P Murph- 0 Ocean- 4

So I got my speargun in yesterday. Wednesday is my night to cook too. So I took off after work for the ocean to catch some fish to fry up with my totally cool new speargun. I grabbed my gear to hiked off to the beach.

I would like to appologize to all of the dead transendentalist writers I use to make fun of. I still dislike your writing style but I understand some of the themes a little bit better. Melville writes about the indominable ocean, and how humans constantly fail against nature. I guess its about insignificance. I didn't get it in high school. Frankly, you can go to the SC beaches and constantly be disappointed with the size of the waves- weak force of nature. So I never really understood the whole "the ocean will kill you" thing transendentalist wrote about. I just wished for bigger waves.

Not true on the island. Now we don't get the huge North Shore waves but they can get pretty big. Worse, we have a reef that surrounds the island so the waves ussually crash on top of them. But you have to get on the deep end of the reef to catch good sized fish.

So yesterday I struggled across the pounding waves to the dark side of the reef. Spearfishing is different then other typs of hunting. Unlike dear, fish have gills and swim remarkably well. Go figure. I do not have gills. But I do have a record of 2 minutes holding my breath- and am an accomplished swimmer (what does that mean?).

I eventually landed a shot on a fish. So then I was in fairly deep water with a dying, bleeding fish. Shark bait. I reached for my stringer to hold the fish when I realized I left it on the beach. So I needed to swim back in.

As I approached the reef the waves were at a managable 4 feet. Just get close, hang on to the rocks for the backdraft before the wave, and ride the wave in. But then there was this huge backdraft that ripped me off the reef backwards. I never saw the wave but I was pretty sure it was a big one from the amount of water it pulled off the reef. I aligned and began riding the wave in over the reef. Unfortunately for me it was absolutely massive. Somewhere between 6-8ft high. I was submerged then summersaulted by the monster wave with huge amounts of power. Remember, a cubic yard of salt water weighs like 1000lbs. It threw me around like a rag doll then slammed me square against the reef.

At first I thought I may have broken something when I hit. My right calf also started cramping hard. What good is adrenaline if it just makes your muscles cramp? I quickly realized that no matter what I was still at the edge of the reef and another wave was coming in. As I checked on that wave I saw the fish that was formerly on my spear jump out of the water as if to taunt me. Jerk. I quickly turned around and swam hard, still clutching my speargun. I got back over the reef but scratched up and in pain.

My rear still hurts from being slammed down. I also have a sweet scrape/bruise on my right cheek. Unfortunately I haven't been able to show anybody my cool battle wounds. Maybe I'll post a picture.

Paul "Still never bagged a fish in the ocean but I'll try again today" Murphy