The First Video of the “Friend. Not Fish. 2012” Dive Trip

It’s about time.  Back in ‘06, a group of my friends started the “Friend Not Fish Dive Trip” aided by the hard work of the original organizers, Aaron and Maquel Crist (of Crist Spears fame). We did it three years straight, and then unfortunately took 3 years off (the flailing economy didn’t help).  This year Todd (one of the original members of the group with us, and a die-hard in his own right) took it over from the Crists, and put the band back together.  He was on a mission to revive it.  This time we chartered a different boat from the same operator, and as usual, we had a great time.

I’ve become notorious among the group for taking great video on these trips, and then never showing anyone (sorry, everyone).  This time, to provide a good faith offering to everyone involved, I wanted to get something up within days of the trip, so I chose a really cool series of photos put into a video flipbook of sorts.  This was the dive deck of the Truth boat for an hour or so at the last dive site of the day (don’t worry…it’s time-lapsed, so it only takes 5 minutes or so).

The commotion near the end happened when Aaron, free diving and hunting with one of his spears, shot right through a fish and got a 3+ foot moray eel behind the target fish accidentally.  After having another moray steel the fish while he was figuring out how to deal with the razor sharp teeth of a squirming eel, he decided to bring it back to the boat on the pole spear and deal with it on our terms.  Aaron has video of this incident, so hopefully I’ll post a follow up soon with that clip (I haven’t seen it yet).

This video was shot on Santa Cruz Island, California, with a GoPro HD Hero.

I will get some more commentary and video up shortly. Honest. I will.  For now, enjoy the comings and goings of the divers, the hard work of the great Truth crew, and a beautiful day on the Pacific Ocean.