The Helldivers' Rodeo: A Deadly, Extreme, Spearfishing Adventure Amid the Offshore Oil Platforms in the Murky Waters of the Gulf of Mexico

If you like Hunter S. Thompson's brand of gonzo journalism you will like this book, although it is certainly milder than "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", but the style is similar. I read it while on a liveaboard in the Caribbean, and it is definitely of interest to scuba divers. All in all, a most enjoyable read.

This is probably one of the most enjoyable books I have read in the last five years. The author and his cohorts are definitely brave, almost certainly missing a few screws and possibly suicidal, but they enjoy what they are doing so much that after a while the insanity of it all doesn't seem to matter. Stories about divers diving with football helmets so they don't get knocked out on the steel beams of the oil rig and the stalking of sharks (!!) in the opaque murk at the bottom of the sea floor would seem farcical or just stupid coming from almost anyone else, but when Fontova writes it is riveting, believable and also hilarious.Fontova is often brutally honest about the risks that the rig-divers take. While his writing clearly expresses the enjoyment and thrill of this type of spear fishing, he does not try to glorify it or to imply that it is safe or easy or simple, because it is none of those things. One of the best things about this book is also one of the most unexpected: it's not just about hunting, it's about everything else too. In between the stories about the dives, Fontova talks about south Louisiana culture, the workings and modification of spear guns, the theory of operation behind scuba gear, the rules for how deep and how long it is considered safe to dive (after which he talks about how the rig divers exceed all limits of safety or even common sense on their dives), the dynamics of the mixing of the Mississippi River water with the Gulf of Mexico water, a brief history of oil rigs, basic fish anatomy and the types and temperament of fish seen around the rigs, why Jacques Cousteau once gave a talk at a local dive shop, a first-person perspective on Che Guevera, and dozens of other things besides. This is really an excellent book that I have recommended and will continue to recommend to family and friends. The only people who probably won't like it are anti-hunting activists and those that feel Prohibition should never have been repealed. Aside from them, it has something for everyone.

If he were alive today, Lloyd Bridges would just die. As it is, in that great water world in the sky, he's probably reverse-inducted his air supply, causing his regulator to reverberate and self-destruct, or whatever it is regulators do when they implode in dismay. Humberto Fontova has created a first book that is a paen to Louisiana and its Gulf fisheries. In doing so, he has spear-gunned every sacred sea cow the Sea Hunt crowd--and the wine-tasting, escargot-slurping,environmentally-connected Sierra Clubbers--have ever embraced in the pursuit of politically correct, fish-hugging, non-consumptive usage of the Gulf of Mexico, and her abundant piscatorial plenty. Thumbing his nose at all in a juicy redneck/sea-scum dialect, Fontova writes the following: "...In the Fund for Animal's annual 'Body Count,' which scores states in its 'Cavalcade of Cruelty' by the number of animals 'murdered' by hunters as reported by fish and game agencies, Louisiana was: NUMBER ONE! the last two years running..." Hilariously irreverent, Fontova is a fast, furious, funny read about the ultimate extreme-edge sport, deep-water scuba diving and fish hunting around the lush fisheries environment of oil rigs off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico. What makes it interesting is that not only are these characters going entirely too deep to be doing this stuff, but sometimes, the fish hunt them... Rip Linton, head of the East Baton Rouge Parish (Louisiana) Sheriff's Office Flotilla Dive and Rescue Team, is a certified dive instructor, certified cave diver, and certified rescue diver. He has dived with most of the South Louisiana characters and clubs described in Fontova's book. "When everyone started getting into diving back in the fifties, the tables for safe depths were written by the U.S. Navy," Linton said. "When I started diving with the Helldivers, and some of these other clubs, I was amazed at the depths they were reaching. Some of these characters were bending themselves, they were going so deep, and staying so long...and you can't 'bend' yourself over about three times before there's permanent damage. These guys were going down as much as a hundred feet below the Navy's recommended safe depths. They literally rewrote the books on maximum depths for scuba!" THE HELLDIVERS RODEO is at once a description of middle-aged crazies who dive the rigs and platforms of the Gulf in polyester disco outfits from the Seventies, hunting big fish to spear and ride, and it is also a love affair with Louisiana and its waters as only an adoptee can describe and appreciate. Born in Cuba in the fifties, Fontova starts his book describing how he and his cousin, watched over by their long-suffering nanny, Tata, would swim the shallow waters of the beaches east of Havana, using home-made spear guns and straightened coat hangers for spears. Stern milicianos, teen-aged boys with machine guns imbued with the spirit of la revolucion, stood watch

Very funny book about very real people and events. I know, I used to participate in the Helldiver's Rodeos. I recommend this book to all who want a real look at American Men.

This book is not for the timid. Fontova is an interesting guy with an interesting hobby. He spears (or attempts to spear) giant fish in the Gulf of Mexico. The book recounts some of the stories of the pioneers of the sport and Fontova's own foray's into the waters south of Louisiana. Highly reccomended to carnovores only.