The Visibility Network Underground

If you've ever been to Galveston, you know most of the time the beach water looks like a bowl of gumbo. But, every now and then, whether it be because of Super Moon, the damming of the Mississippi, or the presence of a pod of filter-feeding whales, the water clears up. When the water is clear, it is time for Spear Diving!

So how do we know when its clear? You can check the websites, but they aren't accurate, and in the case of G-town, you have multiple parts, Offat's Bayou, Harbour, and the beach. They are not all created equal and they are not always clear at the same times. So, we've assembled a group of guys who like to spear dive (spear fish?) and if we ever see the presence of clear visibility, we send out the call. We head to our phones and start a little old-fashioned phone tree. We are like the French Resistance but more smelly.

I got the call yesterday from my salty friend Seth of JPL Marine Labs. He told me a friend (I mean, secret member of the Visibility Network Underground) told him the viz was at 4 feet or more. That is quite a bit here on Galveston, so I got my stuff together.

I made a trip to the Flagship, took my surfboard and spear out, and went to town. I got two beautiful sheepshead and I stopped there. The viz, when I got there, was more like three feet and a little choppy, so although it wasn't great, if you really want fish, it was perfect. 

Spear diving or spear fishing? I'm sure you can say both and be correct. I like to say spear diving because to me its just as much about the diving as it is the fishing. Maybe I should say dive fishing? Now I'm confused. Well whatever I end up calling it, I would suggest it to anyone. All you need is a nice spear, a mask and fins, and a little bit of training on holding your breath.

Do you have any spear diving stories or suggestions? Post them in the comments below or email me at NeptuneNation@gmail.com.

If you've never been here before, Welcome to Neptune Nation, where Water is Life.

Brett

Found Lumber!!

That's right, found lumber at Ideal Lumber in Galveston. It's beautiful too, and I have many choices. It threw me for a bit of a loop though, what I consider "finger-jointed" is not the same as what they consider it.

My limited knowledge about finger-jointed lumber is found in studs in pine on houses. The joint looks like a bunch of sharp V's or something, joining several 2 foot sections together. These finger jointed boards almost looked like a very fine type of particle board. It was like they had a bunch of 6 inch by 1 inch pieces and they combined them all together to create these massive 16 foot by 1 inch by 12 inch boards.

I looked them over carefully and they appear to be very good quality. I have also combed the internet for info on these boards and some people like them and some people hate them. After much deliberation, I think I am going with the just straight lumber and not going to risk the finger joint. This breaks my heart because the finger-joint stock was soooo cheap in comparison. It was about $30 whereas the straight stock was about $55. Thats a difference of about $15, multiply that by the estimated 10 boards I need and, you get the picture, that's just less money for beer, eek.

So in the morning, I am going there to make the purchase for the base and the oak for the frames and have it all shipped to Sea Aggie Island. Hopefully, this week I can get the bottom started and finished. I underestimated the number and difficulty of tests I would have this semester, so that is slowing down my schedule a lot, but I'll make do...

In other news, Kelly and I have been getting our scuba certification, we will dive at Mammoth lake this weekend to finish up our open water dives, and from there we will be able to find the shark that killed and ate our friend, we will fight it but we'll let it live. We are taking class from a cool guy named Tom at Island Divers, be sure to check him out. He has an awesome shop and a great selection of ScubaPro gear.

Ok, keeping this one short, I have to finish reading In the Heart of the Sea about the Essex whaling ship. I will never look at whales the same way again.

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Was it a deliberate choice not to show the jaguar shark?

~Brett~