fishermen think free divers are crazy. swimming in thousands of feet deep shark infested water trying to spear fish that take them hours to fight on a fishing pole. yeah, i think we are crazy when i really think about it. traveling the world looking for the biggest fish, spending thousands of dollars, sometimes finding it, sometimes not. so when ever i see fishing boats pass us while we are bobbing up and down in the ocean miles away from shore, i think to myself, “maybe i really am crazy?” haha.

panama style free diving is pretty unique. we speed around in a fast boat, we look for birds circling and dolphins jumping. there is a lot of splashing in the water and we don’t know what it is. so we pull up the boat and jump in to find out! as soon as i open my eyes, i either see something, or i see nothing. most of the times nothing, but sometimes the most incredible painting of nature. that’s what makes me want to do it more and more.

of the 15 times we jumped into the ocean yesterday, i seen dolphins on 7 occasions. just swimming by as you hear them singing. it is so peaceful and puts your body at ease. these are the moments in life that are so precious. it makes me appreciate nature even more and more. and makes me want to spend more and more time in the ocean. after i finished reading the book “Into the Wild,” it made me realize how important it is to live the life the way you want too. and that’s why i’m here in panama right now. i’m living the “Into the Wild” life in Panama! 3 more full days of diving and then i will go back to the reality world in hawaii, which i love dearly too! ah, life is good!

Another day, another dive!

ok, just got back from a long day out in the ocean. so many cool things that happened and saw. it’s past 10pm and my eyes are closing. the internet is slow here so things take 3x longer than normal. while my camera is charging and my room mate is snoring, i’ll try to stay up for another 5 minutes.

it all started early this morning at 6am. everybody anxious to get on the boat after all that traveling. especially me. see all these weapons here? i could kill 6 people in 6 seconds. yeah, i’d rather get shot by a real gun rather than a spear gun.

check us out as we get shuttled to our boat waiting outside. we looked like navy seals this morning.

there are bird piles everywhere! i’ve seen over a thousand dolphins, big tunas, birds, sea snakes, fish jumping, and everything you can imagine. it was amazing!

diving in 1000′ deep water is interesting. and since the water visibility was only 30′ maximum, you could imagine what was deep down below. i took a few 60′ dives and all i could see was black. it was so dirty and dark down there. kind of another weird world. not beautiful, but weird.

the morning was slow so we decided to go catch some bait. these katsuo, or aku, or bonito, is great bait for big fish. we ended up catching about 20 with fishing poles in 30 minutes, then went back to the 1000′ deep black and test our luck. and yes, luck came for one lucky man. it wasn’t me, but i was just glad i was there to witness something only a few could.

people in japan crave for katsuo tataki! but here, we sacrifice these delicious fish to attract even more delicious fish.

i have a million of stories today. but since Kyle is filming for Hawaii Skin Diver TV, i don’t want to spoil it. i’ll just leave you with this interesting photo i took on the way back. ever seen a skinny flying tuna?
well, my brain isn’t functioning as of right now. i’m going to shut down, put in my earplugs, wear my eye mask, and set my alarm for 5am. tomorrow will be another long day on the boat and you just never know what’s going to happen. what a treat! good night from panama!