Abalone Junket

Brother Harlan was arriving in EssEff for a meeting scheduled on Monday. Apparently Westnorthern is moving in on Stanford turf. He arrived early so we could make an abalone run. Picked him up after a late flight into SFO, and drove straight to Sea Ranch.  It's our first dive of the season, so we spent the morning getting the license squared away and equipment checked out. Then off to our favorite cove.

We had high hopes for great ocean conditions in the cove.

This swell forecast from earlier in the week is what we were expecting for the weekend. It didn't turn out that way.

It was a weird day.  The cove would look calm for 5 or 10 minutes then a series of 3 to 6 big breakers would roll into the mouth and break along the full length of the cove.

We spent a couple hours staring at the cove, finally deciding caution was the better part of valor.

The abalone will still be there tomorrow.  Instead, we went for a hike among the redwoods in Gualala River Redwood Park.

Always amazing to walk among the giants.

Found this fresh track in the mud and wondered if it might be a mountain lion...

Upon further review, a coyote or big dog is more likely.

Sorry to see some of our favorite local restaurants closed in Gualala, but remembered Cove Azul...

Seafood Scampi at Cove Azul

Still a good choice.

2015 Abalone Report Card - Nos. 6, 7, and 8.

We had a slow start this abalone season. No dives and no abalone before the July break. But we are finishing strong in the "second season." On the August opening weekend, Zach and I each took 5 abalone over two days.

Sunday was a high low tide of +3 feet at 10:30 AM.  Dive buddy Jeff met me at the cove at 10:00, with his two boys in tow.

It's been a couple years since I'd seen Blaine and Travis. They've grown. Blaine is a young man. I guess that's what happens with kids.

Then and Now

They are also good luck. When they were last here, we had near perfect conditions and a couple of spectacular dives. Sunday another perfect day was on tap. They couldn't wait to get back in the cove.

I've switched cameras again. My GoPro 300 took great pics and video, but only lasted 4 dives before the case leaked and destroyed the camera. My previous Olympus Stylus Tough lasted 4 years of hard dives before it succumbed.  I've gone back to the Olympus brand with a new Tough TG-860. The Reader will have to suffer through the lower quality video - assuming I ever get around to editing and posting it.

Here a selection of pics and vids (eventually) from a great day in the cove.

Jeff and I went hunting...

... while some abalone sat for formal portraits ...

...and the boys played in the cove and harassed crabs in the tidal pools.

 It was a good day to dive (C'mon - you know I was not going to get through an entire abalone post without saying that).

There is some good eatin' in our immediate future.

Nothing tastes better than that first apres-dive brew.

And a good day was had by all.

Mendonoma Coast - Views, Food, Beer, Teslas

I spent a few days trimming trees, clearing underbrush, and cutting a new path into some of the wilder and more neglected corners of our Mendocino property.  Some get nervous when I have a chainsaw in my hands, but no harm, no foul.

I didn't think the ocean swell forecast looked good enough for abalone diving, but there were some pretty good windows of opportunity over the 4 days I was there. Didn't get in the water, but if the forecast holds, will get back north next week. This trip I just enjoyed the views and explored the local environs.

Hummingbird turf war over blooming Century Plant
(I have some video clips of these guys which I hope to get around to posting someday)

 Sunset off the point

Clearing the old spring box cistern

Sea Ranch was my base of operations for the trip. Since T-Mobile no longer lets me roam at Sea Ranch or anywhere in the Mendonoma area, I had to seek out WiFi hot spots to communicate. The Sea Ranch Lodge and several of the local eateries permitted me a maintenance-level dose of social media access and helped me to avoid a cold-turkey withdrawal from my obsessive on-line addiction.

 Grilled oysters at the Gualala Hotel, Angus Burger at the Lodge, Kielbasa at Bones Roadhouse

Prawn Tacos at Carbajal Bar & Grill ( was Cove Azul)

Sign of the Times - A matching pair of white Teslas charging at Sea Ranch Lodge