Many of my scuba diving friends find it strange that I, who even own my own scuba gear, should go back to freediving. The reason I started was simply that it's illegal to spear fish while scuba diving in Australia but now I usually prefer leaving the tank at home even when I don't hunt. Why?

• There's just too much hassle with scuba diving and all the gear involved.
• You can move so much easier and faster when you don't carry around a heavy tank and a clumsy BC.
• You see a lot more big animals, partly because you stay in the water much longer but also because you spend most of your time away from the bottom. I've seen plenty of scuba divers swimming 10ft away from humongous rays on the bottom without seeing them and being completely unaware of large fish (and sharks...) swimming above them.

I still use scuba for some dives though; wreck dives, cave dives, deep dives etc.

• Great Barrier Reef
  In 1995 I got the chance to spend 7 weeks on Northwest Island, a large uninhabited island on the southern end of the Reef. I've written a few stories about my experiences, all illustrated with lots of pictures. You'll find them here .
  The one that should be of most interest for spearo's who don't know me is probably an account of the local spearfishing conditions: Spearing on North West Island
• Thailand I recently visited Thailand's east coast to do some freediving. Here you can read about what happened.
• Divesites in NSW Here I describe a few other places I've been: Shark Point in Sydney, Nelson Bay and the Duckenfield Shipwreck. Read about how I got ran over by a 15000 tonnes cargoship.
• Dahab (Sinai) A story about the best dive of my life, how a 10in fish almost killed me, pitch black nights and Middle Eastern toilets.

Alan McLennan Noone knows the ocean better and he does a great job teaching others. Plukky For teaching me almost everything I know about spearing (whether he intended to or not ...) Kris B. My perpetual dive buddy who's always keen to go out there.