The month of July is closed for abalone diving in northern California. Paul and I had discussed going on a dive when the season re-opened, so we were watching the weather reports. We were pleased to see the ocean calm down for a week or so and figured the visibility in the water would be good. We also figured that the usual abalone dive spots would be crowded with divers so we went to the Sonoma Coast Russian Gulch Beach which is not over used. The carry to the water is pretty long here, but I wanted to take Paul through a local sea cave. I also wanted to try out one of the little coves south of Russian Gulch.
We easily launched into the mild waves and headed south. Passing the first point we saw three abalone divers working over the place that I have dove before. We talked to a fisherman on the beach who knew these guys and he agreed that this area had very large abalone, but that they were sparse and difficult to find. These three guys swam out 100 meters or so from Russian Gulch to dive here and we paddled easily past them.
The next point has a cave in it, and I lead Paul right to it and through. This is a tall thin crack in the rock that leads to a large open cauldron that faces the waves. Because of some offshore rocks and the depth of the water here the waves tend to be calm inside the cauldron and through the cave, although it looks pretty scary when you look out to sea. Paul was duly impressed and enjoyed the noises made by the waves blowing in and out of cracks in the cliffs. We felt safe sitting inside the cauldron for a while, and again later when we stowed our equipment while sitting in there. Next we went back out through the cave and back to some rocks in the cove we had just passed. I was curious to find if there were abalone in these little coves. My usual algorithm for finding abalone is to find rocks near a bed of bull kelp. But the bull kelp has not bloomed yet this year and we had difficulty deciding where to dive. Besides being attractive to abalone, bull kelp also provides a place to tie up your kayak. We found one strand of bull kelp reaching to the surface, and figured this was the best bet we had so far and tied up to it.
When I dove down I found the water too shallow and the rocks covered with plant life that I usually don’t associate with abalone. I swam out to the farthest rock where I found some deep cracks and a few abalone. I picked three large legal ones, all at least eight inches, and passed up an equal number of undersized ones. Paul followed me and saw one but was unable to get it before it clamped down. Every time I plucked one I had a long tiring swim back to the kayaks. The sky had a high overcast to it and we rarely saw the sun. But one time I was floating on the surface to rest, and the back of my wetsuit suddenly became insufferably hot. The sun had come out for a minute and warmed me up! Diving again into the 53F water was more than enough to cool me down again. Since I didn’t see the numbers I expected, I suggested that we try another location.
Paul suggested going around the point to the next cove, so I let him lead. He paddled around the cave and into a little crack in the cliff before the next cove. Here he found a little bed of kelp close to the cliffs. I offered to hold onto his boat while he dove. I explained to him that this was a great way to dive, with a self propelled float (namely me) to paddle up to him instead of making him swim. Paul dove into the cracks close to the cliff an found lots of undersized ones and was able to find and catch one legal sized one. When Paul got tired, we traded palaces. I got back in the water and he towed the kayaks along to follow me. Paul looked around at the waves breaking over the rocks offshore, the cliffs rising all around us, and listened to the sound of the waves blasting out of cracks. He asked: “So this is what you usually do out here in a kayak”? Well, not always. But this is my favorite sort of thing to do in a kayak.
I dove along the cliff back towards the cave looking for abalone on the sheer rock face, down at the bottom where the rock meets the sand. I have seen abalone along an edge like this before, but I didn’t see any in this spot. The bottom got very deep in places, and I could feel the buoyancy of my wetsuit going negative when I got deep enough. It was a little scary to feel this happen and watch the bottom move towards me without having to work for it. This tended to instill a little panic and make me need to come up for a breath sooner than necessary. But on the whole I had a pretty good time. The visibility at the surface had been bad all day, but once you got down a meter or so things opened up a lot. I actually had time and visibility to look around and enjoy the view as I paddled along the edge of the cliff. I was looking for abalone, but admiring the large animates and starfish I saw on my way by.
In a series of dives, I swam all the way back to the cauldron in front of the cave and checked out the bottom there. I considered paddling through the cave itself. However, it is possible that there could be strong surge currents through the cave that could pull me around or even pin me under a ledge. I decided it would be wiser to paddle a kayak over the water through the cave. Once I got back in the kayak I figured that three abalone was enough for me and I was ready to quit. Paul was happy with only one, since he had offered to take one to a BBQ that evening. So we quit for the day. There will be plenty of other days this year to catch more.