Articles by month: August 2010

All eyes looked into the clear water with shock. Several bystanders helplessly watched the fish glide underwater away from the dock and boat. Someone yelled, "Get Alex, hurry!"
Alex Cosmakos, from San Clemente California, is a resort fishing guide and avid free diver. Alex came running with fins, mask and swim trunks in hand. At the bottom of the dock ramp Cosmakos yelled out, "I'm getting naked, turn around." He stripped off his clothes and slid into his swim trunks in about three seconds flat. He then jumped onto the docked boat, put on his fins and mask and jumped feet first into the water. He took two deep breathes, bent into a pike position and kicked hard toward bottom. Cosmakos stayed underwater quite a while, searching for the fish and then spotting it 40 feet from the boat in 50 feet of water. His head broke the surface; he gasped for air and yelled that he found the king. Several deep breathes and another quick downward pike left his fins kicking the air and then water as he propelled himself to the bottom. With the sun setting, he did not have long before it would be to dark to find the king. If he could not find and grab the king now it would be lost forever.