Near Death Encounter.

Spearfishing is considered a very dangerous sport/form of fishing. Bearing in mind all of the factors involved.

During my spearo years I have faced many scary & life threatening moments under water.. but the award definitely goes to this  sweet but unfortunately sour day. 

(Please keep in mind that to help you guys out with visual aspects of my story/blog I have  tried to fill in the gaps by using images from different sources to portray what I experienced in those moments. and am not taking any credit for them as  as they are sourced.) 

 I'm sure most of you who follow my Facebook posts would know that about a month ago I had a close life or death encounter during one of my not so planned spearing trips.

Yes.. I know XD  If you're one of those followers you would also know that I am prone to accidents or crazy incidents/encounters. ahaha

Looking at it from the bright side, what can I say, I guess I love to test my self and leave my comfort zone to experience true adventures. 

So let me begin with the story. It all began on a beautiful sunny & perfect day... as expected, my inner saltlife was craving the ocean as the weather was horrible in the previous days.


My friend had brought down a group of his friends from Switzerland for winter break.  And because it was finally a bright and sunny morning amongst a week of wind & thunderstorms we obviously had to take them out on the boat to prove to them that the crappy weather/water they saw in the previous days was nothing compared to the "real ting!".

So we took a trip out to sea to go snorkeling & to let them explore the beautiful reefs & marine life of the Bahamas. 

Initially we all snorkeled around the reefs. Everyone was so happy and intrigued by the amount of fish swimming around us. I just love exposing people to marvelous new things such as this. 

We even encountered sharks! ....& I can't even lie, seeing a shark in person for the first time can be quite frightening. But not to these guys! They were swimming right behind them! 

LOL soooo it's not what you guys are probably thinking . NO SHARKS were involved in my encounter story haha. Sorry for the tease, I promise the juicy part is coming !! bare with me. 

As predicted they did not stay in too long. Eventually their non-fish tendencies lured them back into the boat to I guess chill & sunbathe. ahaha I mean, I wouldn't know because I obviously stayed in the water.  

So it was just me & one other person, who I guess by defult became my dive buddy. My spearo senses were indeed tingling and I of course had to get my gear to see if I might as well take out a couple fish while I was there.

I got back into the water and I was doing my usual scoop around the reefs, looking for a decent fish to shoot. 

Source: http://maritimenews.id/makhluk-cantik-dalam-kawasan-berbahaya/

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article2500074.html

I then neared a ledge and saw two HUGE lips poking out of a reef head... and there it was... my trophy grouper. It was sitting right there- so still & calm. & It was at that moment that I knew he was MINE!   

I remember being quite excited. So I had to take a couple of breaths in and out to calm my bursting heart beat.
FOCUS! I told my self and I then took my one last breath and began to slowly descend towards the grouper. 

Source: : https://plus.google.com/113273537727385880706/about

I had made the perfect descend, so smooth & so graceful, as the grouper did not even realize that I was right there.

I then pulled back my sling as far back as I could (to get the most powerful shot), aimed right at the temple of it's head and released. 

BAMMM!! The spear hit the grouper right where I aimed! Stoning it dead cold. It did not even flintch 

source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JY4M3fZ4oNQ

I can't even begin to explain to you guys how excited & eager I was to bring my 3.3ft trophy fish to the surface.

I held the grouper by it's gills and began to swim up towards the surface with my back towards the ledge. (Leaving my back exposed to a blind spot- FIRST MISTAKE)

I was about 50 feet underwater so at about 30 ft as I was ascending I was above the reef ledge and was now exposed to what ever was waiting for me above the ledge.

SUDDENLY out of NOWHERE, in a blink of an eye this is literally what I see heading full speed towards me.

***** 

Source: http://1080.plus/CCvgG6wM2Bw.video

a SIX FOOT BARRACUDA!! OMGG!! My worst nightmare. all I saw was an open mouth filled with razor sharp teeth. 

Never in my life did I think such a  thing would/could happen to me.

It swooped in and I kid you not, in about THREE seconds It had sawed through my massive prized grouper. 

source: http://gruntfarter.co.uk/tag/recession/

Only missing my hand by inches. 

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But thats not even the whole story.. In that moment & in the shock of it all, Instinctively my reflexes told me to turn away obviously to try avoid getting bitten by this massive monster.

Total Sophie's luck would have it that in that moment while avoiding getting bitten I twisted awkwardly & yup.. you guessed it.. my KNEE decided to DISLOCATE.  

So I here I was 30 ft underwater, with half of my breath, half of a fish, a broken sling (it popped at impact), a hungry barry, and of course a dislocated knee,

Source: http://mulpix.com/instagram/underwater_time_water_diving.html
So what did I do?? 

Source: http://mulpix.com/instagram/underwater_time_water_diving.html

I did the most sensible thing of course.
Simultaneously, I prepared myself for the inevitable pain, popped my knee back into place, tried to remove my hand from the remaining head of the grouper. Resulting in me having to take off my whole glove as it was stuck inside of the barbs in the gill. Left the other half of the fish with my glove in it's gills & swam.. or should I say franticly kicked away with one leg, like a BOSS.

 Source: http://www.surfski.pl/przewodnik/86-egipt--el-gouna--przewodnik-nurkowy.html

Can you believe that after all of that, the only two  things that were going  through my mind when I reached the surface was the fact that my GOLDEN grouper got torn in half & that my Gopro was not even ecording!! !!!

haha trust me.. any other Spearo would understand the feels involved.
I often dream about my golden grouper that got away.. But I take comfort in knowing that another chance will present it's self.

Wellp, there you have it! My survival story I guess haha.

 I am thankful to God for life & protection. 

Aftershock update:

With some minor physiotherapy my knee is fully functional again!
I am not and have not been afraid to re-enter the water since that experience though I try to be more aware of my full surroundings.

I learned many valuable lessons from this frightening encounter and will def use it to improve my skills as a diver.

ps. Most people asked why I didn't go after that barry and shoot it haha. Though I was tempted I would never do such a thing as I was in it's territory and it was simply collecting it's taxes. :) 

That's it for today guys, 

Until next time!! hope you enjoyed my life or death encounter story!!

Much love,

Soph

Please note that as