Ascension Tuna Spearfishing Record

The Ultimate Tuna - Originally published in the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine
Words by Paul Shannon

Paul Shannon - Ascension Island Yellowfin Tuna

A couple of years ago my 3 mates and I decided to set ourselves a goal: Save enough money every year for a spearfishing trip, diving in a new location every year if possible. Unfortunately, year one failed to provide an opportunity and as a result the pot got bigger and the boundaries of our trip were extended.
The team comprised of Kitt Steen, the owner of the Yum Thai restaurants in Durban North and Umhlanga, who was our chef. Dion Kuter, a water purification specialist and our trip organizer. Andy Deckwash, our boating engineer. And I was the “wheeler-dealer” from Sparesboyz. All of us are ex-underwater hockey players who have been diving together for over 25 years. Whilst we are not competitive divers, we do always enter into a competition between ourselves for the biggest fish. This time the prize was to be a really good single malt whiskey. A fair deal, we thought.
We planned on doing a trip to either of the Lazarus Banks in Northern Mozambique or possibly West Africa. Then Dion came up with an out-of-the-box exploration; hunting big Tuna of Ascension Island. Game on!
There was a lot of planning which was mostly carried out by Dion. The plan was to fly to UK and from there catch a military aircraft to “Ascension Island”, a remote location just south of the Equator with its nearest neighbour being West Africa, which is approximately about 1600km away. How secluded is Ascension Island? It has been quoted as the most desolate place on earth, so that should help you paint a picture. It now has approximately 880 inhabitants (all on a 2 year contract) and it covers an area of approximately 88 square kilometres. Part of the planning involved obtaining MI 5 clearance, which was a worrying factor as one of our members, Kitt Steen, an ex-Rhodesian who has had a questionable past. Thankfully, our fears were allayed when we were all cleared for departure from Brize Norton military base.

Steve Ellis testing the first MAMBA Roller Gun

Next came deciding what equipment we required to land these monsters, where we would source the gear and how we’d arrange to have it all ready for the trip. A tall order, unless of course your name is Kitt or Deckwash and you have Dion and Paul to assist. Once again Dion did extensive research and came up trumps by getting together with Steve Ellis who had been to Ascension Island a few times, and had a fish of 126kg to his name. Steve is a passionate spearo and is known for his MAMBA Spearguns and his superb quality boats which he makes at Fibretech.

I paid a few visits to Rob Allen at the Dive Factory and placed orders for 1.5m carbon graphite guns with drop away 7.5m spears and heavy grade Dyneema. We were off to a “gunfight” and certainly couldn’t arrive to the occasion with knives. Sorry Kitt.
A couple of 35L floats and 30m long bungees made up the balance of the arsenal. Dion also ordered a few sardines to feed the fish, 500kg’s all in all, which Steve arranged to have shipped to the island. Then it was fitness time and Dion and I spent days training at the Kings Park Pool. We also met Steve for a pool session to practice with different equipment such as Mamba guns and roller guns; the latter of which Dion started an affair with which lasted the entire trip.

The airport was a laugh with 4 of us having to “gypo” the scales to fall within the allowable weight for an Emirates flight. Then it was the long haul to London via Dubai. From Heathrow we headed straight for Oxford all jammed into a fortunately spacious Mercedes bus. There was some touring done and a brief art museum visit, followed by the short trip to the Brize Norton military base. We arrived at Ascension after an overnight flight where we were met by Colin, a local who has a concession on the island as well as a number of boats for us to use.

The first look at paradise 

We were greeted by absolute paradise and crystal blue seas, the perfect waters for ballies to dive. Every morning we were up at 7 o’clock in the morning, we’d have breakfast and be on the boat by 9 o’clock and in the water soon after a short 1-2km trip. Then the chumming would begin and we prepared for our minds to be blown. Crystal water and massive fish came to greet us, and at that moment I decided that Ascension truly is a spearo’s paradise. I landed the first fish on the boat, a target practice 25kg baby, but a start in any case. At this early stage we had no idea about what was to come. Absolute madness ensued and an adrenalin buzz, which was second to none, kicked in as we started seeing some really BIG fish. We all took turns and saw that there was a decent number of fish being chased and missed or shot and lost. We were told by those in the know that you need to drop to a 10-15 metre level and wait, whilst aiming at the chum. A fish will appear in your sights and then you must make sure you have a good shot before pulling the trigger. That’s sure easy to say if you’ve dived here before, I thought. Not so easy if it is day one and your adrenaline levels are off the chart. 
We started to settle and get to the business end of spearing. I got into a big fish and sunk in a great solid shot. I don’t believe in being subtle and letting a fish run until it tires and then hauling it in. I say put in a good shot: hold the pressure, and enjoy the ride and the fight. These fish swim straight down, taking all of your line and popping the float under a couple of times. Often, I would put in a fair amount of effort to retrieve the line only to have the same line taken again by the fish. After about 25 minutes of line-in, line-out we got colour, and Steve went to “settle the fish”. I then pulled the line in and managed to grab this beauty of a Yellowfin, before Steve demonstrated what to do with the long blade knife. The fight on top was a fun, learning experience, to say the least, primarily because the fish was big, strong and difficult to hold. Steve had warned of getting wrapped in the line, as this can be fatal. We carried special cut-away knives for that exact eventuality, but fortunately we experienced no problems. The fish I landed was a big one. It was my biggest game fish by a long shot, and it later weighed in at 83kgs. There was a moment of congratulations and high fives all round; then it was back to the business.  I was now content with my catch, and we took it in turns so that each of us could bag a big fish. 

Deon with his 83kg Yellowfin Tuna

The following day Dion managed to land a beauty of a fish that also weighed in at 83kg after a long fight which went on for over an hour. On the same day, Deckwash shot a fish of 53kg. These two were also personal bests. The days went on and we did some fun shallow diving, looking for crayfish and grouper for the pot. This was a success and Kitt, always the top chef with his full complement of satisfied customers, was to prepare an awesome dinner for us. We also shot a couple of Wahoo, Sailfish and Kitt got a nice big Black Jack, possibly not one of the most difficult fish to shoot. 

Deon and an Ascension Island Sailfish

Ascension Island is an absolutely beautiful place to be and we spent evenings fishing from the beach and catching Black Travelley “shot for shot” until our arms were tired. This was the signal to head for a meal and a drink to wind down after an exhilarating day. I hasten to add that the island also boasts a really cool pub called, The Saints Bar, which needless to say was frequented by all.
Another day dawned and after a morning dive with no big tuna shot, we headed for the shallows to dive in 20-30m water to look for some Wahoo. We were about 100m offshore, and seeing Wahoo, but their presence did not materialise into a catch for the two interested divers, Dion and I. However, our tenacity was rewarded when a monster tuna way over 100kgs came along. Dion was at the ready, and “thunk” his spear set well in the fish from the top, just behind the head. Moans and groans from our top men, Kitt and Deckwash, who wanted to drink rather than perform top man duties. Dion fought the fish for 2 long hours and then…nothing. This is one of the worst feelings for any spearo. All of that training for fitness and practice in the pool came to nil.

Kitt and another Wahoo

Deckwash, however, was up to shoot next when in swam what looks like a 100kg fish! He breathed up and dived down on it, took air, fired…and missesd. He cursed, swore and wondered why he missed such a golden opportunity before shedding a tear. I was up next. I dived down, waited and in came that big fish; no shot. I surfaced, breathed up again and diving down to 10m, I waited. Along came the fish again and I got ready, the adrenaline was pumping as I anticipated my shot; again no shot. Breathe up again and down we go. Here it comes, adrenaline still at maximum level, and I lined up with the MAMBA. A perfect shot on this monster fish which was at least 100kg. BANG! I got a great shot in just behind mid body and spot on the midline. A solid shot. As previously mentioned, I like to fight my fish and fight I did. Turning the fish rapidly, I was able to start pulling it up after 20-25 minutes. Dion did me a favour with the second shot and up came this monster, well over 100kg; possibly 120kg! Eventually we got it on board and it was a beauty. I was dropped back at the pier so the others could continue the day diving. 

Paul & Steve and the record Yellowfin 

It took four of us to drag this fish up steps to the cleaning section on the pier. We lifted it onto the gantry to get the weight. Oh wow! Up, up and up some more! The fishermen on the pier were all trying to guess the weight, but I don’t think anybody would have called this one. My Yellowfin weighed in at a true weight of 325lbs (147kg). A new island record! Later, Chris West informed me that this was possibly the biggest non bill-fish ever shot by a South African, and really close to the biggest Yellowfin Tuna ever shot. Needless to say, I was STOKED! The fish was donated to the Saints Bar for a braai to be held for a fishing competition the following day. Unfortunately, spearfishing entries were not allowed.

Any trip to Ascension would not be complete without a visit to Bird Island. As usual, we headed out in the morning for our boat ride to the other side of the island where were welcomed by this massive rock island jutting out just off the mainland. It is truly spectacular and provides awesome diving. Whilst we never managed to shoot any big Tuna, Dion was lucky enough to see a nice big (really big) Big Eye Tuna swimming on the surface in the 12m depth channel, but unfortunately he missed it. We swam amongst huge shoals of Big Eye Kingfish some in excess of 8kg’s and we also spotted some really big Sea Pike cruising around the island. As is commonplace on Ascension we were constantly surrounded by hundreds of Triggerfish. 

Crayfish anyone?

We had now spent 12 glorious days hunting for Tuna and crayfish and diving in the shallows just for the love and passion we have for the sea. We spent the last day exploring this beautiful island, from the greenest forest to the most desolate volcanoes. There is so much to do on Ascension and we will definitely be back to explore this unique island even further. The beaches are magnificent and you can see newly hatched turtles walking to the sea on the moonlit beaches. It’s absolutely breath-taking. 

Da Boys up on Green Mountain

Thank you to Colin Chester from Ascension Island Fishing Charters (AIFC) for your incredible hospitality, for welcoming us to your home, for the knowledge imparted you to us, the use of your bicycles for transport and your kitchen to prepare all the delightful meals we ate. To Steve Ellis, thank you for the preparation you put in for the trip and for the loan of your classic roller and other Mamba guns. Also for the many tips you gave us on how to shoot these big fish. Finally to my friends Dion, Kitt and Andrew for making Ascension Island such a memorable trip. Oh! And for the 18 year old Talisker Reserve Whiskey which is now finished!

Cheers

Paul Shannon

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Spearfishing Ascension Island - Ascending Expectations

Original article written for the Ultimate Spearfishing Magazine. - Words & Pictures by Chris Coates

MJK Spearfishing Ascension Island

Spearfishing Ascension Island. If there’s one thing I have learned from all the spearfishing trips I’ve been on, it’s to prepare for the best, but to lower your expectations. This way, you’re physically and mentally ready, with all the gear to get the job done well… while not expecting to shoot a world record in the first hour. High expectations are a killer on trips, especially when things don’t go according to plan. There’s nothing worse than missing out on enjoying and amazing holiday by getting bummed out because the trip was not exactly what you had hoped for.

Where am I going with this you might ask? Well, it was just past 7:30am and MJK and I had just landed on the tarmac at Ascension Island, and were waiting for Colin Chester to pick us up. Up until now we’d had months, weeks and now hours of talking about what we hoped to achieve on the trip. Knowing full well not to have unrealistic expectations, MJK turned to me and said, “So what’s the goal then?”

Trying my hardest not play it too safe, but at the same time have some sort of definite objective, I offered up, “a 100kg Tuna by the third day would be good.”

I honestly thought this would be a stretch but after a moment of contemplation we agreed that a 100kg fish by the third day would be a good, and possibly achievable, goal. If not by the third day, surely by the end of the trip we’d have a fish of that size. 

Colin arrived and we ran through the pleasantries while piling our gear onto the van. We jumped in, and Colin piped up, “You boys ready?” In retrospect I don’t think we quite understood what he meant. Not “are you ready to go?” but rather, “are you ready to dive?”

Totally oblivious to his plan, we trundled down the road to the Obsidian Hotel  in George Town. We’d barely checked in, when Colin turned to us with a big cheesy smile and said, “So, I’ll pick you up in about an hour then. Is that enough time to get your gear together?”

Obsidian Hotel the only hotel on the island.

Rather dumbstruck, I looked at MJK for approval before replying, “Uhh… sure, I think so…”

Colin smiled, gave us a thumbs up and chirped, “You boys better be ready, there are some good fish out there.”

We quickly headed off to our rooms to unpack the gear and set everything up. We hadn’t thought we’d be diving right away, let alone on the day we arrived. So out came the guns, cameras, suits and spears… all of which needed to be reassembled after the long trip to the island.

Surprisingly, it only took us about 30 minutes to get all our gear together and out of the my hotel room door. This was our first opportunity to really take in what would be our home for the next two weeks. The room opened out onto black volcanic gravel. Across the pathway was an old boat that had been repurposed as a flowerbed,but with no flowers. There were some plants but they looked seriously thirsty. The place was fairly sparse with only the occasional tree here and there. In the distance behind the hotel rose a red volcanic mound, with not a single sign of life other than the old WW2 canon buttresses about halfway up. We had been told that arriving at Ascension was like landing on Mars, but you really have to see it to believe it.

My chalet in George Town with flowerless flower bed.

Before the hour was up an old Toyota bakkie rattled to a halt in front of us. Colin’s son Blaine jumped out telling us that the boat was ready and waiting. We loaded our gear and headed off between the buildings towards the sea. 

Arriving at the pier, the first thing you notice is how clean the water is. It is the most awesome blue you have ever seen and there are just loads of fish everywhere. Blaine walked up to the railing, said, “Check this,” and threw a piece of old fish carcass into the water. The water erupted in a feeding frenzy with Black Triggerfish all trying to get a piece of the action. It was not unlike what you would imagine a scene in a low budget Piranha movie to look like. 

George Town pier on Ascension

We left the Triggers to their business, and carried our gear down the stairs to a small landing on the side of the pier. There was a whole armada of boats moored out front, ranging from little dinghies and battered old fishing boats to a classy Marlin complete with outriggers and shiny stainless steel finishes.

“Which one is our boat?”, I piped up, as there was no boat even near the landing. Blaine, pulling his shirt off, pointed to a light grey and white inflatable rib in the distance, “We will use this one today, but then from tomorrow we have a different boat for you.” 

The mooring at Monkey Rock

Blaine dived in and swam the 100 metres out to the boat and brought it along the quayside. To cut a long story short, Blaine stopped the boat about 1.5km from the pier and said, “This should be good.” 

I peered around at the sounder to check out the structure. All I could see was a sounder reading of 68m. I looked across at the plotter and the nearest marked point must have been 200m away. 

My first thought was, “Does this lighty even know what’s cutting?” Not wanting to sound like a know it all or like a complete idiot, I asked, “So this is a good spot?”

Blaine, now up to his elbows in fish blood from stuffing sardines in the burley net, answered, “This whole area is good.” 

I must admit that at this point my confidence level was pretty low. I figured we would try this drift, get our gear wet and wash out all the cobwebs, and if we did not see a fish it would not be a big deal.

As we were about to jump in I could not help myself and had to ask Blaine how the drift was going to work. With a smirk he shrugged his shoulders half pointing out to sea saying that it should go out to sea, but that we would only know after the first drift. Not at all confidence boosting… I mean, we did not just travel all this way to do random drifts in the middle of nowhere.

MJK beat me getting into the water and by the time I reached him he had almost finished loading up his gun. It was fairly overcast and although the water looked really clean it did not have that ‘blue’ look I had seen in the pictures. I dropped the flasher and started to mush up a few sardines to get the burley trail going.
To the side I could see MJK dropping down to stretch his lungs. I dropped down to join him, check my weighting and flush out the haze from the past few days of travelling.

We both hit the surface, MJK checking out his gun while I headed back to the flasher and burley bag. I reached for some sards and broke them up in a cloud around me. When the cloud cleared, there was a Wahoo swimming below the flasher. I am not sure if it was because it was so surreal or if I was half asleep after not catching a wink during the flight out (despite having dropped a few sleeping tabs), but I just watched the fish swim past with out even moving a muscle.

When I came to, I turned to MJK, who was obviously feeling a whole lot sharper than I was. His arm was pointing in the direction that the fish had gone and he was nodding his head, making sure that I had seen it. He dropped down and hung mid water for a while. I thought, “What are the chances this fish comes back in again?” Sure enough the stupid fish turned around and swam right in front of MJK. Thwack! Aand the spear went in right behind the head. The Wahoo sped off, but gave up after only a few metres.

It wasn’t a big fish, but it’s always good to get the first fish on the boat and test that all the gear is working well. So the drift could not have been too bad if we saw and shot a Wahoo not long after jumping in. Blaine took us back to the area where we’d started, and I took some land marks so I could start getting an idea of what the drift was doing and where we were diving.

Back in the water I filmed MJK loading up and we started the burley process all over again. By now the cobwebs were gone and after the Wahoo my confidence levels were a lot better. We alternated diving down to the bottom of the flasher, which was at about 15 metres. Just some nice and easy diving to get the body working. Next thing, I saw MJK pointing into the blue and he started to head for the surface. As he came closer and he opened his arms out with a big gesture. His eyes were like saucers.

It does not matter what language you speak or where you are from, this means only one thing: BIG FISH! A massive Yellowfin Tuna had swam past out in the distance. Now, normally if the fish does not come in on the flasher your chance is lost and you have to wait for the next fish. We were happy we had at least seen a good fish and with the goal of getting one by day three, this was a good sign.

Then, I spotted a white line moving way down below. I couldn’t make out if it was a fish or even what part of the fish it was, but it was snaking along and had to be something. We both turned and looked at each other… something was there! I continued throwing out burley, this time with a couple whole sards, in the hope that whatever ‘it’ was would come back. 

Then there it was right below the flasher, a bulbous torpedo with a gunmetal blue-grey back, and massive long yellow sickles with long white tips. I remember the Cape Town boys explaining to me that when a Yellowfin gets real big its sickles get super long and start going white at the tips. The massive fish glided through, slowly picking out the chunks from bottom of the burley trail. Piece by piece the trail grew shorter and shorter and the fish was almost at the bottom of the flasher.

MJK and I were locked in the dilemma of what to do… when to dive and shoot the fish? I had seen how the Yellowfin in the Cape get very comfortable and come right up to the surface, so we decided to hold our nerve and wait for the fish to come in close. MJK turned to me as the fish took a whole sard right at the flasher level and gave me a thumbs up, the GO signal. I started my final breathe up and I was about to dive when the thumbs up was followed by a full flat hand. Ok what now?

What’s the problem? MJK pointed at another Tuna that had joined in feeding on the burley trail. Now there were two massive Tuna swimming around, but which was bigger? Each massive fish took turns to glide through and take some burley. And every time, the fish in front of us looked incredible, and had to be the one. Then the next fish would come in making it impossible to decide. For a good few minutes there was lots of pointing, gesturing and waving of hands, canceling the decision. 

The problem was that the two fish never came past side-by-side, so it was hard to pick which was bigger. Eventually MJK made the call to dive and I followed him down the burley line as he picked out a chunk that was most likely to be taken by the Tuna that was in range. I could see the two Tuna in the distance. One broke away and came right in for the burley. MJK set up his strike like a chameleon stalking a wary insect, his gun calmly and slowly extending as the Tuna came in range. Then thwack! The spear shot out and the Tuna fell like a WW2 bomber being shot out the sky.

MJK and his first Ascension Island Giant Tuna

Now the game was on! The new 9mm blue water bungee from Rob Allen, which we were testing for the first time, went taught as the first 35l Remora float went tail up on the surface. This is the position the float would stay for the next hour as MJK battled the beast bit by bit back to the surface. Eventually, we reached the soft bungee, but with the bungee stretched all the way out plus the double wrap from the gun, the massive fish was still 25 metres away. Worried that the soft bungee might shear if we shortened it and tied it off in the clip, MJK decided that he would dive down with MAMBA roller gun and put in the final coupe de grace.

I follow him down, but I realised as I passed about halfway that I was bushed. Chasing after MJK being pulled around the ocean by a big fat Tuna had taken its toll. I decide to tap off and capture the action from above.  MJK powered down and finished the job. I could see he was labouring as he swam past me on his way to the surface. 

Now you would think that once a fish was dead, that it would be easy to bring to the surface, right? Well, as we were about to find out, Yellowfin are just solid dead weight! Eventually we got the fish up and tied the dynema shooting line off on the float so we could get some pics and landing shots. MJK went down and tried to swim the incredibly big fish up and his calf muscle cramped up. He aborted the dive and hit the surface, in obvious pain but laughing. 

We eventually took all the photos and decided to call it a day. Back on the boat there was a bit of back and forth estimating the Tuna’s weight, so we were all keen to see what the scales said. We were greeted back at the pier by Colin, who took one look at the fish and called it over 100kg. Now, knowing that our goal was to get a 100kg fish by the third day, he looked at his watch and said with a big smile, “And it only took you 4 hours… not 3 days! What do you think about that boys?” Truth be told, we did not know what to think. It was crazy. Beyond what we had ever hoped or imagined. 

Now Steve Ellis, who was also there guiding some guys from South Africa, saw us coming in and came strolling along the pier to see what we had got. This was Steve’s third trip to the island and he had been instrumental in helping me put the trip together with Colin, so you can imagine his joy to see us with a great fish.

It was all hands on deck man-handling the giant fish up the 20 metres of steps to the top of the pier and to the fish cleaning station. We hoisted the fish up and the scale read out 118kg, which was followed by much cheering and back slapping.

This was the first of 14 dive days and the first of many 100kg plus Yellowfin.  If you can imagine that standing next to a Tuna of over 100kg is a surreal feeling, then I have no idea how to explain the days that followed.

Ascension is probably one of the most remote places in the world, and fairly challenging to get to. By that I mean it’s not just down the road. You need to fly via the UK and hop on the RAF plane that flies weekly to the island. You also need security clearance, as it is essentially a military base. It does seem like a mission but it’s not like ‘Africa’ and first word logic makes the organising fairly painless.

Steve Ellis, Myself, Dennis Vreet & MJK up on Green Mountain

But now that the cat’s out the bag as to what a Tuna hot spot ‘The Rock’ is, it was no surprise that besides ourselves and Steve’s South African group, more guys would be there. Cameron Kirkconnell and Perrin James arrived in the second week with two groups of guys, including Eric Allard and Nigel Spencer from Tanzania, and Hamad Al Fouzan and his friends from Kuwait. It was like a mini ‘who’s who’ of spearfishing, and although there was no formal competition, everyone was trying to beat the 147kg beast shot by Paul Shannon, who was part of Steve’s crew.

Paul Shannon's 147kg Ascension Island Yellowfin Record with Steve Ellis

With the bar now raised, 100kg fish weren’t going to cut it anymore and the decision was to take only bigger fish. The problem was how to tell the difference between a 110kg and a 140kg fish? With so many divers, MJK and I decided stick with the small cat called ‘Swamp Dog’ and Blaine as our guide. This turned out to be a really good move as Blaine had us on the fish every single day without fail.

MJK 94kg Big Eye Tuna

There were so many fish, and so many opportunities, but we just could not break that elusive 140kg mark. We did get a massive 94,3kg Big Eye Tuna, which at the time doubled the world record… only to get broken again a week or so later by Paulo Afonso in the Azores with a massive 110kg fish. We had also decided to only take one fish a day and by halfway through the trip MJK stopped shooting altogether. We just spent the last few days watching 100kg fish swim past. 

MJK and another 100+ Yellowfin

This meant for the first time that we were able to put away the guns and video cameras and just take photos, something I very seldom get a chance to do. We had some great encounters with Whale Sharks and even a massive Black Marlin that came in to have a look at a Tuna we had speared. We did not see as many Wahoo as we had hoped, but did not spend much time on the spot where Wahoo are normally seen. We were focused on the Tuna.

Whale Shark having fun with MJK.

No gun just having fun swimming with Giant Yellowfin Tuna

Eventually, the days counted down and our time in the water was almost up. We had a couple of good size Tuna coming in and out of the burley trail but nothing in the 140kg range. This was possibly going to be our last opportunity and MJK handed over the MAMBA roller gun I had put together for him and said, “Best you take one before it’s too late.” 

Me taking a selfie while pretending to shoot a tuna.

So I handed him the camera and switched into hunting mode. You have to understand that by now I had practiced this shot in my head a hundred times during the last two weeks, so when the fish came in I knew exactly where I wanted to be and exactly how I wanted to place the shot.

My PB Yellowfin last day last dive at Ascension

The MAMBA roller gun did not fail and switched off the 98kg tuna. The spear went right through the fish and the double barb got stuck in the thick cheek plate on the other side. Put it this way: that fish was going nowhere. What an epic way to end possibly the most insane two weeks of spearfishing I have ever experienced. 

More  Giant Free Swimming Tuna

Our time on the island had come to an end. It seemed so short and somehow all the days blurred into one another. We sat in the hotel on the last night swapping fish stories with all the guys and it was difficult to discern on which day we shot which fish. I guess this is a sign of a truly crazy awesome trip, and a sign that maybe Ascension is that one place where you can have great expectations that don’t let you down.

Every Spear Fisherman's dream is to have 100kg+ Tuna like this swimming around them.

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