Ascension Island November 2005 Trip Report

Ascension Island November 2005 Trip Report
By George Balbino
This is the account of the second
reconnaissance
trip
made
to
Ascension Island on behalf of
European Spearfishing Supplies
(ESS). The information gathered will
serve as reference for ESS for their
upcoming trips to the island, which
are due to start as from early 2006.
Left, aerial view of Ascension
Participants: Garbhan Shanks (LIC)
Gary Roche (LIC)
George Balbino (LIC)
Jon Penrith (LIC)
Ascension Island (7.95°S, 14.37°W) is
a dependency of St. Helena, which lies some 800
miles to the southeast. It is as remote as St.
Helena, being almost exactly in the middle of the
South Atlantic, but is a smaller island (98 sq. km
[34 sq. mi.].
Ascension is volcanic in origin, but has superb
white sandy beaches (the sand is shell and coral
sand). It is a rugged, dry, barren, and inhospitable
island. Most of the surface of Ascension is covered by basalt lava flows and cinder
cones.
History
Ascension was first discovered in 1501 by João da Nova Castella, but the discovery
apparently went unrecorded, and the island was re-discovered on Ascension Day 1503
by Alfonso d'Albuquerque. Subsequently Ascension was little visited; it was too dry
and barren to be of any use to the East Indies fleets. Ascension became strategically
significant with the exile of Napoleon to St. Helena; the British were concerned that it
could be used in any attempt to rescue Napoleon. Thus a small British naval garrison
was established on the island in October 1815. By Napoleon's death in 1821
Ascension had become a victualling station and sanitarium for ships engaged in
suppression of the slave trade from the West African coast. In 1823 the garrison was
taken over by the Royal Marines and the island remained a naval possession (HMS
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Ascension, "a Sloop of War of the smaller class") until 1922 when Ascension became
a dependency of St. Helena.
In 1942 US Army Engineers built the airfield, but after W.W.II the island reverted
back to the sole use of Cable and Wireless. In 1957 the US presence was reestablished on Ascension with the extension of the Eastern Test Range followed by
the construction of a NASA tracking station in 1965/6 (since closed down). In 1966
the BBC constructed a short wave relay station to serve South America and Africa.
Ascension came to brief international notice during the Falklands war when it served
as a staging post for the British forces en route to and from the Falklands.
Present Day Ascension
Ascension has a population of
about 1,250 (mostly Saints)
and is a communications
centre (BBC and Cable and
Wireless) in addition to the
RAF and USAF presence. A
resident Administrator
nominally governs
Ascension, although in reality
the island is run (and
operating costs paid for) by
its users.
Ascension has an airstrip,
Wideawake Airfield,
although there are no
commercial flights to Ascension; RAF flights from Brize Norton to the Falklands stop
at Ascension, and USAF flights from Patrick AFB (Florida) serve the US Base on the
island. Ascension used to be a "closed" island but tourist access has recently become
available, although there are relatively few facilities for tourists or casual visitors.
Ascension can be briefly visited as a passenger on the Royal Mail Ship (RMS) St.
Helena when it calls at the island.
30/10/05 – After months of planning and anticipation, I met Gary Roche and
Garbhan Shanks, at Gary’s place in north London, before leaving for RAF Brize
Norton, in Oxfordshire. We arrived at the base with plenty of time to spare, where Jon
Penrith was already waiting for us. We sorted out the final details about our mountain
of luggage and proceeded to get our permits for entry into the air base. After going
through the formalities, we went straight to the passenger terminal for check-in,
praying that we would not be charged for our clearly excessive amount of luggage.
Between the four of us we checked-in 120+ kilos of gear. Check-in staff lost track of
the total weight of our luggage, given the large number of pieces, coupled with the
fact that the check-in was done at two separate desks. In the end, we managed to take
the whole lot at no extra cost. I still had some 25 kilos as “hand” luggage, and the
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other guys were not much farther behind me
on that score. During check-in we were
informed that the usual 747 Boeing had
become unserviceable due to a truck
crashing into it at the base and that, instead,
we would be flying in an RAF Tristar air
refuelling tanker from 216 Squadron. That
didn’t matter a great deal to us, but we were
told, in no uncertain terms, that we would
have to sign waivers if we wanted to take
the flight, which we promptly did without
even flinching. We had waited for such a long time for this trip that it was not going
to be a ride on an air refuelling tanker that would keep us away from our final goal.
After check-in we had to leave the cars at the long-term car park across the base, and
from there it was a short walk to one of the base’s mess, where we were served hot
meals and advised to wait for a coach that would take us back to the passenger
terminal, and after going through immigration there, we would then be taken to RAF
Fairford to board our flight to Ascension Island. After our meal we just waited around
for our coach to arrive, and when it finally did we were taken back to the passenger
terminal, where some more waiting was the order of the day. Despite it being a
military plane, and the fact that we had been advised not to expect a great deal of
comfort, the plane turned out to be very civilised, and we even had the services of
RAF stewardesses dressed in jumpsuits looking after us during the flight.
Our 8 ¼ hour flight was uneventful and after a light
breakfast we touched down at RAF Ascension
Wideawake Airfield. After going through
Immigration and finally getting hold of our luggage,
we were met by the hotel driver and by our contact
on the island, who told us that the seas had been very
rough in recent days and that we may be unable to
dive immediately. Undeterred by the bad news, we
left the base and headed to the hotel, and on our way
to our beach bungalow we made a quick pit stop at
the Police Station in order to get our permits for our
spearguns. The station staff was very efficient and we
were soon on our way. Our bungalow was a stone’s
throw from our private beach, and a short walk to the
pier head. The accommodation was very comfortable and had the all-important
mosquito mesh on all the windows and doors, as well as ceiling fans. Whilst Garbhan
and I got busy organising our gear, Gary and Jon went to the shops, which open at
very irregular hours, for some groceries. After getting our gear ready we went to the
pier for an afternoon warm-up dive.
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Day 1 - As Gary had been to the island back in March, he was our guide and
decided that we should check the ledges off Boatswain Bird Island. Gary stayed on
the boat and gave us the opportunity to have our first glimpse of the underwater world
around the island. When we first jumped into the water, we were greeted by a pod of
dolphins and by huge shoals of black kingfish and horse eye jacks, which seemed
oblivious to ours' and the dolphins’ presence. We
were surrounded by hundreds of these fish, and I
must say that the temptation to shoot a few was
ever present. The horse eye jacks are particularly
large in Ascension, and it is not surprising that the
line fishing world record was broken in Ascension,
with a fish of over 15 kilos. The fish swam so
closely that we could literally reach out and touch
them, and on many occasions they bumped into our
spearguns. Jon, who was keen to test his new Rob
Allen 1.6 rail gun, gave in to temptation and shot a
15 kilo horse eye jack that was needed for chum.
John still shot two amberjacks, which he could not
land because of problems with the Rabitech slip
tips. The fish ended up reefing up and tearing off.
During that dive I saw two wahoos over different
ledges, and Garbhan had a shot at what we believed
was an African pampano, but his slip tip also didn’t
deploy and he lost the fish. With dusk approaching
and after the long overnight plane journey, we
decided to search for something for the table and
then go home. Gary took us to a spot where he had
caught crayfish in the past, which turned out to be
an underwater arch with a large nest of crays. Gary
used his skills, honed during many years diving the
Natal coast, and got us 9 decent crays for the pot.
The crayfish were so big that many had to be
cooked one at a time. It was nice to share a few
beers with the guys as we prepared dinner, talking
about the fish that we had seen during the afternoon
and what we could expect in the days ahead. For
the very first time in my life I was satisfied after eating only one crayfish. It was soon
time to hit the sack and get some rest after many hours in a plane and diving in
current that afternoon.
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Day 2 – We awoke to overcast skies, and after a light breakfast we went out to
meet our local contact to discuss the
situation as regards the larger boat and
other arrangements for the days ahead.
After getting that out of the way, at
around 10.00am we left the harbour and
headed to dive alongside a US Navy ship
that was moored offshore in about 65
metres of water. Our local contact had
radioed the ship’s captain and managed to
get us permission to dive in the area
around the ship. We had heard from the
local fishermen that good fish were
consistently being taken from the area behind the ship, so this was a good opportunity
to check what we could find there ourselves. I chose to dive on the starboard side of
the ship, and when I first jumped into the water I saw a small whaleshark swimming
right under the ship, surrounded by a cloud of jacks and black kingfish – we later
found out from the captain that the whaleshark was a regular visitor to the ship’s
underside whenever the crew emptied the ship’s swimming pool! The whaleshark was
a beautiful sight, but it was not for this type of fish that we had gone there. I dived the
whole length of the ship on its two sides and saw no other fish other than the plentiful
kingfish, jacks and trigger fish. Gary and Garbhan had been diving at the stern of the
ship and by the time that I joined them they had already shot two dorados and seen a
few wahoos. Garbhan had shot a wahoo, but his slip tip didn’t deploy and he lost the
fish. After his own episode with the Rabitech slip tips, Garbhan changed his rig and
went back to using normal spears, never touching the slip tips again. Gary had also
lost a well shot large wahoo and seen a tiger shark of about 3.5 metres. I still saw
three wahoos in the area and had a long missed shot at another. Later on, we headed
back to the coast in search of some snappers for
dinner. Gary took us to a wreck in about 8 to 10
metres of water. The wreck was pretty broken up, but
the snappers were plentiful. For the first time we
were able to anchor the boat, so we all got into the
water. Gary shot two large snappers of about 10 kilos
each, and Jon shot another two of similar sizes. I took
my time to field-test the new 18mm blue rubbers that
I had rigged up on my 1.4m Rob Allen rail gun,
courtesy of ESS. There were plenty of large trigger
fish over and around the wreck, so I took plenty of
very long shots to test the rubbers and the gun’s range
and recoil. With four decent snappers in the bag, we
had dinner sorted and it was time to go home. The
fish were cleaned at the conveniently placed stainless
steel table located at the pier head. Despite its small size and remoteness, Ascension
Island is a very clean and organised place. This can been seen wherever you go, and
even the fish cleaning station at the pier head is treated with the same care and
attention by all those who use it. Fishing is a popular sport and passtime on the
island, so the local fishermen take great care in keeping the facilities made available
to them in a good state of repair and cleanliness. The trigger fish below the pier could
sense the activity above and would congregate en mass for the regular feasts, thanks
5
to all the carcasses and fish guts that are regularly thrown into the water. That evening
Gary was in charge of the kitchen and prepared a delicious meal of crayfish curry and
barbequed red snapper, all washed down by cold beers and tales of the day’s fishing.
After dinner we watched the day’s video footage, discussed the next day’s diving
plans and went to bed.
Day 3 – We had opted for a later start to the
day’s fishing, so we took our time to get out of
bed and then do a few things before going out to
sea. After getting our gear transferred to the boat
we headed back to the area around the MV TSgt
John A. Chapman, and by 11.00am we were in
the water. I was the first one to boat handle, and
the initial idea was to dive close to the ship and
get enough kingies for the day’s chum. The guys
in the water were taking their time, and no kingies
were being landed. By the end of the first hour we
only had three kingies onboard, and Gary had
taken a 12 kilo wahoo off the stern of the ship, so
preparations started for drifts some 200 metres
away from the ship’s port side, where I had been
seeing a lot of yellow fin tuna activity on the
surface. In the second drift I was in the water with
Gary and the chumming quickly started paying off. Jon and Garbhan were doing a
good job at chumming the fresh kingies and the tuna had
already started coming up the chum trail and were now
feeding on the fish morsels some 10 metres below the
surface. The fish were moving at great speed and not
approaching enough for a safe shot. Two dorados then
showed up, and as I dived down to try and shoot one, I saw a
large wahoo drifting in,
so I decided to go for it
and shot the fish
towards its head. The
spear hit home and the
fish took off to the depths like a bullet, but the 5
metre bungee cord did its job and after a while I
could finally see the fish from the surface. To
my surprise the wahoo was being shadowed by
a large tuna. I called Gary over, but by the time
he arrived the tuna had gone, but being the good
buddy he is he doubled up on my wahoo, so that made the job of subduing the fish a
lot easier. Gary rushed back to the chum line because now the tuna were very active
and feeding right behind the boat. After putting my wahoo on the boat, it was my turn
and Gary’s to be topside again. Garbhan and Jon jumped into the water and soon after
they were seeing the fish as well, with Garbhan managing to shoot what would turn
out to be the fish of the day – a very decent 27 kilo wahoo that had come up the chum
trail and that had decided to check out the school disco that was going on under
6
the boat, courtesy of the array of flashers and disco mirror balls shining and lighting
up the blue yonder. Garbhan had dived down on the fish and had hit it on the spine.
With very limited deck space and with enough fish
for our chumming and eating requirements, we
decided to give Garbhan’s first ever wahoo to the
ship’s crew, who quickly hoisted the fish up the
stern of the ship. Jon lost a nice tuna that managed
to free itself from the spear and swam away to fight
another day. Gary had also shot and lost another
tuna. In my next drift, I went down after two
dorados that had cruised in, but when I came into
line with the fish I saw a shoal of about 6 tuna
approach. I waited until one of them decided that
the chum was too good to pass out and approached
within range of my Teaksea. I wasted no time and
squeezed the trigger. The shot was well placed and
the fish took off in
a cloud of bubbles.
The tuna was pulling hard and took me for a little
ride. The impressive Kitto slip tip was doing a good
job of it and bit by bit I managed to pull the fish up. I
took my fish to the boat and by the time I landed the
tuna it was my turn again to be topside. My tuna hit
the scale at 20 kilos, but it didn’t stay in one piece
very long, for the temptation to have fresh sashimi
was too strong to resist and a chunk of tuna belly was
promptly cut out and thinly sliced for chow. In the
next drift, Garbhan also managed to get his first ever
tuna, which weighed about 12-15 kilos. We were all
tired but pleased with the day’s fishing, so we
decided to head back to shore just as the sun was
setting over the water. We had fried tuna for dinner that night and spent the rest of the
evening chatting about the fish that had got away and getting our gear ready for the
next day.
Day 4 – We set off to the ship again at about 7.30am
in hopes that the tuna would be feeding in the early
hours. Gary and I were in the water in the first drift, but
apart from one tuna no other game fish were seen. The
trigger fish around the ship proved to be a bit of a
problem, taking most of our chum, so we had no option
but to drift farther away
from the ship to try and
avoid the triggers, kingies
and jacks. I joined Jon in
the second drift and about
half way into it I spotted a
wahoo. Jon jumped at the
opportunity and shot the
fish. The wahoo took off
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at great speed and Jon gave chase. I followed Jon and
on diving down I realised that the fish was fighting
hard and working itself free from the spear, so I
placed a second shot into the fish just to guarantee
that Jon’s first ever wahoo didn’t get out of the bag.
At a decent 14.5 kilos, it was a first wahoo Jon should
be proud of. We took the fish to the boat, and not
long after returning to the water Jon saw a large
tiger shark swim up the chum trail. We had a quick
look at the eating machine, but didn’t stay long
enough to acquaint ourselves with the shark and
jumped onto the boat. Gary and Jon decided to do a
drift on the starboard side of the ship, where Jon soon
shot his second wahoo of the day, which weighed in at 15 kilos. Gary had gone down
to double up on Jon’s fish, but on the way down
he spotted a second wahoo and drilled it. Not
wanting to let his mate down, Gary bolted back
to the boat and got a second gun and returned to
Jon’s aid, securing the double header. Jon’s fish
came in at 15 kilos, and Gary’s at 18 kilos. Next
it was Garbhan turn to chase some fish, and not
long after getting into the water he spotted a
wahoo that had cruised up the chum trail and was
heading towards a fish carcass thrown into the
water. Garbhan chased the fish to about 15
metres, where he came face to face with the
same tiger shark that had previously been seen
by Jon and I. The shark came towards Garbhan
and he decided to stand his ground and swam
towards the shark as well. Having seen the shark
at the end of his dive, Garbhan returned to the
surface, took a quick breath and dived down towards the shark. The shark veered off
when Garbhan approached it. Garbhan was
buzzed by the shark on three separate
occasions. Gary quickly got into the water
and filmed all the action, under the watchful
eye of Garbhan, who had his gun trained at
the shark at all times. Gary followed the 3.5
metre shark and managed to get some
amazing footage of that beautiful fish. The
next drift had to be aborted because the
current had changed slightly and was pushing
us towards the ship, where chumming would
have been pointless because of the masses of
trigger fish and jacks in the area, so we
decided to call it a day and radioed the ship’s bridge in order to offload our fish.
When hoisting one of the wahoos up, a crew member let the fish drop into the water
to be devoured by the many eating machines down there, which was a real pity. We
cruised back to the coast and went in search of some crayfish for dinner. Garbhan
came across a snapper inside the crayfish cave and bagged that one as well. In the
8
meantime Jon and I headed north along the coast in search of some fish. I found a
couple more crayfish and bagged those, and Jon managed to bag a lovely 19 kilo
amberjack. And to round off the day, we had a dive in a cave system and blow hole on
the way back home, and we even found the time and energy to climb up the rocks of
one of the small bird islands in order to collect some fresh oysters. Crayfish dinner, a
few beers and watching the day’s footage put an end to a great day out in the water.
Day 5 – The hectic pace of the
last week was starting to catch up
with us, so we had a later start to our
fishing activities, but by 7.30am we
were leaving the pier and heading
back to the ship area. Gary and I were
the first pair in the water. Jon and
Garbhan started chumming, and I had
only had enough time to sort out my
gear when two very large wahoos
cruised by the chum trail and flashers.
I took a quick breath and dived down
to check them out. On approaching
the fish I realised that they were both
considerably bigger than the ones
seen and shot so far. I chased the fish
closest to me and when my
judgement said that I was within
range I let my spear fly from a
slightly higher up position in relation
to the fish. The spear hit home at
about a foot behind the lateral fin.
The fish took off like a rocket towards the ship. I was concerned that it would either
swim under the ship or wrap the float line around the anchor
chain, so I gave chase and had to swim for about 10 minutes before I was able to
catch up with the floats. I was too busy chasing the fish to see that, on occasions, it
had taken one 11 litre and one 35 litre floats down, but thankfully all this was filmed
from the boat, which had come to the rescue and was now close by. To my relief the
fish then changed course and
started swimming away from
the ship. The floats stopped
moving and I was finally
able to grab hold of the float
line and started pulling the
fish up. Even after about 20
minutes the fish was still
fighting hard. When I could
finally see colour from the
surface I was impressed by
the size of the fish which was
still swimming hard down
below. Gary had been
chasing me all along with
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two guns in hand, but in the long swim around he came across another large wahoo
and shot it, but the fish managed to free itself from the spear and swam away, so a
disappointed Gary dived down on my fish and doubled up with a nice shot into the
woo’s head. The fish was severely weakened after that second shot and I was able to
bring it up to the surface without much difficulty. When the fish finally reached the
surface I just couldn’t believe my eyes. It was a stonker! I just about managed to grip
the fish by the gills and realised how much bigger this fish was compared to the ones I
had shot previously in this and other trips. The boat quickly came alongside and Gary
was quick to grab the cameras to film and photograph this magnificent fish. After the
press conference it was time to hoist the fish up onto the boat, and it was just as
impressive out of the water as it was in it. Even taking the obligatory boat
photographs was a mission, as the fish was too big for a proper hold, and the boat too
small for a fish of that size! We attempted to weigh the fish on the boat and got
readings of between 43 and 47 kilos for the fish, so I am taking the lowest reading as
the likely weight of the fish. This was the biggest pelagic that I have ever caught even bigger than the sailfish I landed in Cape Verde back in August. My drift was,
therefore, short lived but a thrilling one. I then got into the boat and Jon joined Gary
in the water. We did a few more drifts alongside the ship, but no other fish were
taken. We then left the area and went south in search of some crayfish for the pot.
Gary found a rat hole in the surf and somehow managed to get a decent bag of crays
out of that impossible hole, risking life and limb in the process. I tried to help with the
catching, but was taken for a rough ride by the surge and then by the surf over the
rocks and almost lost an
arm for my troubles. In
the meantime though, Jon
rigged his light tackle
fishing rod and was
having a ball being
smashed by the kingfish,
managing to land one of
them. After that, Jon got
into the water around the
area and managed to
spear two very decent red
snappers, one of 13 kilos
and one of 8.5 kilos. We
had been invited to a
barbeque being offered
by the ship’s captain at
the Saints’, one of the few local watering holes, where a pint of beer still goes for 80
pence! So, needless to say that we had a fair share of American beef, ribs, sausages,
beers and hospitality, and left the place worse for wear at about midnight. A great
time was had by all and it was nice to socialise with the ship’s officers and crew, as
well as many of the locals who had turned up.
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Day 6 – After the somewhat
heavy night we had had, we awoke a
bit later than usual, and after a light
breakfast we got busy sorting out
one thing or another with our gear.
Ascension is a very safe place, with
virtually no crime to speak of, so all
our gear was left on the boat
overnight and only taken ashore for
repairs or when the suits needed a
good wash. And even when we did
bring the gear back to shore, it
would be left drying out in the veranda. It took me a couple of days to feel
comfortable with that, but in the end even our front door would remain open during
the nigh. Today’s best news was that we would be able to start using the much larger
rib for our forays, which meant that we could now start taking the large cooler box we
had taken to Ascension and some ice out to sea in order to keep our fish as fresh as
possible until we got back to shore. Jon had decided to take the day off and went to
visit the island’s museum and take a ride up to Green Mountain, one of the very few
places where you can find green vegetation on this volcanic island. We, on the other
hand, decided to go back to the ship area for some action and the consistency that the
area had provided over the last few days. Gary didn’t waste time and was very quickly
into a fight with a very large wahoo, estimated to weigh in excess of 30 kilos. Gary
fought the fish for over 30 minutes, but during the fight he kept being buzzed by the
resident tiger shark. At first, the shark appeared interested only in Gary, but it then
saw the wounded wahoo, which was all but dead and being brought to the surface by
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Gary, and decided that it was to be its afternoon snack. The shark’s first bite took the
wahoo’s tail off, crippling the fish. After the first bite Gary still managed to pull the
crippled fish almost all the way up to the surface, but then the shark returned and
grabbed its meal right from under Gary’s nose. The shark now took the fish all the
way to the bottom, dragging one of Gary’s floats down with it. All that a desolate
Gary could hear was the crunching and shredding sounds as the shark devoured the
now lost fish. When the shark finished its main course, Gary pulled his spear up, only
to find that in the feeding frenzy the shark had bitten through the 3mm stainless steel
braided cable that attached the slip tip to the spear, so Gary had not only lost his
prized fish but also his slip tip, which given its ratio of deployment was not a great
loss! So the score remained tiger shark 2 x Gary 0! We resumed diving after this
episode, and actively tried to find the shark in order to film it, but the fish appeared to
have decided that an afternoon nap after the hearty meal was called for and
disappeared. We felt that the shark would now associate our presence in the water
with the prospect of a free meal, so we were a bit more cautious, and after not seeing
much else in terms of large pelagics we decided to call it a day and headed back
home, but not before an undeterred Gary managed to land another wahoo, this one of
about 10 kilos. The evening was spent at home, with crayfish pasta dinner provided
by Jon.
Day 7 – We had a very early start and left
the pier at first light. We had decided to go
back to the ship area yet again, but this time
much earlier than usual to see if the wahoo,
tuna and the tiger shark would be out feeding.
Jon was the first one to shoot any fish, this
time landing a very nice 21 kilo wahoo at the
back of the boat. The tuna also appeared, but
only the small ones, which only came to steal
our chum and test our patience. After a few
more drifts and no sizeable fish we decided to
move on and go to the Boatswain Bird Island
area. Even over the ledges around the island
there was very little activity. The water was
some 4-5 degrees colder than it should have
been at this time of the year, so the fish seemed
to be reacting to this change. Jon spotted a
large shark over the drop off, but no other fish,
so we decided to start heading back home. On the way, we still stopped at the wreck
to get some snapper for dinner. I dropped the guys in the water and it didn’t take long
until Gary called me over showing that he had dinner at the tip of his spear. By now
Garbhan had pretty much given up spearfishing in order to concentrate on getting as
much footage as possible to make a documentary of the trip. Once again Gary cooked
as a mean buttered snapper for dinner, which went down very well after a long day
out at sea.
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Day 8 – We had heard on the
island that the southern drop off
offered some very good fishing, so
we decided to check it out. After
making all the preparations for deep
mooring and fishing we set off. We
were sounding the drop off at a
depth of around 165 metres when we
found a mooring buoy already
deployed and ready to be used. That
cut out a lot or work and we just set about getting ready to try this new spot. We
chummed for about 3 hours and the only fish seen was a very large wahoo seen by me
just before leaving the area. We had been asked by one of the local marlin boats to
check their mooring in the pier area, so we headed back towards the pier with that in
mind. Our idea of checking the mooring and then heading home for some rest
changed when we started seeing fish in amongst the boats. In total we shot 8 fish,
being 7 amberjacks and one blue runner, not to mention a nice bag of red mullets for
the pot. Jon shot 4 amberjacks, Gary got 2,
Garbhan bagged 1, and I took the only blue
runner of the trip. Whilst swimming around the
area Gary came across a ship’s boiler that had a
decent crayfish nest inside. Gary’s mission was
first to expel the resident, and very unhappy,
moray eel and the posse of groupers that made
the boiler their home. We were having such a
good time diving around the moorings that we
forgot to go back home for a rest and only came
out of the water when the sun was quite low
over the horizon. We had invited a friend for
dinner that night, which was a collective effort,
given the many different fish species on the
menu that we all wanted to try. Gary prepared
an impressive crayfish curry that was the pièce
de résistance.
Day 9 – The hectic pace of this
trip had clearly started to affect us, so
we tried to get some rest and decided
to leave later that morning. We went
back to the offshore mooring buoy in
hopes of bringing up the fish. We
chummed for 3 hours and the only fish
seen was, again, an extremely large
wahoo, which was seen by me just
before leaving the area. We went back
to the coast in search of some crays
and snappers. Gary caught a decent
bag of crayfish and one snapper that he shot inside a cave. I caught one large snapper
and helped Gary catch the crayfish. With enough for the table we headed back home
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for some rest. During the whole of this trip we limited our catches to what we could
actually eat, give away to friends and chum. Fish are abundant in Ascension, so even
giving fish away can be quite difficult. The staple fish on the island is tuna and
wahoo, so the locals prefer to have fish that they can never get hold of, such as
snapper and groupers, which are both plentiful around the island, but which are
difficult to catch with line and hook because of the kingfish and triggers in mid-water.
Day 10 – We got up early and decided to give
the offshore buoy another try. We had been
chumming for about one hour when the first tuna
started appearing. We were doing one-hour turns
in the water. Hanging at the back of a boat in
cold water and staring into the blue can
sometimes be quite a task, specially when the
fish you are after doesn’t want to play ball.
During Gary’s turn in the water he saw a wahoo
that he put at 40-50 kilos cruising around, but the
fish never approached enough for a decent shot.
Jon also saw the fish and fired a very long shot
and missed the fish. I got into the water hoping to
see the tuna, but it appeared that no amount of
chumming in this area was going to produce the
goods. The tuna that we had seen had all been of
between 12 and 30 kilos. There was hardly any current and the chum was sinking
almost vertically. The guys were too cold to go back into the water, so after about one
hour not seeing very much I told the guys to stop chumming and started heading back
to the boat. As I approached the boat I noticed that a large wahoo had come to check
the large array of flashers under
the boat. The fish swam past,
and I just waited to see if it
would follow the chum trail and
simply disappear into the blue.
The fish banked left towards me,
so I wasted no time and dived
down to come level with the fish
before swimming towards it
horizontally towards its path. I
lined up the shot and squeezed
the trigger. The fish had a
powerful but short run, and then
stopped. I could just see the fish
at the edge of visibility near the
surface. I thought that the slip tip had come off, so I started pulling my float line. I
then felt that the weight of the fish at the end of the float line. The wahoo sprinted
again and I went in pursuit of the floats. When I finally managed to grab hold of the
last float the fish dived down, stretching the bungee cord to the limit and then
dragging the first 35 litre float to a depth of about 15 metres. I was on my own in the
water, so there was not very much that I could do but wait for the float to pop back. I
held the last float and hoped that the fish wouldn’t take that one down as well. The
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fish still managed to take the second float almost the whole way down. I had a quick
look towards the boat and saw that Gary was getting ready to come to the rescue, and
Garbhan was getting his camera ready to record the fight. The fish had been wounded
but not yet defeated. I was gaining ground and pulling the fish up little by little. When
Gary arrived, the fish was still fighting hard. Realising how large the fish was, I was
trying to bring it to a depth that would enable
Gary to dive down and double up the shot. Gary
dived down and tried to approach the fish, but
the fish just kept swimming away. Before
running out of breath Gary shot the fish, but
missed. The fish then started swimming around
in circles and wrapping the spear line around the
anchor line. It then became urgent to subdue the
fish or risk losing it. Gary dived down again and
placed a good shot into the fish’s head. I still
dived down and stabbed the fish in the head
before attempting to sort out the mess it had
made with our lines. We had to unclip our lines
one at a time and free them from the anchor line
before I could bring the fish to the surface. I
brought the fish up and after weighing it on the
boat we decided to take it to shore and weigh it
properly. We rode the short distance back to the
pier and after weighing the fish properly we took it to the hotel, where we bartered it
for a sit-down meal for the four of us. The fish weighed in at 32 kilos. After dropping
the fish at the hotel we still had enough gas in us to ride back out again, just that this
time we headed south to look for some snappers. We found some snappers but they
eluded us. Garbhan had the idea of baiting an area to film the fish frenzy, but in the
mayhem that ensued he was bitten by a moray eel. In my many years diving and
travelling around the world I have never seen a place with so many moray eels. In
Ascension, they are numerous and very aggressive. They are in most holes and are
very often seen swimming in the open. With such an abundance of marine life I think
that even the moray eels have had to learn to fight hard for their scraps if they are to
survive in such a competitive environment. The groupers are also very bold and will
approach a diver with no fear. The species of grouper found around Ascension do not
grow to very large sizes, but are said to be very tasty, but as these were abundant and
represented no challenge to us we left them in peace.
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Last day – Our last day on Ascension
Island started early. We left the pier at about
7.00am and made a beeline to the offshore buoy
again. I had a feeling that our chances of landing
a class fish would be much higher if we
persevered with the diving around the offshore
buoy. The other guys were, at first, reluctant to
go back to the spot that had produced so few
fish, specially given that we only had the
morning session at our disposal, as we had to dry
our gear out before taking our flight that
evening. In the end we agreed that if after one
hour the fish had not started appearing we would
go elsewhere in search of snappers and some
crayfish. I had decided to take the day off and
rive the boat for the others, as my ear was sore
and I didn’t want a repeat of what had happened
in Cape Verde back in August, when my eardrum burst, which forced me to miss 5
days’ fishing and stay out of the water for over two months. We arrived at the buoy to
find that the current had changed and was now pushing offshore, and that the water
was considerably warmer than on previous days, so I got the chumming going as soon
as possible, and some 20 minutes later the guys were already in the water. We learnt
from our own experience and hearing from very experienced line fishermen that the
first 30 minutes or so of constant chumming and no activity in the water is vital if you
want to bring up the fish towards the boat. We hoped that with the changes in water
temperature and current the fish would put in an appearance. The tuna were the first
ones to come up the chum trail, and not much later Gary shot a 25 kilo yellow fin
tuna. The fish fought for about 15 minutes and kept Gary busy. Jon dived down and
doubled up on the fish to secure the sashimi on the boat. After bringing the fish to the
boat and the obligatory photographs, Gary jumped back into the water and the
chumming resumed. We were running out of chum, so as well as cutting a chunk off
the fresh tuna for sashimi, I had to use some of it to keep the chumming going. The
move paid off and the tuna returned quite quickly. A very large yellow fin tuna, of
around 80 kilos, made three passes at the back of the boat. It was Jon’s turn to shoot,
so Gary prompted him not to wait any longer and go for the fish, so Jon dived down
when the fish made its last approach and fired from a great distance, only to see the
spear drop in the distance and the fish to swim away to fight another day. The tuna
had huge sickles, and was, by far, the biggest tuna seen during the trip. Not quite
ready to give up the guys stayed in the water and left me on the boat chumming for
England. Another tuna of about 25 kilos came up on the chum trail, being closely
followed by a monster blue marlin that had already been spotted by Gary, who then
diverted his dive towards the massive fish. The marlin had come up almost
vertically and Gary had seen its reflection well before the fish came into clear view.
Gary had anticipated that the marlin would swim towards the chum and flashers and
quickly dived down and approached the fish directly from above. The fish started
turning in order to avoid Gary, but before disappearing Gary drilled it right behind the
head. The fish sped off and Gary only had the time to release his breakaway cord that
had not deployed given the close proximity of the shot. Gary bolted to the surface like
a Polaris missile and shouted for me to release the boat from the mooring line. I got
things going on the boat whilst the guys jumped on the boat like penguins running
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from a leopard seal. We followed the floats from the boat and before reaching them I
already had two other 35 litre floats assembled and ready to be clipped onto the other
two that the marlin was towing. I dropped Gary close to the floats so that he could
assess the situation and clip the floats. He approached the floats and saw that the fish
was way ahead, swimming quite close to the surface. The fish dived down a couple of
times, but not with the expected power and only dragged one of the floats fully
underwater. Gary decided that patience was the name of the game and would, from
time to time, get into the water to assess the situation. The fish was taking us for a
long ride towards open water, changing course every time we approached it with the
boat. Gary didn’t want to pull hard on the float rig, hoping that the fish would wear
out in time. I was of the opinion that a fish of that size had to be provoked to react and
take the floats down a few times until it tired, but Gary opted for a different approach
and I was just hoping that the marlin had been warned that we had a flight to catch
that evening, and would not take its time cruising around. We were also running low
on fuel, so we were approaching a critical point, when decisions would have to be
made. We chased the floats for almost 1 ½ hours until the float that had been
underwater for a very long time finally popped to the surface and the whole rig
stopped. Gary jumped back into the water and swam towards the floats. Gary started
pulling the float line up and then realised that the fish had managed to free itself from
the spear. On closer examination, Gary realised that the tip of his slip tip had bent
and, worst still, that it had never detached from the spear. The theories as to how this
had happened abounded, but the sad reality of it was that a magnificent fish had
escaped from Gary’s grasp. On viewing Garbhan’s amazing footage of the marlin and
of Gary shooting it we can only imagine how big and heavy that fish was.
Disappointing as it may sound Gary is one of the lucky few to have come face to face
with a fish of that calibre. It was an experience that I am sure he will not forget for many
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years to come. Landing that marling would have been a fitting ending to a fantastic
trip. We were a bit unlucky with the weather and sea conditions. The water was
considerably colder than it should have been at this time of the year, which may go
some way to explaining the unexpected absence of the masses of fish seen in these
waters in the recent past. But the silver lining of it all is that if what we saw and
experienced is the least that the island has to offer, then I can only imagine what
things must be like when the place is cooking and the fish are loose. Needless so say
that I have already contacted ESS and have put my name down for one of the trips in
early 2006. In the meantime, though, I will be sharpening my spears and trying to stay
in shape for another trip of a lifetime.
For information on dates and cost for the upcoming trips being organised by
European Spearfishing Supplies (ESS), please contact Colin Chester at
[email protected] or on +44-(0)7906083228
Safe diving,
George Balbino
[email protected]
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