the Barbancourt barrel
These drops are never easy… nor are the pickups.
With a lot of luck and some planning, we can have fair weather and calm seas. Most of the time, we’re running short on time, as our window of opportunity begins to close and weather systems shift conditions. That means a scramble for a slot in that window… and an alignment of personal schedules. It’s always more supportive and enjoyable when the whole crew is on the water, but we’re often dealing with dependencies that are just, well, sometimes, beyond our hands.
The barrel drop for Barbancourt’s Seagroni had to be solo this time, despite perfectly flat conditions and favorable weather. No Nick or Billy and the high seas camaraderie that usually ensues. But I wasn’t exactly solo out there, a trusted spearfishing buddy met me so we could get a little camera footage of the drop and some reef hunting in afterward. We paddle far out to our spot in the placid North Atlantic, and shoot footage of the barrel underwater and at the surface for social promos.
The water was an ideal light turqouise color, clear to the bottom of the 42’ seafloor, and the sky was slightly cloudy - perfect for getting good shots of the barrel. We get our content, and then it’s a deep breath and dive down to the bottom. Our barrel secured to the reef, I ascend to the surface, lungs pleasantly expanding as the air in them loses pressure from the greater than 2 atmosphere depth they just visited. Exhale everything right under the surface, breathe in above water - sweet, fresh air! I hop in the kayak and write some quick notes - another barrel down in the log - and then we’re off to find fish and lobsters for dinner. I’m also looking forward to checking the captured footage on land.
Fast forward 3 weeks, and it’s time to pluck the barrel. Well, primarily because we’re about to need it for the Barbancourt-sponsored dinner where it will be featured, but also because the heavens have aligned and the weather is favorable for us to get out. Nick is able to join this time, but Billy can’t make it. It always feels like more of an adventure with the three of us out there, but it’s always good rugged fun even if everyone can’t make it out. Nick is fast in his kayak, zipping through the waves and keeping ahead of me while I maintain our heading and haul gear for lobstering and dive equipment along. What’s a lot of rum without a little lobster? Lonely rum indeed.
We get to our station and I time to drop in just before we float over the reef. A deep breath, equalization of the ears and I’m jackknifing downward in pursuit of our barrel. It disengages from its hold effortlessly, and we float together smoothly toward the surface, tiny bubbles of air leaking and expanding upward out of my wetsuit and crannies of barrel staves. We surface, I transfer it to the kayak and give it a cursory once-over. Everything appears intact on the exterior of the barrel, and it’s looking like this will be another successful batch.
We secure the barrel in the kayak hold and paddle toward shallower reef structure for a couple hours of lobstering. We search for tens of minutes to no avail… then, antennae appear from a rock hole. We’re on it. JACKPOT. There’s enough for us to limit out, and within 15 minutes we skillfully clear the hole, save for the undersized ones. It’s bad luck to leave a lobster spot clean - hard enough to leave a legal one behind if you’re under your bag limit, at that - so we feel relieved to be able to take the viable bugs and leave the undersized ones to mature and breed. This can only be sustainable as long as we aren’t greedy.
We get back to shore and clean up, pack our gear and excitedly head back to the lab for a round of filtering and testing Barbancourt’s product to ensure it survived the submarine stay. And to our delight, it most certainly did, hitting all the notes we hope to achieve from this alchemical process. A celebratory delight, marked by the cracking of freshly furnished tins of salty sardines and a warm baguette from the nearby bakery. We know our customer and their patrons will enjoy this special barreling for their event, and, as if time itself stared us down with terrestrial impatience, we hurriedly began prepping and plotting our next drop.
