Spearfishing in Calheta

This weekend Claudio, Luty and I decided to head down to Calheta to do some spearfishing. Two weeks before I had dived the spot which resulted in two good mullets and a sea bream. Claudio too had had previous good spearfishing at this spot, resulting in various mullets, sea bream and the occasional amberjack.

Upon arrival we were met by clear seas, calm weather and lots of sun. Within 20 minutes we were in the water, heading in the direction of the wave breakers. Calheta is a good spot due to all the wave breakers that join, creating perfect holes for all types of fish mainly sea bream and mullet. On the surface while searching for fish I noticed Luty dive down and slowly approach a wave breaker and suddenly it became apparent what he was going after. The poor octopus had no chance, all I saw was a black cloud of ink and Luty smiling happily to the surface.
Shortly after we caught up with Claudio surfacing with a sea bream freshly plucked from a nice hole. After some good laughs and quick exchange of good hole sites we were off again. We swam for another ten minutes parallel to the wave breakers when Luty decided to go down after some mullet, shot and missed but on his way up he noticed some amberjack on the move. Claudio had just dived down and was about to enter a hole when Luty´s frantic mumbling in the water caught his attention. Meanwhile the amberjack had already spotted Claudio and where curious to have a closer look. Bad move, Claudio had just enough time to turn and put a good shot in one. Not wanting to dive down for safety reasons I waited till Claudio started to surface. Eager to get a shot in I began to dive down but too late, Luty was there putting a another good shot into an amberjack. Deprived of my first amberjack I surfaced quickly taking a good breath and went back down, trying to stay as long as possible in fruitless hope of having a shot at one . After both fish were stringed up it was back to patrolling.

After a good time in the water we thought that all the fish action was gone, but Luty begged to differ. Quick breath and down he went in search of fish, on the top both Claudio and I were watching. It seemed as though he would never surface until we heard the distinctive sound of a speargun being fired and then the struggle began. Luty was fiercely trying to get the fish out of its hole, spearshaft bending slightly at the force of the fish and his pull. Then as a mother takes a baby to her chest, so he too did with his 2.5 Kg mullet, all that lacked the moment was a good kiss from spearo to fish. Reaching the surface he was greeted by good cheers and a quick hand at helping him string his fish.

A good end to a good days spearfishing.