2 Day Trip with Shelby Denton

Day 1 

We start drift and collected few nice reef fish. First 2 hour we shot bluefin trevally, unicorn fish for edi and his family. 

Second spot it was quiet in the begining but then the fish become active. We shot seabream, red snapper and flowery cod. I lost longnose emperor due to a really bad shot.

After dive we ask the chef from the hotel to cook us our catch. It was amazing, the chef prepare fish sate, fish steam in a banana leaf and grilled seabream.

Day 2 

We visit the FAD aka Rumpon to hunt for mahi mahi and wahoo. We were outamart by the wahoo and mahi mahi due to the unfriendly ocean conditions. We saw lots of wahoo and mahi mahi but miss all the shot. It was good 30 min of thrills but better luck next time.

Spearfishing with Daniel Charles and his lovely wife: First time spearoto succesful hunter by the end of the day

Daniel and his wife took Freediving course in Gili in order to get themself ready to go spearfishing in Bali. Unfortunately the wife got food poisoning and need to cancel the second day of the course.

Daniel was really concern on his ability to be able to hunt in Bali. So the key to successful hunt is feeling comfortable underwater. This will lead to enjoying yourself spearfishing. In order to start being comfortable. We start by simple technique on how to duck dive, positiin yourself in bottom of the ocen floor and also to remain hidden, stealth and still. All this skill will help you land many type of fish. Daniel and his wife had no trouble learning and they all were natural. After 30 min of praticing and doing several drift dive they were confidence and feeling comfortable. Lastly, I  demostrated Daniel and his wife how to hunt snapper, showing how to approach them and take the  shot of Red snapper, successfully retrieve it to the surface.

The hunt begin and we start hunting for reef fish, Not long after we start shooting fish and Daniel successfully shot his first fish. He was amaze with disbelief that he can actually hunt and catch the fish. Not long after many more was caught.

Extreme south-western tip of java 17-21 september

The title of this blog say it all. The jungle in the national park is hardly penetrable, is dark and mysterious. Inside the pristine forest , are left hidden from the human the shy endangered Javanese rhino, the allusive leopard, the famous javan Banteng and many other wildlife. It took us 5 hour to reach the boat from Jakarta, another 4-5 hour boat ride until we found a spot to sleep. First day only caught barracuda for lunch  while trolling . The wind was quiet strong during the afternoon and the bay was quiet murky with 1-2 meter visibility. Not many interesting fish on the first day. Trevally was under size and no grouper or snapper. Unfortunately, we only have small Rabbitfish for dinner and chicken from the supermarket..

Second day we move to another spot. The visibility is better 4-6 meter but still nothing worth of pulling the trigger. After lunch we move to new location. The current was stronger and looks more promising.  First dive i saw nothing until i was in the area with the strongest current shot a 4kg blue trevally. Then 1.5 kg snapper and saw 2 mangrove jack but i was hesitate to pull the trigger due to rock formation behind it. Try to find it again but it was kept it distant, then  bluefin trevally came with school of 6 and waited for the biggest one to shot.

unfortunately due to the south wind and big swell we have to pass this spot

Second day transit spearfishing spot

Enteirtment on the way to resting spot for the second night

Second day resting spot greeted by the wild indonesian boar

The last day of the trip i woke early in the morning and i hear people screaming over excitment of catching 500 gram to 1 kg squid. Saw i geared up and head staright to the water. i was to late but there was a school of milkfish. I shot atleast 3 milkfish and the manage to fight and rip the body off the spear. it was a nice decent 1-2 kg size.. The last fish i saw was the african pompano which i miss point blank. I guess i was over excited about having sashimi. after all the dissapoitment i was lucky enough to manage to secure one decent size mullet.

after lunch we went back to the same spot from yesterday and hoping to catch some mangrove jack and more trevally. Not sure what second spot my nose was bothering me so much that i only lasted 1 hour. I manage to catch octopus and a snapper. It wasnt as good as the day before.

Arvid stayed longer and start shooting every species of snapper in the area. He shot Scribbled snapper, Mangrove jack, Red snapper and grouper.

Ivan holding my catch on the last day

Arvid catch on the last day, almost every species of snapper in the area

The crew