RAYMOND CHOW has made the sea his home. A fisherman and diver since 16 years old, Chow is no stranger in the fishing community as he has the reputation of being one of Barbados’ best divers.
Sitting in the fishing complex at Consett Bay, St John, with the fresh ocean breeze caressing his face, Chow said he fell in love with the sea after experiencing a dive on the Atlantis Submarine when it first launched.
“When we got to the bottom of the ocean, it was love at first sight and from there it was no turning back,” he said with a faraway look. So great is his love for the sea, he has named one of his daughters Ariel (after the favourite daughter of the mythical King Neptune), and his son Sea.
He has worked in many diving shops across the island, laid pipes along the Oistins coastline for fuel, as well as repaired a wall underwater at the Bridgetown Port, during which he had to spend three hours underwater at a time, he told EASY magazine.
That experience he describes as one of the most challenging he has ever had. Now he fishes and dives every day, all day long, shooting anything that crosses his path with his spear gun. Otherwise he is free diving.
Admitting he has done some crazy stuff at the bottom of the ocean, Chow says he recently fell victim to the sometimes fatal disease the bends.
The bends, also known as decompression sickness (DCS) or caisson disease, usually occurs in scuba divers when gases, mainly nitrogen, dissolve too quickly, forming in bubbles, which can affect just about any body area, including joints, lungs, heart, skin and the brain.
The only cure is to enter a pressurised chamber in which the air pressure matches the pressure at depth and the pressure is released slowly. “I had to spend four hours in the chamber. It’s the fourth time it has happened and the doctor advised me not to dive ever again in life, but I am still diving,” he mused.
The diver, who has Trinidadian ancestry, has also found himself in some tight spots in the ocean. Recalling some experiences, he said he once followed a fish into a cave to shoot it and after shooting it could not find his way back out. He was in there for a while and was running low on oxygen. Thankfully, he found his way out and back to the surface before he completely ran out of air.
On another occasion he had three sharks attack him off of Foul Bay, St Philip. One shark kept coming at him and just when he thought he was sure to be bitten, the predator would turn away at the last moment, while the others circled him. He said that in a last attempt for freedom he threw his catch at the sharks to distract them.
While they were devouring his catch for the day, he made his escape. Of the experience he said, “I swam so hard I had no skin on my toes when I reached shore. So tired I was from exhaustion and how hard I swam for my life that I threw up as soon as I touched land and I have never dived in Foul Bay again.”
However, he is concerned about the depletion of sea creatures over the years. “We have a serious problem with overfishing in Barbados. As a fisherman over the years I have noticed a decline in the amount of fish in the ocean. But what I do to help is that I don’t fish at the same reef every day. I change it up all the time to give the fish the opportunity to grow and reproduce. Same with the sea eggs when the season is open.”
Adding that the ocean is a beautiful place, he described a typical day for him: “I get to the bay by six and go out on the boat with two other fellas. We fish; we dive and come back up with our catch for the day, whether snapper, barracuda or lobster. I also like having control of my day. If I don’t feel like working I don’t and I won’t get fired for it,” he said, laughing.
So what’s in store for Chow now that, as he says, he should be taking it easy? “Fishing and diving are hard work, but very rewarding. I know I need to slow down, but if I were to die now I would be satisfied. Maybe I should think about teaching people to swim or something, but the ocean is home. I have had 33 glorious years on the ocean floor and I would not trade them for the world.” (RA)
