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WBM june 2011
room, this would be the final breath
we’d take before diving.
There is no shortage of
Wrightsville Beach water
sports, from serene to extreme
and in between.
For folks who love to fish, nothing
beats a day of casting into the surf, or
heading offshore. While pier fishing,
surf casting, offshore and inshore fishing
present their own set of challenges,
a growing number of fishermen are
coming to the waters surrounding
Wrightsville Beach to slay fish in their
own environment — underwater.
Spearfishing — the sport of hunting
fish and lobster with a pneumatic
or elastic-propelled spear (Hawaiian
sling) or speargun — is drawing
more visitors to North Carolina’s
waters every year. Wrightsville’s warm
water, offshore ledges, wrecks and
reefs make for good hunting. Many
spearfishermen use scuba gear to seek
their quarry, but a growing number
of passionate spearfishing enthusiasts
choose to dive and hunt without the
bulky scuba equipment. They choose
to freedive.
Freediving is just that — diving free
of the trappings of traditional scuba
gear. Limited only by the length of
one breath and the tolerance for and
comfort level with the deep, freedivers
don wetsuits, fins and masks, then
plunge to incredible depths. For many,
the two sports go hand in hand.
“Freediving is so much more than
hunting,” Ashley says.
“Freediving allows us to become part
of the underwater world rather than
observe the world,” Ren explains.
The Chapmans report that offshore
Wrightsville Beach is beautiful. From
the stark, sometimes cloudy inshore
waters to the clear, current-swept
sandy inlet beds to offshore ledges and
shipwrecks, each area has different
fish, mollusks, plants and coral. Where
one may be bright with coral growth
and abounding with schools of small
fish, another may be darker, deeper,
7204 Wrightsville Avenue, Wilmington
(next to CoolSweats at the Beach)
910.256.1005
8262 Market Street, Wilmington
(next to Harris Teeter in Porters Neck)
910-319-7400
Store hours: Mon-Sat, 10-6