Muscle ache...damn volcano ;)

Yesterday we tried climbing Mount Pico and we succeeded.
Mount Pico is a stratovulcano and with 2351m the tallest mountain in Portugal

To be honest, I don't know if i had done this alone. There are 45 marks on the trail and i think i had my very low between mark 17-26. Sadly we had clouds all around us. So no nice view to Faial and over Pico itself. That was a bit frustrating, but there has to be a reason doing it again ;)

As I implied, climbing up was the hardest part for me, also others are thinking its climbing down. No doubt, it was hard too and because I had five big blister due to ill-fitting socks, it was really painfull the last 8 marks, but not as hard as the ascend ;)

Today the muscle ache in my thighs started, we will see how hard it will become in the next couple of hours. I hate muscle ache when it get's slowly stronger. I prefer going to bed, waking up and nearly can't move anymore. ;)

Anyway it was a great training and i would recommend doing this 

at your last day if the waether allow's it.

No Shortfin Mako...

...but Blue Sharks all around us ;)

I had no time time to write till now. The day before yesterday, Greg and I were on a trip with 4 other

freedivers, including Fred Buyle, french friends of him and a "local" dutch guy, Gjalt. Meeting Fred was quite nice, because I really love his work as a photographer and also his conservation work he did with his friend William Winram.

Even less than five minutes when we arrived, we had the first blue sharks circling our boat. Not easy to go into the water as quickly as possible, when there is only one small deck-entrance and everybody wanted to be the first one ;)

The first one was very curious and I was surprised how calm and relaxed it was. The conditions were absolutely perfect! Best weather, clear and calm water, and after some time we had 5 sharks around us. I only saw one female, forgot to ask the others. After over 3 hours spending in the water in my 3mm wet suit, I needed a break to warm up, for me it was also enough. Maybe if I had a photo camera with me, I had spended some more time, but with my gopro I had a lot of good sequences to cut in the next weeks ;)

But now some pictures, enjoy! (Thanks again to Greg for most of the pictures)

Later Fred invited us to his house were his french friends prepared some parrotfish Polynesian-Style (mhh I love it!!!) and me cooking some spaghetti (my special azores edition ;)). We had some nice talks about freediving, local problems (rabbits) and other misc stuff. The Clock was ticking very fast and we had to take the latest ferry back to Pico. Hopefully we will do this again. Nice people and an awesome day!

Thanks!

Mobula rays

Yesterday...

We both were still happy about our Sperm whale pictures and didn't expect something like this one day after ;)

Mobulas all over the place, but only for the snorkeler and freedivers, because the scubas were hanging on a rope between 5-15 meters and just saw what was approaching close to them.

Freedivers 1 - Scubas 0! hrhrhr

We saw them over 20 times and collected over 1 hour of video material (I hate cutting). I think they just saw them 5+ times ;) Also they didn't saw thousands of Yellowmouth Barracudas and Atlantic Bonitos.

Today you felt getting payed back for all the hard training's, unbelievable experience. A big thank you also goes to Greg for some nice pictures he did. He had also one of his lifetime freedives, when he went down, looking around and in the meantime 9 Mobula approached over his head when he started to ascend again, lucky guy ;)

No vacation without work
Anchor-rope got entangled in the ship's screw.

At the moment we both think that it it not possible to even top this day, BUT we still have one bonus tomorrow ;). And for me, if it will work out as i hope it will, it would be worth more than the rest of this trip.

"One" Picture is Worth Ten Thousand Words

No time to go into details, maybe tomorrow...

Enjoy!

Good things come to those who wait!

Yesterday we did some spearing again.

At the first spot we arrived, the current was the hardest I ever had to deal with. Full leg and arm work and you were nearly able to stay at one point. No chance to relax and prepare for diving. Also we did not saw any fish at all. Second spot the current was strong but manageable for diving and staying  around one place, but also no fish. Visibility was also bad, the water very murky.

After trying two other spots and spending about 2,5hours in the water, we went back to the first spot were we started in the morning. Current was now OK, Third dive, shot my first White trevally. Changed place again and couldn't load my gun as fast as i wanted. Surrounded by hundreds of White travally all size.

After they disappeared, the Yellowmouth Barracuda arrived. I saw something rushing between them (maybe atlantic bonito, shape could match) and tryed to shot one of this. I had only one good chance to shoot and I missed :(. Meanwhile your guide told me, that my friend Greg couldn't shot any Barracuda at all.

Challenge accepted!

First and second shot ;) I think Greg was a bit frustrated about yelling him that I shot two during my first attempts.
Maybe he will need some better glasses for his mask ;)

Later I saw one Rainbow Runner, didn't know that they were common in the Azores, but Pedro told me, that he also saw them in the past.

All in all we spend over 340 minutes! in the water (yes, 3mm wet suit will work) and at the end I had over 80 dives, mostly between 12 - 22 meter. Could do this every second! day ;)

Thanks again for guiding Pedro

Catch of the day

Today we went out with Pedro from www.bluewaterspot.com. Nice guy, nice boat and a good day to start.

First dive, first shoot, first fish ;)

Greg did a better pre-selection, second dive, first shoot, first fish ;)

Some good spots Pedro guided us though, but the current was strong an the fish stayed deep.

Awesome day! Thanks again Pedro.

Almaco Jack, Amberjack and Bluefish

First warm-up

"Small" warm-up for today.

Trip with current to Ilhéu da Vila Franka do Campo, nearly around (jellyfishes), and return.

nature-sanctuary

Exhausted!!!