I am currently looking to crew on a yacht from Novemeber to March in either the Pacific, South East Asia or the Carribbean.
I have currently found a yacht that is making passages throughout South East Asia. The skipper is very experienced and the costs of living aboart are very reasonable. His yacht is also very spacious and relatively modern, ie safe! lol The boat will make its way from Singapore through Malaysian waters to Thailand.
As I was unable to go to Thailand and attend free-diving training this winter I am keen on getting aboard this boat. It is heading there and with the intention to do the the 5 week resident course at Apnea Total in February. Two birds with one stone.
I understand that spearfishing is legal in Thailand, but that there are a lot of national parks there and local knowledge is necessary. I have not speared there, but have heard that the fish can be pretty amazing. This potentially could be a very exciting trip/adventure with many exotic and tasty species to be enountered.
The issue, however is with Malaysia. It seems that spearfishing may be illegal there, or at least that you need to get a spearfishing gun licence, which is apparenatly the same process as getting a gun licence! lol. I may be able to avoid this problem by using a polespear, however. I have not been able to find an authoritive response to this.
I have been looking at a number of polespears ...
An idea I have held for a long time is to dive without fins with a specialised polespear. I wanted to do this without using a float line, and will still attempt this, but for all intensive purposes I think I will use one if I cannot take my gun into Malaysia with me.
Two polespears seem to stand out: the Gat-ku and the Killer bee.
1. The Gat-Ku: looks good; part graphite for flexibility and lightness and part alum. It also has some really good removable tips: three prong paralyser and a slip tip. These poles can be broken down to manegeable pieces and can be put togther into a spear of about 3 meters length!
2. Killer-Bee: you can move the rubber around on these for close up work, and this also has the best looking slip-tip on the market. There is footage of people hitting some pretty big fish with this speartip. It looks like a really great design.
I will probaly buy both, but if I have a budget constraint, I will most likely settle for the Killer-Bee as it is more flexible in its applications.
While I plan to take my regular fins with me, I have also recently become acquianted with this little product:
It permits a powerful breast-stroke kick and promotes good technique too. It will be fun to experiment with
Looking to recieve a package with this in it shortly.
However...
If I can get on a boat heading out from LA towards Oz I think I would rather take that option. This will permit me to take my gun(s) and such a trip would almost necessarily mean I would have the chance to go through Hawaii and the remainer of the pacific, which, as everyone knows is incredible for fishing and for its exotic and beautiful waters and islands. Finding a berth is proving to be a little challenging as it is not the season for that sort of trip, and it is has been difficult to find contacts. (Although I am fairly certain that it is the on season for the Carribbean - my main issue with going there is that it is painfully expensive!)
If I can't secure a berth on a pacific trip, or at least a Carribbean one within one to two months i'll be locking into the SE Asia trip.
The joy now, will be in educating myself about the fish species and techniques I may need to consider in pursuit of them in these waters.
I know a place in Thailand where there are scallops, big, big juicy scallops! Would love to dive for these, as well as clams, the local crays and crabs, and perhaps other unusial delicacies.
Nice Pic! Bluewater. Wahoo shot with a polespear (What ... no Bluewater canon!?!):
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