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Depth Defying

Depth Defying

For two North Carolina natives, spearfishing and freediving are a challenge that pushes them to the limits while reconnecting them to the mysteries of the sea.

Story by Cara Clark

Miles from shore and deep beneath the ocean’s surface, the water is silent and crystalline. With descent, the sea grows darker and more mysterious, fathoms below where sunlight filters faintly from above. Suspended between two worlds, divers glide effortlessly, their long fins cutting cleanly through the water as they leave behind the oxygen-rich surface, slipping into the deep with the stealth of a pelagic predator.

Brandon West and Ren Chapman have honed the crafts of bluewater spearfishing and freediving, trading noisy air tanks and bubbles for the stillness of the deep sea in pursuit of its largest—and tastiest — inhabitants off North Carolina’s Crystal Coast. This is the realm of wahoo, mahi, grouper, and giant red snapper — curious species that rise from more than 200 feet below to investigate the strange visitors entering their domain.


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