Gerstle Cove 6/13

Pat and I did a SCUBA gear check-out at Gerstle Cove last Sunday. At the end of the month (and first half of the season) we'll be at Russian Gulch (Mendocino) and wanted to use the SCUBA gear, so we decided to give it a test run last weekend. The conditions were really quite nice. Low tide drew out the shore pickers and shallow-water divers who huddled inside the "protection" of the rocks. Outside (where it's safer) there was a good 20 feet of visibility on Sunday, which made our tank dive really quite nice and abalone easy to spot. I'm getting better at reading conditions and forecasts for the North Coast: pay attention to the interaction between swell, wind, and pressure. It was much nicer at 9 am than it had been at low tide (6:30 am).

We headed due south on SCUBA from the rocks just inside the point into about 40 feet of water. Personally, I tended to gravitate to checking out the abalone, but there were a good deal of urchins and fish out there as well. It's still early enough in the season that the kelp hasn't gotten thick. The abalone under "refuge depth" tended to cluster into small groups, but there were a lot of them in the 8 to 9-inch range. I was really glad to see a large number of emergent, sub-legal abalone as well. No giants outside the reserve though. At "turn around" pressure, we shifted our course to the east and swam into the cove. Inside the reserve there is a great deal of life - including a lot of abalone, some quite large. It's a worthy dive, and for a first SCUBA experience on the North Coast, I'd declare it total victory. Only complaint: it was good and cold.

Afterward, we stowed the SCUBA in the truck, grabbed the long fins, and headed out to the calm water to the west of the rocks at the north end of the cove. It was about 20 feet deep, and you could just make out the abalone on the bottom. I dropped my marker in a huge aggregation - no less than 18 legal abalone in a small area, and worked around the rocks, cracks, and caves. I found what was probably a 9, but couldn't mark it and lost track after surfacing. I ended up settling for a thick 8.5" and we headed back.

On the drive home, we checked out the view from the road above Longest Yard (Red Barn South) to consider what seems like a "reef" south of Pedotti. I haven't seen anyone out there yet, but we decided it would be worth the long swim sometime. We also checked out Russian Gulch (Sonoma) from which launching the kayak is out of the question. We had hoped to paddle north from there, but it looks like it'll have to be a swim. We dropped by Randy's store on the way through Sebastopol, and rinsed the gear and prepped the abalone when we got back. I relaxed the muscle by massaging it under warm water, and I have to say that was the tenderest abalone ever. Perfect for sushi or ceviche (it's intended purpose.) I still had to pound the few pieces we fried (no batter - just salt and pepper) but the muscle was so relaxed, I had a hard time cutting it thin with our (dull) knives. Good thing it didn't need it!

It's unlikely I'll get in the water again before Mendocino, so I'll have to make up for it when we get to Russian Gulch. I'd really like to get back into the water by Bolinas, but I need to track down an adventurous buddy for that.