> We plan to snorkel as much as possible, starting at Bucks Island
> National Park
> in St Croix.
Are you familiar with a "dive plane"? It's a poor-man's equivalent of one of
those torpedo-like personal U/W scooters. Here's what you do:
Fashion a 2' X 1' square of 1/2" plywood (approx.).
Attach two large bolts, suitable for gripping.
Wrap the bolt with gaffer's tape.
(If you have an old pair of snow ski poles,
cutting off their handles with about an inch
of pole is perfect).
Make a bridle between the bottoms of the handles of about 2' of 3/8" line
Attach a ski or wakeboard tow rope (or about 75') to the bridle and the
transom of the tow boat.
Don your mask, fins and snorkel, and have a blast "flying" along the bottom,
scaring the hell out of fish as you zoom up on them!
Have the driver pull you *very* slowly! The boat really shouldn't even make
a wake, which is why I thought of trawlering. If it gets weird, or you see
something cool, just let go. You'll be back on the surface with time to
spare before the boat gets back.
With a bit of practice, you can dive as fast as you can clear your ears;
being able to hit 30' in a few seconds is no problem. It's sort of a
full-body, shoulder-hunching kind of move to start the dive. Because of the
bridle, you can operate the dive plane one-handed, to facilitate
ear-clearing. If you like to spearfish, you can put the loop of a pole spear
around your shoulder, and tow it behind you. If you see some game, just let
go and take the shot. I don't think that I'd try it with a loaded speargun,
however YMMV.
Warning! Under no circumstances should you use the dive plane with a SCUBA
tank! Rapid ascents could embolize you, or get you seriously bent! Death
could result, so don't send your heirs crying to me!
If you need more detailed instructions, I can put a diagram up on the Web
for you. It's not really an exact thing, so use what you have laying around.
Have fun, and watch out for sharks!
BTW: Here's a pair of books on freediving, written by world-record
spearfisherman Terry Maas (398 pound bluefin tuna! The picture on the cover
is unbelievable!) that really helped my technique: "Bluewater Hunting and
Freediving" and "Freedive!".
___________________________
Doug Barnard
rebuilding a 20' Skipjack
"Fiesta Bimbo"
trawler-crawler wannabe
