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. I love this job, especially,
when summer comes around! From my office window, I can smell Mediterranean
waters; warm, crystal-clear and promising. Tomorrow, I will definitely go
diving. It is my job, after all...
Compared to the Oceans, the Mediterranean Sea is tiny, safe, and calm.
Seas are usually accessible all year round. Only the Adriatic Sea gets rough
in the winter, while during the same time strong southeast winds might blow
from the Libyan Sea. From May until October winds usually blow up to 25
knots, meaning that the Med spearo is able to be out often, if he/she
wishes. The water temperatures vary. For instance, on a cold winter day,
northern Italian coastal waters might be 50 degrees Fahrenheit, while in
Egypt, during the summer, the temperature can go up to 86 degrees
Fahrenheit, and perhaps more. The wetsuits follow these parameters: 2-7 mm
thicknesses of neoprene are used. The material is usually open-cell on the
inside with jersey cover on the outside. For more sophisticated spearos, the
wetsuit with the open-cell inside / smooth skin on the outside is a fetish!
The absence of sharks and subsequent feeling of safety makes the
Mediterranean different from the Oceans. Of course, the rest of the species
are few in number as well, and that makes spearfishing a very challenging
activity. These two factors -the absence of sharks and the low fish
population, (which is even lower in the shallows) -lead most spearos to deep
spearfishing. This is what makes diving in our seas so unique. As for the
absence of sharks, as I developed as a spearo, I realized that it is rather
a sad phenomenon.
I remember my first one.
After 25 years in the Mediterranean waters, the only thing I had seen was a
shadow that I assumed was a shark. Then, we went spearfishing in the Coral
Sea, maybe the best place on earth to meet them. We thought we went there
for the fish but soon we realized that meeting the Shark was the strongest
motive. "Tigers and Doggies, that is what Coral Sea is all about," my bro
Ray Powell told me."You have to respect them, showing no fear, and
everything will be fine". He was right. After the first few encounters -some
of them rather unpleasant for the beginners that we were-we became addicted
to their presence; to this unique feeling of again being a part of nature
where we once belonged.
"I consider sharks my friends," Pipin stated in his interview for this
issue.
I could not agree more.
Stay tuned. The adventure has just begun.

D. Kollias