not like an alien at that point.
02:34:26.820 --> 02:34:29.700
Like when you're freediving, you're part of the environment because they treat
02:34:29.700 --> 02:34:31.160
you like another predator.
02:34:31.600 --> 02:34:35.220
Immersed. Yes. That is probably the best word is immersed. You're immersed in
02:34:35.220 --> 02:34:42.100
that ecosystem and they treat you like an apex predator, like a predator, right?
02:34:42.160 --> 02:34:45.460
So you get a pretty natural reaction to them.
02:34:46.060 --> 02:34:49.500
Sometimes not. sometimes they're i mean obviously like everybody say
02:34:49.500 --> 02:34:52.260
fish are dumb like a big a big black group that's never seen a human like
02:34:52.260 --> 02:34:55.600
oh they're dumb they swim right up to me well yeah well okay so
02:34:55.600 --> 02:35:02.340
for deer hunters you know there's deer hunting on your lease huh and hunting
02:35:02.340 --> 02:35:08.300
out of a box stand and and running into a doe on the on a trail and all that
02:35:08.300 --> 02:35:13.980
stuff and you see those reactions and you You learn how deer move when they see you.
02:35:14.020 --> 02:35:17.880
You learn what is in their eye and what they're going through when they're looking at you.
02:35:17.960 --> 02:35:22.600
And then maybe you go elk hunting.
02:35:22.780 --> 02:35:28.760
Maybe you go to Colorado and maybe you run into an animal that has never seen
02:35:28.760 --> 02:35:32.620
a human because you're 12 miles deep somewhere.
02:35:33.020 --> 02:35:36.180
And they don't see humans. And you're the first human they've seen.
02:35:36.660 --> 02:35:41.240
That is a different interaction right there. And you and you recognize it 100%
02:35:41.240 --> 02:35:44.400
so for I think when you're in the water if I were every,
02:35:44.940 --> 02:35:50.020
Interaction you're getting is that yeah, you're getting a real-life Nature yes
02:35:50.020 --> 02:35:54.480
on nature You can see it like the best like I just thought of the best analogy
02:35:54.480 --> 02:35:57.380
would be if you're at a whitetail hunter and you've hunted the same property,
02:35:57.980 --> 02:36:03.880
your entire life and you threw on a saddle and somebody dropped you in the canopy of the Amazon and.
02:36:04.863 --> 02:36:11.063
Because the noise, the amount of life, the amount of, you know,
02:36:11.063 --> 02:36:15.643
new things you've never seen or heard because the noises underwater are totally different.
02:36:15.703 --> 02:36:19.823
You hear all the barnacles, you know, purging water and stuff like that.
02:36:19.863 --> 02:36:22.063
And you hear that crackling noise on the rigs, it's barnacles.
02:36:22.283 --> 02:36:28.283
You hear the gags barking, you know, you hear all these noises and then you hear like fish jumping.
02:36:29.123 --> 02:36:32.443
It's a whole new environment. and then you
02:36:32.443 --> 02:36:35.843
realize like there's on any given rig right
02:36:35.843 --> 02:36:40.483
if it's if it's hasn't been pressured there's millions of fish i mean as far
02:36:40.483 --> 02:36:45.423
as you can see there's fish from spadefish rainbow runners blue runners hardtails
02:36:45.423 --> 02:36:49.923
barracudas i mean gobies like even when you're holding on to the rig there's
02:36:49.923 --> 02:36:51.723
probably 50 gobies by your hand
02:36:51.723 --> 02:36:54.883
yeah coolest look they have so much personality dude you could i I mean,
02:36:54.923 --> 02:37:00.863
I'd say anyone can just stare at the rig legs for an hour and be entertained.
02:37:01.183 --> 02:37:04.623
Oh, if you go down to the first platform and just look right here,
02:37:04.723 --> 02:37:09.483
like if you just look in this six by six inch space, you could stare at it for
02:37:09.483 --> 02:37:14.003
an hour and be entertained because there's 30 things in there moving around.
02:37:14.183 --> 02:37:19.003
I remember this last trip taking a barnacle that was dead, peeling it off.
02:37:19.103 --> 02:37:22.163
And there's like five of these starfish.
02:37:22.323 --> 02:37:25.083
I don't know what they were, but they're small. all they're like the size of a
02:37:25.083 --> 02:37:27.903
dime and they're fast moving like you can see them they'll move their leg
02:37:27.903 --> 02:37:31.283
and they'll start crawling and stuff and all of a sudden the gobies go nuts i
02:37:31.283 --> 02:37:34.203
mean they come in they eat one and then you
02:37:34.203 --> 02:37:36.963
know they go back and they all sit there and stare at you because they do they
02:37:36.963 --> 02:37:41.063
they they're like do it again yeah yeah do me another little punks like do me
02:37:41.063 --> 02:37:44.923
another what are you doing and they come in eat another one they go back and
02:37:44.923 --> 02:37:47.243
they eat another one go back and they're all just staring at you and it's like
02:37:47.243 --> 02:37:51.703
you 100% can maintain you got the you know the one the alpha in the area because
02:37:51.703 --> 02:37:54.263
he's the biggest one he's got this two little antennas it's depending on what
02:37:54.263 --> 02:37:56.743
kind he is you know what i mean he's got his he displaying his colors.
02:37:57.263 --> 02:38:00.243
And it's just completely entertaining you could take it a step above go
02:38:00.243 --> 02:38:03.003
to the first platform at 60 feet all the grays
02:38:03.003 --> 02:38:07.863
all the groupers all the little ornamental fish that i mean they come and look
02:38:07.863 --> 02:38:11.723
at you they they dance around you they'll come like i've been laying on a platform
02:38:11.723 --> 02:38:16.743
and i've had like a school of spadefish come by and you'll have 30 or 40 spadefish
02:38:16.743 --> 02:38:19.783
rubbing on you trying to clean themselves and i mean that's if you can't tell
02:38:19.783 --> 02:38:22.963
that's not a natural interaction like i'm I'm laying there and all of a sudden you feel,
02:38:23.043 --> 02:38:27.343
you know, a spade fish just rub down the side of you and you're like, what?
02:38:27.423 --> 02:38:29.723
And then you feel them just constantly. There's 10 or 20 of them,
02:38:29.743 --> 02:38:31.563
however many, just rubbing all over you, trying to clean themselves.
02:38:32.063 --> 02:38:35.523
And you're just, okay, this is cool. Or you got like the damsel fish coming
02:38:35.523 --> 02:38:38.143
in, looking at you. And then you see a Graysby grouper sitting there.
02:38:38.463 --> 02:38:40.723
He's got his fins out. He's staring at you like.
02:38:41.763 --> 02:38:44.303
I don't know what you are, but you know, I'm keeping my distance,
02:38:44.403 --> 02:38:48.403
what have you, or again, the mangroves coming in, looking at you and they're,
02:38:48.403 --> 02:38:50.363
you know, they're giving you the side eye or the mangrove dance.
02:38:50.503 --> 02:38:53.743
They look at you, wait for you to move and they'll, they'll skirt away at a
02:38:53.743 --> 02:38:55.743
45 and you'll see them looking over their shoulder.
02:38:55.963 --> 02:38:58.883
And I mean, it's just looking at all the different fish and how they,
02:38:58.943 --> 02:39:02.343
and each one of them have a different personality and they all like interact
02:39:02.343 --> 02:39:03.423
with predators differently.
02:39:03.863 --> 02:39:06.043
And you can just see it. Like there's some, the ornamental fish,
02:39:06.103 --> 02:39:09.663
they don't care about you because they know like nothing eats them. They have a job.
02:39:09.943 --> 02:39:13.003
They do their job. everything leaves them alone you know
02:39:13.003 --> 02:39:15.643
it's just looking at that whole thing it would
02:39:15.643 --> 02:39:18.723
to me be just like if you were dropped if you
02:39:18.723 --> 02:39:22.583
were to sit in the amazon rainforest you
02:39:22.583 --> 02:39:26.203
know i mean just sit there and listen and look the amount of stuff you could
02:39:26.203 --> 02:39:30.023
see right that's like a rig leg like if you if you were to take as far as you
02:39:30.023 --> 02:39:33.483
could see in the amazon you know like hanging from a tree you know i mean not
02:39:33.483 --> 02:39:37.863
like just on a saddle in a tree with a bow trying to hunt an animal and just
02:39:37.863 --> 02:39:39.603
put in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.
02:39:39.903 --> 02:39:42.743
That would be the best comparison to diving a rig.
02:39:43.403 --> 02:39:46.823
There's no telling what you're going to see. You could dive a rig and see a
02:39:46.823 --> 02:39:47.923
different fish every day.
02:39:48.523 --> 02:39:51.843
Me and Tyler saw, I've never seen it. Look at a dentex, but it was yellow and
02:39:51.843 --> 02:39:56.503
black. Had a black stripe across his face, probably 12, 15 pounds.
02:39:57.203 --> 02:40:01.083
Was in the snapper family or dentex family. That's all I remember. It looks like a dentex.
02:40:01.163 --> 02:40:04.143
Looks like a red snapper with a face of an African pompano
02:40:04.143 --> 02:40:07.103
golden knee i mean neon yellow
02:40:07.103 --> 02:40:09.863
with a black stripe right behind its eye thick about three inch
02:40:09.863 --> 02:40:12.863
black stripe behind his eye never seen that fish day in my life no idea
02:40:12.863 --> 02:40:15.963
what it was looked at three times 12 15
02:40:15.963 --> 02:40:18.723
pounds same thing every time i go to rig never
02:40:18.723 --> 02:40:21.883
saw a permit i know that thing's delicious i'm killing it never seen
02:40:21.883 --> 02:40:24.803
a queen triggerfish again same thing shot a
02:40:24.803 --> 02:40:28.083
bar jack that i'd never seen before that was giant world record
02:40:28.083 --> 02:40:30.903
had no idea look at yellow jack bar jack never seen
02:40:30.903 --> 02:40:34.163
one neon blue like man it said no you
02:40:34.163 --> 02:40:37.023
know as many times as you hunt a
02:40:37.023 --> 02:40:40.223
tree you know or you hunt an area
02:40:40.223 --> 02:40:43.703
or whatever even you
02:40:43.703 --> 02:40:49.283
know it it just gets to be old it does yes you learn you pattern where the animals
02:40:49.283 --> 02:40:54.263
are going to come from you may pattern the times or whatever it gets old eventually
02:40:54.263 --> 02:41:01.143
it's like but but like you said you dive now or Or three minutes from now,
02:41:01.283 --> 02:41:04.223
you're going to have two different experiences. There's no telling what's down there. Right.
02:41:04.323 --> 02:41:08.543
Or whether you go down and look this way or you go down and look this way first.
02:41:08.643 --> 02:41:10.163
Yes. You're going to have a different outcome.
02:41:10.343 --> 02:41:14.363
You know, it's, you could just repeat this. You can go down to the same spot
02:41:14.363 --> 02:41:17.783
all day long and probably have just a different dive every single time.
02:41:18.003 --> 02:41:23.983
Oh, 100%. You know, it's wild. We dove with Ronnie the other day and he said,
02:41:24.023 --> 02:41:25.983
hey, there's a scamp here. Never saw it.
02:41:26.973 --> 02:41:31.473
Two dives in a rather scamp here. I don't see it. And then I go down and I say,
02:41:31.493 --> 02:41:33.393
oh, hey, did you see the dog snapper? No, I never saw it.
02:41:35.013 --> 02:41:37.213
Have you not? I've seen it every dive, Ronnie. What are you looking at?
02:41:37.253 --> 02:41:38.373
He goes, have you seen the scamp? No.
02:41:38.993 --> 02:41:43.493
We're looking at each other like you got to be stupid. Like I saw a dog every dive. He saw a scamp.
02:41:44.053 --> 02:41:46.513
There are two totally different looking fish. One's a snapper,
02:41:46.553 --> 02:41:48.813
one's a grouper. And I'm like, wait a minute.
02:41:48.913 --> 02:41:51.933
And again, it's stuff like that. Like, hey, like for example,
02:41:51.973 --> 02:41:54.993
the black I shot in the Bahamas, us never even saw
02:41:54.993 --> 02:41:58.273
it until tyler pointed it out i saw a fireback that was
02:41:58.273 --> 02:42:01.093
probably like 15 pounds it was a good one and i
02:42:01.093 --> 02:42:03.673
had missed it and it went a hole and it came back out and i
02:42:03.673 --> 02:42:06.553
was going to dive on it because i knew the hole was in now and i was going to dive on it and tyler
02:42:06.553 --> 02:42:10.233
grabbed me and said no look at the look at the black had no idea the black was
02:42:10.233 --> 02:42:14.693
there it's i mean stuff like that like every time you dive it's something new
02:42:14.693 --> 02:42:18.633
if you take the time to look at it also because some guys can die the same thing
02:42:18.633 --> 02:42:21.333
over and over and they're only looking for one specific fish but but they miss
02:42:21.333 --> 02:42:25.853
the 15 new fish they've never seen because they can't shoot them or because they don't look at them.
02:42:25.893 --> 02:42:31.113
But it's an overwhelming experience for sure.
02:42:31.133 --> 02:42:35.313
It truly is. Man, I talk about this, but the trip with Paul in Venice,
02:42:36.433 --> 02:42:43.813
the amount of just new stimuli running around in my brain.
02:42:43.853 --> 02:42:46.093
Yes. And, dude.
02:42:47.013 --> 02:42:50.253
So let's answer the first question. Why is it hard to relax?
02:42:52.673 --> 02:42:55.393
You've never like you've never been there you've
02:42:55.393 --> 02:42:59.133
never experienced it before yeah you know i guess
02:42:59.133 --> 02:43:03.113
you gotta you gotta dive for years before you've experienced most of the things
02:43:03.113 --> 02:43:08.433
and then you can stop worrying about those things and worried about more you
02:43:08.433 --> 02:43:15.113
know you can you can more so focus on a thing like a fish like yeah you can't
02:43:15.113 --> 02:43:17.653
take someone who just went to the course,
02:43:18.233 --> 02:43:23.433
and then they came dive the golf the next week and say like hey go,
02:43:24.033 --> 02:43:26.773
there's a dog at 30 go shoot that dog.
02:43:26.953 --> 02:43:30.513
Oh they're blasting the first snapper they see. Yeah like no that's too much.
02:43:30.573 --> 02:43:34.213
That's way too much information like just dive.
02:43:34.413 --> 02:43:39.093
Just go dive. That should be the only information. You see something you want to shoot, shoot it.
02:43:39.373 --> 02:43:42.953
I mean if it's legal shoot it but if you want it.
02:43:43.353 --> 02:43:49.573
Honestly so So we get back in the truck, you know, we get back to Venice and we clean fish.
02:43:50.293 --> 02:43:55.573
We get back in the truck. Venice is a long road back in the civilization, right?
02:43:55.853 --> 02:44:00.213
I don't know how far you're driving until you're in another town. I don't know.
02:44:01.390 --> 02:44:06.230
30 minutes before you pass in anything that's not just an old road.
02:44:06.310 --> 02:44:09.930
It's like Venice, Empire, Dulac. It's Dulac. No, Dulac's to the west.
02:44:10.270 --> 02:44:14.410
It's basically bell chase is like the first thing you get to.
02:44:14.470 --> 02:44:15.170
It's like civilization.
02:44:15.890 --> 02:44:21.370
I was probably there, honestly, before I woke up from what just happened.
02:44:21.570 --> 02:44:25.530
Like I was still in La La Land.
02:44:25.870 --> 02:44:28.770
Seriously, I hadn't thought about anything. I hadn't thought about work.
02:44:28.930 --> 02:44:31.650
I hadn't thought about nothing. nothing i was dry we were like
02:44:31.650 --> 02:44:34.570
dead silent and i'm like the day
02:44:34.570 --> 02:44:37.290
was still i'm trying i'm still trying to wrap my head
02:44:37.290 --> 02:44:43.110
around the day because i had shot maybe two fish that day you know saw a bunch
02:44:43.110 --> 02:44:48.670
of fish i got to watch paul dive a lot you know so it wasn't a whole day of
02:44:48.670 --> 02:44:52.890
what we're used to now as like a day of diving but it was way more than i can
02:44:52.890 --> 02:44:55.370
handle it was just so much thinking
02:44:55.430 --> 02:44:58.750
about the fish and the diving and seeing
02:44:58.750 --> 02:45:01.710
sharks and like interacting with them and
02:45:01.710 --> 02:45:04.490
getting thrashed around by waves and
02:45:04.490 --> 02:45:07.350
current and i'm just thinking all the things are
02:45:07.350 --> 02:45:10.770
just still in my head and like i don't remember
02:45:10.770 --> 02:45:13.470
driving from venice to to bell
02:45:13.470 --> 02:45:16.170
chase like i do not remember any of that like i
02:45:16.170 --> 02:45:19.030
don't remember getting back to the dock i was
02:45:19.030 --> 02:45:23.030
just still like in pure blackout just
02:45:23.030 --> 02:45:26.390
focus mode like and it was wild and like that's been
02:45:26.390 --> 02:45:29.550
the first thing to get me like that in a long time
02:45:29.550 --> 02:45:32.490
you know really in a long time it's like you
02:45:32.490 --> 02:45:37.850
said you're immersed in a new world and it's almost like sensory overload the
02:45:37.850 --> 02:45:43.730
entire and it's like v i would imagine it's like what being on a vr a really
02:45:43.730 --> 02:45:49.270
good vr headset would be like yes just you take it off but why would you take
02:45:49.270 --> 02:45:50.810
it off if you could just put it back on. Exactly.
02:45:51.410 --> 02:45:55.130
That's how it feels. It is. And I, I don't know how to explain it.
02:45:55.150 --> 02:45:58.530
Like the, the feeling you just said, cause everybody's like, why do you dive so much?
02:45:58.570 --> 02:46:03.750
Why do you go to the golf? It's like, it's your chance to experience a new world.
02:46:04.350 --> 02:46:09.310
And I mean, and like you're saying, like you had 30 minutes of to process what was going on.
02:46:09.930 --> 02:46:13.350
And it's, it's almost like, it's like an escape, but also at the same time.
02:46:14.623 --> 02:46:18.003
It basically is an escape. You know what I mean? Like, that's why,
02:46:18.023 --> 02:46:22.163
like when I said there's two, like nobody ever really does it casually.
02:46:22.443 --> 02:46:27.483
Most of the time they're all in because it's just such a, such an experience, a sensory overload.
02:46:27.663 --> 02:46:32.263
I mean, identical to what you're saying. Like, Oh my gosh, what is going on?
02:46:32.763 --> 02:46:35.483
Like, this is the best, the best thing ever.
02:46:36.263 --> 02:46:38.703
It's, it's, it's grass. It's not the best thing ever, but you know,
02:46:38.723 --> 02:46:42.683
it's one of those like, wow, this is something I can do. It's fee,
02:46:42.783 --> 02:46:43.703
it's something feasible.
02:46:43.883 --> 02:46:50.603
It's, It's near, you know, you really don't need a lot of gear to start or to try.
02:46:50.663 --> 02:46:55.163
Like I said, if you just go take a stupid course and then from now on,
02:46:55.163 --> 02:47:00.643
when you go, if you go take a trip to Biloxi or wherever you can get in the
02:47:00.643 --> 02:47:05.223
golf, go down to 12, 15 feet and look at the little bait fish.
02:47:05.523 --> 02:47:08.063
Like at least you could do it for a little longer now.
02:47:08.943 --> 02:47:10.863
It'll make that funner. Exactly.
02:47:12.003 --> 02:47:16.903
It'll make it to where you can not worry about getting there.
02:47:17.003 --> 02:47:18.543
You can enjoy the moment more.
02:47:18.723 --> 02:47:23.143
Because that's what we like. Tyler says, he goes, if I could just get to X depth
02:47:23.143 --> 02:47:25.723
and hang out a little longer...
02:47:26.678 --> 02:47:29.698
Would be a game changer yeah and sometimes five more
02:47:29.698 --> 02:47:32.818
seconds is a huge fish or no fish exactly
02:47:32.818 --> 02:47:35.638
it's whether and same thing whether it's five feet or sorry
02:47:35.638 --> 02:47:39.038
whether it's like 10 12 feet or whether it's 105
02:47:39.038 --> 02:47:42.758
feet like taking the course it's
02:47:42.758 --> 02:47:46.218
not going to get you to 105 but if you take the proper courses it
02:47:46.218 --> 02:47:49.858
can make the experience that much more enjoyable i
02:47:49.858 --> 02:47:52.818
mean whether it's getting the correct course is another thing because
02:47:52.818 --> 02:47:55.758
you can definitely take a course that is not enjoyable we
02:47:55.758 --> 02:47:58.858
talk about like the course of benthic like oh it's just nerve-wracking
02:47:58.858 --> 02:48:01.658
anxiety and no like none of the students do it right no
02:48:01.658 --> 02:48:04.698
we have like a 99 pass rate the
02:48:04.698 --> 02:48:07.798
only people that don't pass are they have equalization
02:48:07.798 --> 02:48:11.258
issues i.e they stayed out because they've been indestined i
02:48:11.258 --> 02:48:13.978
use you and britain's example like you guys didn't do
02:48:13.978 --> 02:48:17.598
this but you know it's a couple they're on like a vacation husband's getting
02:48:17.598 --> 02:48:20.298
drunk you know i mean then he shows up he's got
02:48:20.298 --> 02:48:22.938
he's half drunk he can't equalize because he's
02:48:22.938 --> 02:48:26.018
not hydrated he's dehydrated he's trying to pound water and then
02:48:26.018 --> 02:48:28.718
you know you can't equalize so we tell them hey look you know come
02:48:28.718 --> 02:48:32.098
back you've got a year to redo this course you don't
02:48:32.098 --> 02:48:35.378
have to pay anything except for unless we go to vortex you know you pay your
02:48:35.378 --> 02:48:39.558
entry to feed a vortex and then you will recertify you just do the open water
02:48:39.558 --> 02:48:44.178
again 90% of people come back you know some of them don't but 99% of the reason
02:48:44.178 --> 02:48:47.798
they don't pass is the equalization nobody doesn't pass because they can't perform
02:48:47.798 --> 02:48:50.578
they can't do the dives and it's it's not all about the diving.
02:48:50.678 --> 02:48:57.078
It's one of the main requirements and is as an instructor, do I feel safe for
02:48:57.078 --> 02:48:58.618
that person diving with a loved one?
02:48:59.158 --> 02:49:02.898
That's one of the requirements to pass the class is like, do you think this
02:49:02.898 --> 02:49:04.098
person is going to kill a loved one?
02:49:04.638 --> 02:49:07.838
Yeah. I mean like they, there, there are physical requirements they have to meet.
02:49:07.998 --> 02:49:10.498
Like I'm not going to tell everybody what they are, but there are things,
02:49:10.618 --> 02:49:13.698
there are checkpoints in the class that a person has to meet.
02:49:14.658 --> 02:49:18.218
But overall, like, do I trust them? Like if I were to like,
02:49:19.035 --> 02:49:21.455
Would I let my fiance go die with him? You know what I mean?
02:49:21.495 --> 02:49:22.615
Do I think she's going to come home?
02:49:23.015 --> 02:49:25.795
Yeah. I think like everybody in the class can do these safety things.
02:49:25.895 --> 02:49:28.655
I don't think somebody's that dense that they can't, you know,
02:49:28.655 --> 02:49:32.535
say like they can't watch somebody have an LMC and not go, ah,
02:49:32.535 --> 02:49:33.855
they're having problems.
02:49:34.415 --> 02:49:36.695
That was a heavy military term you just threw in there.
02:49:37.455 --> 02:49:42.555
Yeah. Are you that dense? I haven't heard that in a while. Oh, man. You gotta be dense.
02:49:43.615 --> 02:49:46.595
Yeah. There's not a lot going through there. well man I
02:49:46.595 --> 02:49:49.935
appreciate your like the
02:49:49.935 --> 02:49:53.035
passion you have for this because no matter what the thing
02:49:53.035 --> 02:49:55.935
is if you don't have people that are
02:49:55.935 --> 02:49:59.315
passionate about it it won't keep going it'll
02:49:59.315 --> 02:50:02.755
stop right whether it's a business or or
02:50:02.755 --> 02:50:06.435
whatever a skill a tradition
02:50:06.435 --> 02:50:09.255
you know a cultural tradition but you gotta
02:50:09.255 --> 02:50:12.895
have you gotta have passion in what you're doing and I know
02:50:12.895 --> 02:50:15.835
it'd be hard for you to do anything on the water
02:50:15.835 --> 02:50:18.855
without feeling like a it's not
02:50:18.855 --> 02:50:21.635
gonna feel like a job or a chore
02:50:21.635 --> 02:50:25.415
like yeah i've watched you and i know it's
02:50:25.415 --> 02:50:28.215
something else right so like i think
02:50:28.215 --> 02:50:31.015
everyone needs something that they they have
02:50:31.015 --> 02:50:34.375
that thing yeah you know whether it's
02:50:34.375 --> 02:50:37.775
whatever music or are are
02:50:37.775 --> 02:50:41.335
are drifting yeah i
02:50:41.335 --> 02:50:44.195
don't know something not as cool as spearfishing it's just gotta
02:50:44.195 --> 02:50:47.095
be something you gotta be passionate about it and you gotta find other
02:50:47.095 --> 02:50:52.515
people that are that are passionate in it do if you don't have hobbies you don't
02:50:52.515 --> 02:50:57.975
have passions life's not life yeah i mean you're just kind of just mellowly
02:50:57.975 --> 02:51:02.195
going through life and it's not an enjoyable time some are more dangerous than
02:51:02.195 --> 02:51:06.475
others and this is a pretty dangerous one but what is that's why we find Find people like you,
02:51:06.515 --> 02:51:10.895
and we learn the proper safety techniques to do so.
02:51:11.135 --> 02:51:15.995
Yeah, I mean, it's not hard, guys. Take class. I promise.
02:51:16.655 --> 02:51:21.375
It's worth every penny. I have not met a single person that was like,
02:51:21.535 --> 02:51:24.095
I didn't learn anything. I'll never forget.
02:51:25.535 --> 02:51:33.395
So my first attempt in the course down to 66, there's a kettlebell sitting at, like, what, 80 feet?
02:51:33.915 --> 02:51:36.395
66. It's sitting at 66. So we were
02:51:36.395 --> 02:51:39.335
drifting, right? Yeah. So we're just drifting on the line in the Gulf.
02:51:39.615 --> 02:51:44.375
We're in like 80 foot of water. Yep. You can see the sand from the surface.
02:51:44.455 --> 02:51:47.375
You can really see the sand from the boat above the water.
02:51:47.835 --> 02:51:52.435
Crystal clear. You had a really good year. Yeah. There's just a rope hanging
02:51:52.435 --> 02:51:55.395
down from a buoy with a kettlebell on it.
02:51:55.735 --> 02:52:02.055
And the kettlebell is at 66. And the goal is to do all the techniques they teach
02:52:02.055 --> 02:52:05.615
and get down to 66. and sit there and then come back up.
02:52:06.035 --> 02:52:08.415
And so I remember going down.
02:52:10.401 --> 02:52:15.381
Believe you follow right you you say like lined up yeah i think for those i'm within,
02:52:16.241 --> 02:52:19.141
like almost arms reach oh yeah i'm within reach the
02:52:19.141 --> 02:52:23.461
whole time or like i'm a foot behind you yeah sometimes i try not to bother
02:52:23.461 --> 02:52:27.321
students because they have a lot going on last thing they do is look at me because
02:52:27.321 --> 02:52:33.201
it clams them up we're going down and you think we had to grab the rope at that
02:52:33.201 --> 02:52:36.261
point we had to hold on to the rope on the way down or no yeah it depends so So,
02:52:36.261 --> 02:52:38.741
like, we do free immersions down to 45,
02:52:38.861 --> 02:52:44.621
so you pull down 5, 10, 15 meters, and then you do a dive to 33, and then 45, and then 66.
02:52:44.741 --> 02:52:46.921
So, it depends on where you were at. Okay.
02:52:47.741 --> 02:52:51.401
My first 66. So, you were diving. I got to do it twice.
02:52:52.141 --> 02:52:56.861
I went 66. I guess you just followed me, and I literally just went down,
02:52:56.921 --> 02:52:58.681
touched it, turned, came back.
02:52:58.881 --> 02:53:02.461
Yep. and then next time you you said all right
02:53:02.461 --> 02:53:05.501
this time go and just he said go
02:53:05.501 --> 02:53:11.441
and then look at me sit sit there you know sit still and look at me don't go
02:53:11.441 --> 02:53:17.021
up until i tell you to sort of thing so i remember going down you know and when
02:53:17.021 --> 02:53:20.181
you're going down you can start to see the sand kind of get closer and it gets
02:53:20.181 --> 02:53:24.881
weirder as as you get lower it gets weirder because yeah it's like you're in a a different,
02:53:24.901 --> 02:53:29.621
you're in a different world here than you were 60 foot above you. It's just different.
02:53:30.021 --> 02:53:36.161
So I get down, turn around, I'm looking at you and now we're facing upright.
02:53:36.501 --> 02:53:40.701
So we're facing upright feet down, but we're just sitting right at,
02:53:40.721 --> 02:53:48.241
right at 66 and you had hand signaled for me to turn around or you pointed over my shoulder.
02:53:48.401 --> 02:53:54.301
Yeah. And I, I just remember like, we were doing We were doing the free immersions at this point.
02:53:54.401 --> 02:54:01.841
I remember just like corkscrewing around and there was just a wall of just a
02:54:01.841 --> 02:54:05.481
bazillion bait fish. I don't know what they would have been. Cigar minnows. Yep.
02:54:06.761 --> 02:54:11.001
Just as many as you can fit in one picture frame. Oh, yeah.
02:54:11.601 --> 02:54:16.721
Past 10 feet in front of my face. Just like I've really felt like I was in a
02:54:16.721 --> 02:54:22.761
movie or on some sort of like screensaver. and it just went like from top to
02:54:22.761 --> 02:54:26.221
bottom, all my peripherals were filled with fish.
02:54:26.421 --> 02:54:28.301
And they just- Millions of them.
02:54:28.361 --> 02:54:32.601
Yep, and they just all within spacing of each other just buzzed by me.
02:54:32.721 --> 02:54:36.881
And I remember that, that was like the first, like wow.
02:54:37.361 --> 02:54:40.541
That was the first really like holy crap.
02:54:42.306 --> 02:54:45.326
Don't get to see that if you don't do this and what's
02:54:45.326 --> 02:54:48.146
what's funny is the difference like people like i'll scuba dive and
02:54:48.146 --> 02:54:51.006
you get to experience it the benefit of free diving
02:54:51.006 --> 02:54:54.026
is you probably remember that with vivid detail right
02:54:54.026 --> 02:54:56.906
oh yeah oh that that's one of those and dude i
02:54:56.906 --> 02:55:00.326
remember it's like it's funny but what
02:55:00.326 --> 02:55:03.526
i really remember was the actual turning around
02:55:03.526 --> 02:55:06.966
like i remember my body moving yep like
02:55:06.966 --> 02:55:09.846
i remember everything slowly came into the
02:55:09.846 --> 02:55:13.386
picture and then i it was like it expanded on
02:55:13.386 --> 02:55:16.446
itself and i like whoa like way bigger and it's
02:55:16.446 --> 02:55:19.326
like you look through the fish yep you're like way deeper than
02:55:19.326 --> 02:55:22.066
you thought like there's layers of them
02:55:22.066 --> 02:55:25.506
you know oh yeah but yeah i remember like the
02:55:25.506 --> 02:55:28.466
actual flicking of my feet to turn
02:55:28.466 --> 02:55:31.286
it's like that's what i remember that's that's so
02:55:31.286 --> 02:55:34.466
crazy endorphin that endorphin not rush
02:55:34.466 --> 02:55:37.206
but that then it is kind of like endorphin rush that i'm
02:55:37.206 --> 02:55:39.966
talking about it's it's almost it's a
02:55:39.966 --> 02:55:43.446
high almost you know it's so weird that
02:55:43.446 --> 02:55:46.286
like time slows down when you get
02:55:46.286 --> 02:55:49.206
a good breathe up a good dive that heart rate
02:55:49.206 --> 02:55:52.146
drops you hit depth your heart
02:55:52.146 --> 02:55:56.786
rate comes back down it's like it's exactly it's almost like a high it's that
02:55:56.786 --> 02:56:03.966
endorphin high and then a second feels like 10 seconds yeah like you can i you
02:56:03.966 --> 02:56:06.946
probably have some of these where like you're looking at a fish and you can
02:56:06.946 --> 02:56:09.626
remember just about every detail of it.
02:56:10.026 --> 02:56:12.706
And, but you didn't shoot it. Like you couldn't, like you just couldn't land,
02:56:12.746 --> 02:56:14.886
like you couldn't get close enough to the fish or what have you,
02:56:14.906 --> 02:56:19.926
but it was a good, it was a solid dive and you're looking at it and it's just like.
02:56:21.042 --> 02:56:23.262
You felt like you're staring at that fish for a minute and a half and you get
02:56:23.262 --> 02:56:25.802
up and you look and you're like, that was a minute, 15 dive.
02:56:25.942 --> 02:56:29.042
And you're realistically looking at fish for like five seconds,
02:56:29.122 --> 02:56:30.182
10 seconds. You know what I mean?
02:56:30.842 --> 02:56:34.882
It's, it's one of those things that it's, it's a whole different experience
02:56:34.882 --> 02:56:41.022
getting like free diving versus scuba or, or snorkeling or like doing the snuba stuff.
02:56:41.782 --> 02:56:45.042
It's just a totally, totally new world.
02:56:45.422 --> 02:56:48.282
Yeah. Like I said, that's, that's funny. You talk about that. that's exactly how
02:56:48.282 --> 02:56:51.702
the dive that i remember i told you about a level two i
02:56:51.702 --> 02:56:54.442
can remember every detail about that just burned into you
02:56:54.442 --> 02:56:57.342
oh yeah it's in there forever i mean that was eight years ago
02:56:57.342 --> 02:57:00.182
now just about right my level two i mean
02:57:00.182 --> 02:57:04.462
i can vividly remember it's very interesting and it's like there it's like yeah
02:57:04.462 --> 02:57:09.762
nothing was overly significant about it you know like i've had cooler things
02:57:09.762 --> 02:57:14.402
happen but that weren't burned into me like that though you know you're probably
02:57:14.402 --> 02:57:19.382
it's It's just a time and place and a mindset and your heart rate and all that, everything.
02:57:19.542 --> 02:57:22.162
Everything plays into it. Like, you probably had a good breathe up.
02:57:22.702 --> 02:57:26.522
You didn't care about anything else but the dive. You got your heart rate down.
02:57:27.282 --> 02:57:31.422
You did the free immersion, right? Or you may have been diving,
02:57:31.562 --> 02:57:33.462
because I know we don't hang out long on the kettlebell.
02:57:33.542 --> 02:57:38.762
I think you had done a turn and burn before was a thing, and you didn't look
02:57:38.762 --> 02:57:42.822
comfortable at all in that first one. Because I think I remember this vaguely.
02:57:43.282 --> 02:57:46.782
Yeah, no, I do remember it now slightly like you've done a turn and burn and
02:57:46.782 --> 02:57:49.902
you didn't look comfortable So I said hey because I do that a lot with students
02:57:49.902 --> 02:57:52.682
I tell them I just take their try to take their mind off of what's actually
02:57:52.682 --> 02:57:56.042
going on because that's a it's mind of a batter We talk about it.
02:57:56.082 --> 02:57:59.142
Like it's it's 80 mental the rest is in your head free diving.
02:57:59.342 --> 02:58:03.002
That's it That's probably one of the best things i've heard you say.
02:58:04.522 --> 02:58:07.362
I'm, like god, that's so true But I do
02:58:07.362 --> 02:58:09.982
remember this but the back to it is you had a good
02:58:09.982 --> 02:58:12.982
breathe up you dropped your heart rate you know what i mean you didn't focus on
02:58:12.982 --> 02:58:16.102
anything but making the dive and then once you
02:58:16.102 --> 02:58:19.602
did the dive and we we you know we settled down your heart
02:58:19.602 --> 02:58:22.542
rate started dropping again when your heart rate drops like that your body does start
02:58:22.542 --> 02:58:26.882
releasing the endorphins and then now it's that's like the engraving taking
02:58:26.882 --> 02:58:32.002
place is that right there it's like okay all the dominoes are lining up and
02:58:32.002 --> 02:58:35.082
you just you they said you turned around you can remember you could probably
02:58:35.082 --> 02:58:38.082
feel it in your feet right now like all the what your fins did and everything
02:58:38.082 --> 02:58:40.902
like that and then you see the fish Wow.
02:58:42.910 --> 02:58:45.830
Is going on right now yeah you don't you don't remember you're at 66 feet
02:58:45.830 --> 02:58:49.070
right you're just you're so immersed and then hey next thing
02:58:49.070 --> 02:58:52.430
you know you get a taff and hey we're going up right and oh what
02:58:52.430 --> 02:58:56.550
just happened right it could have been i mean because you could it feels like
02:58:56.550 --> 02:59:01.290
you could stay on there forever that's that's what the and then the dolphins
02:59:01.290 --> 02:59:06.970
will come get you i don't know i'm sorry about it did we see a bunch of dolphins
02:59:06.970 --> 02:59:10.850
no but was it i heard they'll come get you i've I've heard.
02:59:10.910 --> 02:59:13.330
I haven't seen it. Was your class the one where we saw the Wahoo?
02:59:13.810 --> 02:59:16.030
No. You told me about that. I think it was a class before. Yeah.
02:59:16.030 --> 02:59:20.050
We had that like. We just had cigar minnows or whatever. Yeah. Pots of them.
02:59:20.670 --> 02:59:23.790
Yeah. It was a class before. Had that like. It was a decent sized Wahoo.
02:59:23.810 --> 02:59:27.370
Do a figure eight through us on the floats. You know. Joe give me a gun.
02:59:28.490 --> 02:59:31.910
He probably had one on there. No he didn't. We were talking because they'd bring
02:59:31.910 --> 02:59:34.410
a gun. I had always brought guns and they just left them.
02:59:35.170 --> 02:59:38.190
So. Joe was a great instructor. You were a great instructor.
02:59:38.190 --> 02:59:41.290
Instructor it's really a well-put class i've
02:59:41.290 --> 02:59:44.430
done so much training you know in the military and
02:59:44.430 --> 02:59:47.790
i've going through classes and i've had instructors and i
02:59:47.790 --> 02:59:54.510
was impressed at the at i don't know like the the speed of it it it felt it
02:59:54.510 --> 02:59:58.510
felt military yeah it did and maybe it's because y'all do you said you have
02:59:58.510 --> 03:00:03.610
a lot of military guys go through there but it really did feel structured sort
03:00:03.610 --> 03:00:05.410
of like a a military training, you know?
03:00:05.850 --> 03:00:08.430
Yeah. And I, and I was comfortable in that. Like, I like that.
03:00:08.570 --> 03:00:11.950
We do the, we do it like that. And we tell her like, we could stretch it out.
03:00:12.010 --> 03:00:14.890
We could extend it. But realistically, if you got a weekend in desk and we talk
03:00:14.890 --> 03:00:19.470
about it, classroom, pool, Saturday's done. Like you're not doing anything Saturday.
03:00:19.610 --> 03:00:22.070
You're already tired. Sunday, we get you in the water.
03:00:22.330 --> 03:00:24.830
You know, we certify you as long as you, you know.
03:00:25.887 --> 03:00:29.207
Weren't a complete jack wagon you know we certify you we've
03:00:29.207 --> 03:00:32.147
basically you normally only two or
03:00:32.147 --> 03:00:34.907
three people come together now you still have half a
03:00:34.907 --> 03:00:37.707
day sunday to get your life back together to go back
03:00:37.707 --> 03:00:40.527
to regular life or if you want to we have people
03:00:40.527 --> 03:00:43.327
go hop on boats we have people go to the jetties we have a
03:00:43.327 --> 03:00:46.327
lot of stuff like we're not you're not eating up your
03:00:46.327 --> 03:00:49.107
entire weekend you know i mean like you
03:00:49.107 --> 03:00:51.927
still have half a day to do things yeah we still went out for
03:00:51.927 --> 03:00:54.707
dinner and all that stuff and then you pack your stuff go back to
03:00:54.707 --> 03:00:57.527
louisiana what have you or fly like catch a flight all that
03:00:57.527 --> 03:01:00.227
stuff like and that's why we've structured that way that's why the boat's within a
03:01:00.227 --> 03:01:03.267
half mile the pool is literally 100 feet behind
03:01:03.267 --> 03:01:06.567
the behind the classroom so you walk out of the room go out of the building
03:01:06.567 --> 03:01:09.627
go to the next building there's the pool like so that way you don't have to
03:01:09.627 --> 03:01:12.787
rent a car if you don't want to like if you can get to your hotel close to the
03:01:12.787 --> 03:01:17.067
shop you can walk to the boat you can walk to the pool everything's right there
03:01:17.067 --> 03:01:20.427
in house like that's like joe's been a huge huge,
03:01:20.527 --> 03:01:23.467
huge thing on like, if you're gonna do something, do it right.
03:01:23.907 --> 03:01:27.127
Like you don't, don't do something like half-assed, do it right.
03:01:27.207 --> 03:01:31.267
The first time slow and steady, put it through the paces, make sure it works
03:01:31.267 --> 03:01:32.247
before you bring it to market.
03:01:32.327 --> 03:01:35.647
And that's kind of what they did. Like they, they ran in boats and they said,
03:01:35.687 --> 03:01:37.367
no, we need a boat. They bought that boat.
03:01:37.547 --> 03:01:38.647
And then, you know, they, they
03:01:38.647 --> 03:01:42.287
got to slip right there. They specifically bought the slip in that area.
03:01:42.687 --> 03:01:45.307
They specifically put the shop where it's at. You know what I mean?
03:01:45.347 --> 03:01:47.427
They knew the guy, but again, everything is right there.
03:01:47.507 --> 03:01:50.607
He's, he's built to relationships with the people he has to give you know
03:01:50.607 --> 03:01:53.427
a better freediving class or not a better but
03:01:53.427 --> 03:01:57.007
a a solid quality freediving class now granted we don't have the conditions
03:01:57.007 --> 03:02:02.507
as hawaii does but it is still a good class yeah it's well done i think it's
03:02:02.507 --> 03:02:08.067
worth anyone's time and investment to go oh yeah to go do that even like i said
03:02:08.067 --> 03:02:11.287
even if you never go back or you don't have a boat or.
03:02:11.867 --> 03:02:16.827
It's worth it it's worth it and then you y'all y'all have uh rental fins you
03:02:16.827 --> 03:02:19.027
really don't need a You can rent fins, right?
03:02:19.227 --> 03:02:23.687
No, it's wetsuit only that we rent because it's, it's, we're talking about doing rental fins.
03:02:23.987 --> 03:02:27.747
I'm in the, I'm still trying to work on that. You know, it takes time,
03:02:27.867 --> 03:02:32.627
but we're talking, basically you got to buy mask fins, weight belt.
03:02:32.827 --> 03:02:35.087
Right. We can give you, I got enough weights. I can give you weights,
03:02:35.167 --> 03:02:40.047
but we just want to not depend on how many people, but yet try to have those three things. Yeah.
03:02:40.107 --> 03:02:44.707
We have the wetsuit and then everything else. Like fins are really person, person specific.
03:02:44.827 --> 03:02:47.407
We tell you, don't buy them on Amazon. Try them on your feet.
03:02:48.107 --> 03:02:51.367
Because they may not fit. They may look cool. Fish don't care if they look cool when they die.
03:02:51.987 --> 03:02:54.627
But you may think they're cool. If they don't fit right, don't wear them.
03:02:55.067 --> 03:02:58.967
It's going to make your diving, you're not going to like. You're not less enjoyable.
03:02:59.487 --> 03:03:02.687
And then same thing, wetsuits, they're pretty universal for the most part.
03:03:02.747 --> 03:03:03.327
It's only the right size.
03:03:03.947 --> 03:03:06.147
Masks are the same thing. They're not universal. They make sure they fit your
03:03:06.147 --> 03:03:08.287
face. So that's why I tell everybody, buy your own mask.
03:03:08.467 --> 03:03:12.127
If it doesn't fit you properly or it's a scuba mask, the class is not going
03:03:12.127 --> 03:03:14.207
to be as enjoyable. Yeah, for sure. Yeah.
03:03:15.543 --> 03:03:18.543
All right, dude. Anything else? This is awesome. No, man. It's been a long time.
03:03:18.543 --> 03:03:21.163
We could do this for another three hours, I'm sure. Oh, I could.
03:03:21.603 --> 03:03:23.143
I tried, Kathy, unfortunately.
03:03:25.563 --> 03:03:28.023
All right. I really appreciate you having me. When are we going to get out there
03:03:28.023 --> 03:03:29.563
and kill some sharks? Tomorrow.
03:03:30.643 --> 03:03:34.823
I mean, it's only five o'clock. We got daylight. Yes, bro. All right.
03:03:37.083 --> 03:03:40.223
Thank you for coming on. And this is a lot of good stuff.
03:03:40.363 --> 03:03:45.523
I'm interested in going back through this because there's some learnable stuff in here. Oh, yeah.
03:03:45.623 --> 03:03:48.283
Like I said, same thing. If you have any questions with diving,
03:03:48.423 --> 03:03:49.763
what have you, let me know.
03:03:50.103 --> 03:03:52.783
Yeah. How do people reach out to Chad Paddy or?
03:03:53.603 --> 03:03:58.783
Chad Paddy on Facebook. That guy dives on Instagram. Or you can call the shop Benthic.
03:03:58.843 --> 03:04:02.463
If you want a private class, ask for me. You'll get Mike or John.
03:04:03.263 --> 03:04:06.283
They'll give you my information. We can definitely go from there.
03:04:06.763 --> 03:04:10.703
Like I said, that's the two ways. That's the three ways for the most part.
03:04:11.683 --> 03:04:15.763
So, benthicoastersports.com is Benthic's website. I don't have any classes posted
03:04:15.763 --> 03:04:19.743
currently the season starting to slow down But I said if you do want a private
03:04:19.743 --> 03:04:23.803
call them I can definitely put it together or they'll let me know and then I'll
03:04:23.803 --> 03:04:24.963
get in contact next summer,
03:04:25.443 --> 03:04:29.743
Classes start firing back up usually around June or so April is when they start
03:04:29.743 --> 03:04:32.603
and then like so I got to work with Joe because I know the,
03:04:33.123 --> 03:04:37.703
The amount of students have slowed down a lot and I haven't pressed you to teach
03:04:37.703 --> 03:04:42.023
a lot of classes I've just kind of let him with him And getting close to retirement,
03:04:42.123 --> 03:04:43.663
I'm not trying to badger him or what have you.
03:04:44.063 --> 03:04:47.443
So I just let him teach all the classes. And when it picks back up,
03:04:47.483 --> 03:04:48.223
I'll jump back in rotation.
03:04:49.483 --> 03:04:55.963
Sweet. Yes, sir. All right, dude. Can't wait to get back in the water. Oh, yeah. Peace. Peace.
03:04:56.080 --> 03:05:08.080
Music.
03:05:02.543 --> 03:05:05.403
All right. That's it for this episode of the Miracles to Me podcast.
03:05:05.403 --> 03:05:08.243
Podcast we ask that you share it with at least one
03:05:08.243 --> 03:05:11.743
person in your life that you think needs to hear it um you
03:05:11.743 --> 03:05:14.723
know if you got a little something from it you got some little goose pimples or
03:05:14.723 --> 03:05:19.303
just gave you some feel goods um you know send it to someone else let them let
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them feel that too and if you loved it please leave us a five star review that'll
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leave a review same thing with the one through three not interested
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any cool future guests please shoot those over too we're all always interested
03:05:51.503 --> 03:05:56.303
in hearing who else is out there and what kind of cool stories we might be able
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to bring into this place see you next time thanks for listening,
03:06:02.403 --> 03:06:03.723
That's your boy.
03:06:03.600 --> 03:06:32.098
Music.
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