Seth alluded to a funny thing that happened on a dive we did at Mavricks a bit over a year ago. He left out certain details, which I'm sure anyone considering diving with this clown would want to know.
I'm on a kayak, Seth has his paddleboard, (actually a 9' windsurfing board)-way faster than swimming, but not exactly high and dry in terms of getting your butt out of the water. We cross the harbor, make a short portage over the breakwater, and paddle past the big rocks and into the open ocean. It is grey and a little choppy, but not bad. Water looks OK too, as we get soundings of 30-40' and decide to anchor the vehicles and dive. Below, its nice, patchy 25'-30' vis, wild bottom topography-grooves, bumps, arches-and to seaward, a steep ledge that drops away completely, no bottom in sight.
We enjoy exploring the area for a bit, when Hop (Seth) spots a lingcod lying on the bottom, out in the open. He tries to point it out to me, but in my usual ling-blindness take a couple of dives to locate it. Seth wants me to shoot it (he is still deeply into The Quest and is desperate for a kill, even if a vicarious one), but I am reluctant-doesn't seem very sporting, what with the poor fish just lying there, plus it looks a little weird. I dive down and relocate the fish, now lodged under a ledge, though I am wondering if the current pushed it there, as it does not seem very wary, or even lively. Still, it's a decent sized fish, so, point blank, I put one in his head. No reaction, not even a twitch. On the surface, we are poking at the fish trying to decide if I have stoned it, or if was dying (dead?) before I even shot it.
So Seth gets this bright idea to cut the fish to see if it's alive. (Presumably live fish bleed, dead ones don't, or bleed brown, or some such--you'd have to ask Seth). Anyway, before you can say "GWS chum" Seth has slashed the ling's gills and squeezed it, and guess what? There's blood inside!
Now what does our hero do? He hands *me* the now-gushing carcass. So here I am, hanging out on the edge of a serious drop off smack in the middle of the Red Triangle, completely engulfed in an improbably large and thick cloud of blood, and suddenly I have that "is this a Really Stupid thing I am doing?" feeling. I can't even see Seth, who is just 3 feet away...right? I pop my head up, thinking to at least swim out of the cloud, maybe even get up on my kayak and deal with the fish (which is seeming more and more like a liability every moment) there. And what do I see? Seth! In the 5 seconds since he handed me the fish, he has swum (levitated?) himself to the watercraft a hundred feet away and, eschewing the piddly windsurfer, ensconced himself high and dry on my kayak! Clearly he has been having the same thoughts as me, just sooner. Well fortunately the only Carcharidons present were in our heads, and eventually we got everything sorted out, ditched the questionable fish, and paddled to a new (closer in) spot, and had a nice dive luring rockfish & baby lings with the anchor line.
At least we were able to get over our self-spooking and enjoy the dive. P.S. Guided tours still available, but not this time of year. BYOKayak.
Joe Jackson, HMB