Deep Worldwide #2 is at the gates… A couple more days to deadline… Our website is finally on… “My office is a mess, my pc desktop too. In my head, sounds are ringing of fine spring steel shafts crashing thick fish spines, and freedivers’ cries of triumph on the surface after their effort. Massive fish photos, articles, e-mails from the seven seas across the globe”....

Deep goes global once more. A dream came true and the feed back surpassed our expectations. Australian spearfishing World Champion of the 70’s Ron Taylor and his wife Valery, both heroes of my spearfishing childhood to which the first issue’s editorial was dedicated, have read the magazine and signed it. A dream came true, indeed…

I don’t feel so good though… And that is not because of the sounds of fine spring steel shafts that keep ringing in my head. Not at all. It is because that feeling of inner emptiness. Like all the emotions I get from my dream’s materialization are pale and meaningless. I know what it is. It’s been two weeks now that the magazine kept me fully occupied and I didn’t have the chance for a dive. Shine is shining, the water this time of the year is warm and crystal clear. Groupers and snappers everywhere. Reports for massive bluefins rushing into huge schools of baitfish… Two more days to go. Then I will definitely leave everything behind for a spearfishing session in the calm, light blue autumn Aegean waters. Am I addicted, or what?

What is spearfrishing? What is the magic ingredient that turns a hobby into a way of life? What kind of hormones are responsible for this addiction? Let’s try to find out. Can I have a little more, please?

1. “A healthy mind in a healthy body” ancient Greeks used to say. Spearfishing is a multi-task activity. More than average swimming, breathholding and aiming skills are required. So, the spearo is fastly becoming an athlete, while enjoying at the same time. What effort? That’s a game! A spearfishing weekend is enough to make a week at work seem like a short brake (till next weekend…)
2. Consuming 100% fresh fish, selected from the top quality species, is a privilege spearos are sharing with very few people in the globe. The healthiest, tastiest food ever, is a first rate motivation to keep on doing it.
3. 1200 calories per hour are needed while spearfishing. With an average of 4 hours of diving, we are talking about 4800 calories consumption per spearfishing day. Well, guys and girls that is really something. We can even enjoy a hot chocolate brownie with vanilla ice (yummy!) and still have our 6 pack untouched…
4. The blood shift, a part of the mammalian dive reflex phenomenon, during a spearfishing session leads our blood to fill the lungs. When the session is over the blood rushes back and… our Libido is on peak! That means of course maximum joy, for us and our partners. Aren’t we adorable?
5. According to the physiology of freediving, oxygen under pressure has euphoric side affects. Combined with the excitement of approaching and shooting arrogant species, leads the spearo to the high of his lifetime. For a brief moment of time before and after the catch he experiences pure happiness. A feeling unbeatable by any other drug, or method, that the same time enforces the diver’s health. Magic, isn’t it.



So, guys and girls, brothers and sisters from around the world, keep spearfishing. And stay tuned. The adventure has just began.

D. Kollias