Dives 29-30 May

Saturday we explored a chunk of coast with the kayak. It's one of those areas where nobody has ever said there are any abalone, and nobody has ever said there aren't any abalone. We figured it would be fun to go and look. The conditions were great - the seas calm, and the visibility wasn't bad, for where we were: 2-3'. Didn't see any abalone, but some spots were so beautiful (giant anenomes, huge carpets of strawberry anenomes, thousands of nudibranchs) that we resolved to return with compressed air and check it out on scuba. Would not be surprised to find some scallops, at least.

It's a little amusing that not finding abalone where I think there should be some only makes me want to search harder.

Carl called me Sunday night 'cause he wanted to do a meat run, and I agreed to set the alarm again and be in Sebastopol at 7am. We went to the same spot we did last time, though around the other side of the rocks. Once again, found an area littered with abalone bigger than 8-inches. Seriously, in plain-sight from the surface. Many right out in the open. Carl still popped his too fast for my liking, but at least he's getting more selective about finding the fat ones, and I see him spending more time with his head underwater. For my efforts, I pulled a 8.75" and a smaller 8.5" for dinner. Was happy to see some small guys this time. Maybe I was just paying more attention.

When we parked, the game wardens were in the process of citing some guys they had obviously been watching from the bluff. Shore-pickers, of course. It didn't seem like they had more than their limit, but there was some dialogue about pulling four, putting something back, walking twenty yards over the reef to hand one to a buddy. Not exactly sure, but there were citations and catch/permit confiscations. Even heard a "you're lucky I'm not taking your gear." I'm glad they're there doing that job. I thanked them as we headed down. They really do have a difficult assignment, and we really do need them out there doing it.

Long fins should arrive this week. Conditions look decidedly meh for the weekend. Better next week. I really want to be in the water.