by Vassilis Gialamarakis

After a kind invitation for spear gun fishing by my friend Nikos, I finally decided to join him on a hot summer day last July. His uncle Kostas would come too.

We were to leave early in the morning as we had a one and half hour speed boat journey to Antikythera, the island they wanted to dive for fish.

I was very excited about the whole expedition because I had heard so much about the

fish in Antikythera and had seen all those huge fish caught by them in the past there, so was eager to share the experience.

We had to take some small provisions with us for the whole day, some bread and water, and some ice for the fridge, but they were taking care of all that.

I was concerned that will not last on the boat and in and out the sea for a whole day. I made sure I took a couple of large beach towels in case I wanted to rest on the boat, took sun cream and a hat and of course all the fishing gear, wetsuit, spear gun, mask and flippers, my rod and all the gadgets that go with it.

Just after dawn we were off on Niko’s boat called Oduseus, a very powerful and fast brand new boat.

We were to do a 40 mile journey to Antikythera or Siglio (as the seamen call it) and these guys were going out with all the necessary equipment. They often do this trip and the boat is new and safe. We have all the rescue equipment and three mobile phones with us.

So far so good, but we have no spare engine and no navigation gear. Soon we will loose sight of the land and how are we supposed to find directions? Just go by experience? Are these guys absolutely sure? What happens if we are caught by night or really bad weather? Is the weather forecast we got absolutely reliable?

As we set off the cove of Sfinari onto the open sea the waves were high and long and the boat started to jump from one to the other making it hard for us to keep our balance on the boat.

Soon I found myself scared and grabbed from the reels and handles to keep my balance. As the boat hit the waves I could feel it bending and it was really bad shock for my back.

The others were used to this motion so they kept chatting about the wind and the sea signs.

I went quiet and then thought to myself that I have a speed boat driving licence, was born in an island and I fish since I was a child, so must prove these guys that I am up to the task.

The sea at the western Crete is very deep. The deepest end of Mediterranean is southwest of Crete near here. On our route the sea depth was on average around 500 meters (550 yards) deep but could reach the abyss over 1.5 Km deep!!!

I decided to change my head from those negative thoughts and take part in the conversation.

Time passed quickly and about forty minutes later we saw the island and I felt better. Occasionally, we had to slow down as the waves and wind were splashing water all over us and in the boat. Had to hide the mobile phones in a dry spot and take all the stuff at the back where it would be more wind protected not blown out the boat.

We saw some seabirds like seagulls but they were Antenes, quite different. They fly literally inches from the water and came around to check on us. It was a very beautiful sight seeing them flying. They were at their natural habitat and seemed to enjoy playing with the wind and waves.

After nearly one and half hour bumping on high waves we finally got there. The island had a spectacular lighthouse on it’s south end and there seemed to be just a mountain path leading there. This is a very remote place. Antikithyra has only a few inhabitants (about 30) and it is pretty small with only one, rather small port unsafe when the sea is rough. The island is often cut off in the winter and any medical emergencies have to be dealt with by helicopter.

The houses on the island looked old and I couldn’t spot any roads apart from a few near the port.

Soon we found our destination, a small cove to stop and start fishing.

The colours of the clear waters were fantastic. You could see the rock formations and different colours of the seaweeds. The sea further from the shore was deep blue.

We dropped the anchor, secured the boat and quickly started to put on our wet suits.

When we were all ready to dive, arrangements were made that they would take opposite directions following the shore line and in a couple of hours me and Nikos, who should stick together, would get the boat and find Uncle Kostas.

Immediately after jumping in the water I saw a large scowl of Parrot fish just under the boat. I dived and tried to get close for a shot but they just disappeared in the rocks.

Maybe my motion was too lively and scared them off. Apparently you have to swim gently in a fish like or mermaid-like manner I would say, so they take you as a fish and hopefully let you get close enough for a shot. All this takes practice though.

I decided to follow Nikos. He knows what he is doing so that is a wise choice.

He was off to the deep though and I knew I couldn’t dive there. I just wanted to see his technique and assist him if needed.

He free dives up to 30, sometimes 35 meters deep!! and has a reputation for his skills. Can keep his breath for up to 4 or 4.5 minutes! Every dive in the deep can last up to 3 minutes or more and this is something I wanted to witness.

I was struggling to keep behind him and hoped that we would not go very far like this or I would be exhausted soon. I looked down and could hardly see the sea bottom. Too deep for my liking. Very scary experience not being able to see what is below you, just blue everywhere. No way would I ever go down there, even if I could, for all the fish in the world.

Soon he stopped completely and was preparing to dive. I saw him staying absolutely still relaxing before diving down the deep.

After around 5 minutes of no movement he took his snorkel off his mouth and dived vertically down.

I was watching him go down deeper and deeper and could not believe it. What in the earth is this guy doing? I lost sight of him completely and just stayed there waiting. Then I decided to dive as deep as I could to see if I can spot him. I must have gone about 5 to 7 meters deep but there were my limits. Could not equalise the increasing water pressure in my ears which started to ache. Silly old me thinking that I could ever follow these guys. They do this all the time, are well trained, fit and are masters of the diving techniques. This is a dangerous sport and I am too old for this. Still no sign of Nikos and I was really worried now.

I dived again and when I came up again I saw him coming up slowly.

He must have been there for around 3 minutes! He explained that he went down to the bottom and grabbed a rock. Then, lifted up his body for a while so any sea bass which was around would move upwards to spot him as he is perceived as an invader and a threat.

But by doing so the fish move around give away their presence, their position and their mood. Nikos would then swim slowly towards the fish judging their intentions at every second and act accordingly. With the spear gun pointed ahead and never looking directly at the fish eyes but pretending that you are a slow weird fish passing by you might get close enough for a shot?

If the fish gets worried and does not allow you close it will disappear with a very fast move into a rock hole which is their home. You spot that hole and try plan B.

In the rock the fish feels safe. The place is a labyrinth of holes and normally has more than one exit.

Plan B means that you approach and look in the hole the fish went in from. Some bass is curious and will stay just in the rock entrance looking outside. If you are lucky then you have a clear shot but being careful not to allow this fish to disappear in the narrow rock hole with the spear on it and get stuck in there by opening its gills.

Nikos explained to me that he had seen 2 fish one of them was huge but they were too clever to let him get close. He would try again though and try another trick of his. There are no fixed techniques for this anymore as the fish have adopted in the standard techniques and their reactions are unpredictable.

A lot depends on the wind, water temperature, deep water currents, season, depth, time of day, the moon and god knows what else.

Before relaxing for another five minutes he told me to assist him on his next critical dive. He now wanted to stay longer down there. At his signal I was to grab him from his legs and push him down diving with him as deep as I could so he would get as deep as possible with the least effort, thus saving as much Oxygen as possible. I did my best and must have given him some 7 meters of no effort depth. I Left him there and he carried on alone to deeper waters, then stopped and let himself just to sink slowly until was out of my site.

I was waiting with excitement. Around 3 minutes later I saw the vague shape of his body

swimming up and soon I could see him holding a huge bass of around 20 kilos!! Now this is fishing! This sight only was worth the effort. I just could not believe my eyes.

We carried on for a couple of hours like this and soon I was too tired to follow him any further.

I took the big fish and swam slowly back to the boat. I was so tired that sleep and resting had a new meaning for me.

The rest of day passed at the same pace. I spend it on the boat though.

Every two or three hours I was in charge of picking them up and taking the fish off them into the boat’s fridge with ice. They would come on the boat rest for half hour, drink water and sometimes eat a small piece of bread and back in the water.

His uncle was successful too but with all sorts of smaller fish like sea bream, parrot fish one Octopus and some other very pretty fish. Nikos got one lobster about one kilo and some very large bream. By noon we had loads of fish.

I tried my luck with my fishing rod but the results were rather disappointing.

My troubles did not end up there though. I got seasick from the boats motion and fell asleep on the boat, then sunburn (despite all the sun cream). My hat was blown off from the wind into the sea and did not catch any fish! On the other hand they filled up a whole fridge and were laughing at me struggling. How would I face my wife now after 15 hours at sea, all red from the sunburn, with no catch and knackered from the trip?

Around 6 in the evening we were heading back to Crete and Sfinari. I was far too exhausted to talk. Nikos was singing and Kostas was teasing him about his singing skills. There was some tension between them too. Uncle Kostas had got a sea bass of around one kilo and there was a rather big argument between him and Nikos over this particular fish. They are not supposed to catch them when this small. Size of one kilo is very small for this type of fish that can reach the size of 50 Kilos or even more.

Back at Sfinari Eleni had prepared a lovely Kakavia fish soup. God, we were all hungry!

I will not forget the scene of Nikos appearing from the deep blue right under me just like Poseidon holding that huge brown sea bass.

The experience was a unique one and the place we went was so pretty and out of this world.

As for my wife, I was given some fish to take home but did not dare to say that I caught them. It did save my fishing reputation but taught me to stick to my lines and hooks in the shallows and leave the deep blue for the real divers.