The hogfish is one of many trophies sought by Florida gogglen 



Let's Go Goggling 



by George X. Sand . . . photographs by Verne 0. Williams 



o OUTHWESTWARD from the tip of Florida, the Keys stretch in a 



hundred-mile sweep of tiny limestone islands. Here, where 

 more than six hundred varieties of multicolored fish swim lazily 

 across the connecting shoals, I had my first try at goggling. 



Two recent inventions have placed goggling in the class of 

 big game hunting. One of these is the Aqua-lung, a compressed- 

 air breathing tank which enables a goggler to explore the ocean 

 bottom at will. The other is the gas-powered spear gun, invented 

 by Bill McDougall, founder of the Neptune Club. 



Bill's gun makes use of a 2-pound CO 2 fire extinguisher bottle, 

 with enough pressure to discharge the driver shaft through the 

 body of a 4oo-pound jewfish. The gun can be used fifty times 

 without reloading. Members of the Neptune Club brought along 

 this formidable weapon that sunny winter morning when we set 

 out in Bill's ly-foot boat for the shallow Carysfort Reef. As an 

 amateur, I carried a "Hawaiian sling," a bamboo tube through 

 which a 4-foot metal driver is shot by a strip of bungee rubber. 



On the way out the glittering sea was calm. I could see the 

 bottom clearly, even though it was three fathoms down. Coral 

 caves appeared and melted away beneath the outboard's bub- 

 bling wake. Then, almost at the edge of that deep blue channel 

 in the sea that is the warm Gulf Stream, Bill found his spot. 

 The other men took their guns and slipped gently overboard. 

 Only McDougall remained, at the helm. 



"Go on," he encouraged me, "take a look around." The water 

 was warm as it closed over my head. Now, for the first time, I 

 appreciated the heretofore awkward swim fins. A few kicks and 



1 was gliding downward with surprising ease. 



Patches of sand showed white in the shimmering dream-world 

 of light that filtered from above. Delicate coral formations 



140 



With a gas-powered spear gun, gogglers seek out big game>- 



