My First Dive
Written by Alberto Richard
Back in the early 2000’s, I would take frequent road trips throughout both Central and Southern California. While driving along the coast I would visit beach communities such as: Santa Cruz, Monterey, San Diego and I even ventured across the border into Baja Sur, Mexico. While hanging out on the beach surf-fishing and barbecuing, you couldn’t help but to get caught up in the nostalgia of SoCal’s classic beach cultures of surfing and spearfishing!
Depending on what time of the year that I traveled down there and what was in season, I would witness spearos emerging from the ocean with delicacies such as: Abalone, Spiny Lobster and a variety of fish species. After watching this play out over and over again, I knew that this was exactly the hobby that I wanted to indulge in and the lifestyle that I wanted!
At first getting into the sport for me was rather tricky. For starters I lived in the Sacramento Valley and even though there were both dive shops, and dive clubs… There wasn’t any type of training on freediving or spearfishing. Secondly, I was also a bit reluctant due to the unknown. I harbored fears of man-eating creatures and monsters lurking in the depths, as well as dreading a run in with “JAWS” ... In truth the oceans underwater world was an alien environment to me!
Eventually my desire to spearfish replaced my fears. After doing some online research, I joined an online forum and spearfishing club by the name of “NorCal Underwater Hunters” where I had come across Eric Keener. Eric was helping Matt Mattison, the club’s owner, and Joshua Russo, the president of The Watermen’s Alliance, organize a Recreational Urchin Removal Event. I offered to help with video services, which ended up being turned into a documentary titled: “The Purple Nightmare!”.
Later while helping out with the Recreational Urchin Removal Events along with filming the documentary, I met Parviz Boostani the owner of Red Triangle Spearfishing who also helped with these events. Though I was enrolled in a PADI Open-Water Scuba course, I had no previous training in freediving or spearfishing. Parviz offered to take me out to a beginner spot and let me experience spearfishing. We took a long drive from Petaluma along the winding highway 1 through Bodega Bay, where he and I ended up at Ocean Cove campground in Jenner, Ca. My heart was beating at probably one-thousand beats per second! We had arrived, and my mind was clouded with excitement, doubt, curiosity, and nervous tension! I was both thrilled, and terrified at the same time…
After we geared up, we then proceeded to the shore and prepared for our dive. That day the surf was very calm appearing to resemble a lake, whereas the surface of the water was like glass. We swam out and as my head dipped into the water I saw urchins, small abalone and huge starfish along with jellyfish! I kept thinking to myself… “This isn’t real!” After a moderate swim away from the shore, Parviz had us stop over a school of black & blue rockfish. Parviz and I had removed some purple urchin off the reef, then after Parviz shot a couple of fish he said, “Here take it!” then he handed the speargun to me!
I surveyed underneath the water from the surface breathing through my snorkel. After about thirty seconds or so, a bluish hued fish came into my range. I immediately pulled the trigger…” Pop!” and shot my first fish! I felt an adrenaline rush, and a high from excitement that I had never ever felt before! We ended the day harvesting urchin and a variety of rockfish along with a Barred Surf Perch. After my first spearfishing outing, I was immediately addicted. There’s absolutely nothing like spearfishing. The scenic travel along coastal highways and secluded campgrounds. All in all, it’s a very active, and thrilling sport sometimes full of suspenseful moments. Not always knowing what lies beneath the surface and days of low-visibility but manages to keep your adrenaline rushing!