Trolling for Shark in the Bahamas

I just got back from a business trip in the Bahamas. This is the first attempt at in vitro fertilization (IVF) there. The treatments were set up by an old friend of mine Juergen Eisermann from South Florida. He and I worked together at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Miami Beach about 15 years ago. With the unexpected death of his laboratory director a few months ago, he called and asked if I would fill in for her. So with little notice I went to the Bahamas and did some IVF work there. Now lest you believe these trips are fun, I should state that they are a lot of work in a very stressful situation, using equipment and methods that I usually don't use. But there is always a little fun.

After we completed the several cases in several days, Tony, the Bahamian infertility specialist whom I was working for, asked me if I would like to go spear fishing with him and his buddies. I said sure, but I had left my equipment at home. He said not to worry he could get me some I could use. Tony and I met his brother and two friends at one of their homes that is on a canal near the sea. There we boarded the large twin engine boat and we sped off for the reefs nearby where we would spear fish. Little did I know that these guys were fanatics about spearfishing. And that Tony and his brother were mermen

We jet out to the water just East of Providence Island. The day is perfect - a flat sea, no wind and no swells. THe day is probably around 90 degrees with not a cloud in the sky. After about a 45 minute cruise going as fast as the twin 225 hp engines would go, we get to the spearfising site just off of some tiny, plantless islands. The guys tie two long ropes on the back of the transom with two loops in them - one about half way from the end and the other at the end. Cool, I thought, maybe we are going to troll for fish.

Next thing I know, Tony and his brother have on their rash guards, they jump over the side with 5 foot Hawaiian slings, grab onto the loops and the boat begins to pull them slowly through the water. Their style of spearfishing is cover the greatest area of water by being slowly trolled through the water. If you see a fish, one of you peels off and the other follows. If there are two others on the other side of the boat, you are left in the ocean to spearfish until the second group drops off. To me, it looked like we were the bait being trolled through the water.

It also seemed like Navy SEAL tactics, but boy did it work. And boy did we see a lot of ocean and coral and sealife in those first four hours. We speared a huge Hogfish - orange with big eyes and large fan-like dorsals, a few trigger fish and later a barracuda. (Tony ambushed it and his brother followed silently behind to give the coup de grace.)

Now I thought you spearfished for fish, but I soon learned there were more valuable creatures as lobster season had begun just two days earlier. So as you are being trolled behind the boat (and trying to avoid being shark bait or having your mask ripped off) you look for little caves or shelves and the tell tell signs of "whips", or as we know them antennae. Then you would point your spear at the creature, pull back and let it fly.

Usually we would do our cruising in about 20 or 30 feet of water, but several times we saw lobster in about 30 to 40 feet of water. No way could I dive down, peer under a ledge, shoot and then retrieve the spear with the sea roach attached. Tony and his brother were different creatures. They were in their element. Sometimes I would wonder as they roamed around on the bottom if they were having a convention. Two and three minutes under water is par for them.

After about 4 hours of this tactic, we decided to go to "The Banks", a relatively shallow area about another 45 minutes away. When we got to the banks, you could see the white sandy bottom through the clear water. There was no sign of land anywhere. We could just have well been in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, as just an hour or so from Nassau and the hedonistic Atlantis Resort. The water was about 70 feet deep, but appeared shallow due to its clarity. We were searching for coral heads - small, maybe 1/2 acre reefs about 15 to 20 feet below the surface. This was the prettiest and most colorful place we had been two. A wide variety of tropical fish, sponges, sea fans, corals and - lobsters!

By about 5 pm we were sea logged (but Tony and his brother wanted to stay another few hours) and the captain (an anesthesiologist in Nassau) needed to get back, so we all jumped in the boat and sped off back to Nassau. What a day! It was probably the best day I have ever spent diving (except for maybe the night manta ray dive off of Kona). The damage? We got 4 large conchs, about 6 fish and 42 lobster (a few the size of my thigh.)!! Unfortunately, this was my last day in the Bahamas and they would be enjoyed by others.