*****
*****
The Blue Wild Ocean Adventure Expo. - June 4-6, 2010
We had a wonderful time at The Blue Wild Ocean Adventure expo. We met lots of new people and got to see and touch a lots of cool gear!
Here are a couple of pictures of our booth. Mr. Jones bid the highest for the 14k Gold Shell necklace we donated for Sheri's charity The Boca Raton Society for the Disabled.
*****
White Sea Bass! - May, 2010
First off I just want to say thank you to Joe F. for hosting 4 of the Tritons on his boat for the weekend. Joe you put us on some great fish and it was a huge pleasure to be able to spend a weekend on your boat.
We had 2 WSB over 45 pounds landed on Joe's boat this weekend and dove the Tri club meet in Dana Point on Saturday. We did not get any WSB during the the event but we did well the day before and the day after. The whole weekend was a blast, eating monster sushi rolls steaming North from Dana Point back to King Harbor, shooting what I call huge WSB or at least for me, breaking in a new home built gun, hanging out with friends and leaning all sorts of new tips and tricks for the diving in Southern CA.
Great vis on Saturday and some nice diving to be had in the Dana Point area. Friday afternoon John got into a 47 pounder and for his first WSB it was quite a ride, I was not in on the action but he and Tino spent a good 45 mins diving on this fish that had tied up in 55 feet of water. On Sunday morning I got a great shot into a 48 pounder that I was able to put the brakes on and hold at 33 feet until Tino and John could come over and give me a hand as my heart was going about 130 bpm and my breath hold was down to about 20 seconds. All in all a great trip.
Comments by Nikki - I can't believe how delicious this fish is. We have shared with family and freinds and they all agree, it's one of the best tasting fish ever!
*****
My First Vermillion! - April 18, 2010
Dove the Tritons Ling event on Sat. and then Sunday headed out to the Sonoma coast to be greated with 10 - 12 foot vis and a nice ocean. We made some of our first drops in 39 feet of water and spotted a ling, but I wanted to warm up a bit so I moved into 25 to 30 feet of water and shot a blue.
After putting the blue on the stringer I moved back to the same area and made a drop to 28 feet and looked under a rock for some lings but saw nothing. I moved my gun out and over the ledge and as soon as my head came over the top of this rock ledge at 25 feet I saw this Vermilion not 3 feet from my gun. For a second I thought this is the biggest black rockfish I have ever seen and then 1/10th of a second later I said holy S**T thats a Vermilion!
I dont think the fish even saw me, with its tail at me. I took 2 seconds to line up the shot, let the fish turn sideways to my gun and let it fly. I only had one band loaded on my gun so I wanted it to be a good shot, and it was. I didn't know how big this guy was until on the surface. The fish went 7 pounds even on 2 different scales. I have been looking for a red and now I got one.
The best part was that I landed it with my new home build 35 inch mid handle and some good company out diving.
*****
First Abalone of the Season. - April 9
, 2010
Click here or on above image to view all photos.
This weekend was our annual family get together at Sea Ranch on the
North
Coast
. Every year we get together for my grandpa’s birthday. He passed on several years ago, after making it into his 90’s, and since then we've been keeping the tradition going.
Fortunately, abalone season just opened so Brian and I stopped at
Fort
Ross
on the way up to Sea Ranch. It was a beautiful afternoon. We arrived at
Fort
Ross
around
4:00 pm
and the sky was clear and blue.
Fort
Ross
, as usual, was very calm. Brian reported a whopping 3 feet of visibility at the bottom. I stayed on the beach and was enjoying hanging out wearing a t-shirt in the warmth of the sun. Brian pulled 3 nice abalone in no time and we were off the meet up with the family.
Brian prepared the abalone for dinner Saturday night and it was a hit. We made it two ways: bbq’d with pepper jack cheese and lime juice and also with a coconut and panko batter and deep fried served with sweet & spicy sauce. We were pleased that many had never tried abalone before and they loved it. It was a fun and relaxing weekend even though due to rough conditions we didn’t get any more diving in.
*****
Boat Camping & Diving in Monterey. -
March 2
7
, 2010
Click here or on above image to view all photos.
Brian, Hula, and I left
Napa
5:45 am Saturday with the sounds of the vineyards fans, to keep the frost off the budding vines, in the distance. We pulled our boat down to
Monterey
and arrived to beautiful clear, blue skies. We launched the boat, motored out through the harbor and anchored up to a site inside the bay. There was a long, rolling three foot swell, but the wind was down and the weather was warm.
I love boat diving. It’s like being on vacation.
We slipped in the water and were greeted with 20-25 foot visibility. I shot a blue and Brian shot both blues and kelpies. After an afternoon of diving we went back to the harbor and got a slip for the night. We took a walk on the beach, bbq’d fish sandwiches, and drank beer while watching the sunset. It seemed like everyone was out that weekend. The warm and sunny weather is quite unusual for
Monterey
.
We woke up the next morning to a gorgeous sunrise and went back out to do more diving. The conditions were pretty much the same as the day before except the swell was a little bigger. Brian dove in the morning and then we headed back to the boat ramp to pack up and head home.
*****
Beautiful
Carmel. - March 20
, 2010
Friday March 20, 2010
Brian and I drove down to
Carmel
. The seas were finally calm for the first time in months. It was a perfect sunny day. The white sand beach and the turquoise water were stunning! It seemed as though practically everyone played hooky that day. The beach was packed with many happy people and many happy dogs. Topside was about 70 degrees with a slight breeze and the water was a brisk 57 degrees.
We suited up and walked our dive boards down to the beach. The entry was gentle and as we swam out we realized we had to kick out about 10 minutes to get to clean water. We tied our dive boards to some kelp and were blessed with 25 feet of visibility! I saw 2 large upside down jelly fish moving on the surface as well as a very small jellyfish which was clear and looked like it had an egg yolk inside of it.
Carmel
happens to be very close to a deep ocean trench. In fact, this trench literally comes right up to another beach in
Carmel
called
Monastery
Beach
. Deep ocean trenches cause upwelling and bring cold water, nutrients, and creatures such as jellyfish to shallow waters. Brian spotted a Leopard shark, which is one of my favorite sharks. I was able to follow it for a short distance but it was moving quickly on the bottom and disappeared in the murkier, shallower water.
We dove for almost two hours enjoying our time in the water. Brian shot a Kelpie and I shot a Blue which equals yummy fish tacos for dinner. A wonderful dive day in beautiful
Carmel
.
*****
Doran Beach & Jetty Clean Up at Bodega Bay. - March 6, 2010
Click here or on above image to view all photos of event.
We joined our club Redwood Empire Divers out of
Santa Rosa
,
CA
on Saturday for a
Doran
Beach
and Jetty cleanup dive at
Bodega
Bay
. http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=100548 We had a great turn out for the event and even a few familiar faces from Norcal Underwater Hunters. We had 11 divers in the water for a few hours picking up trash and old hoop nets along the jetty walls as well as some fresh crab for lunch. The viz was 4 – 12 inches unless you were actively pulling out a hoop net, then the viz was zero. Our clean up haul consisted of 51 hoop nets, a few ab bars, tires, bottles, cans, fishing line and other misc. trash. We also had several club members top side helping with the pot luck and cooking and shelling of the fresh crab. Thank you to all that came out and to John M. for putting the event together. The people, the weather, the food and the event could not have been better. Norcal Underwater Hunters has a beach clean up coming up on Sat. March 20. Here is the link.
http://www.spearboard.com/showthread.php?t=100965
***
Mid Week Run. - February 10, 2010
As I said in the previous post….the seas have been angry this year. The swell just won’t lie down. The predictions were that on Wednesday the swell would be 5-6 ft. We really wanted to get out so we committed to driving the 2 hours each way even if it turned out we couldn’t get in once we got there.
We picked our buddy Chris to come diving with us. He hadn’t been diving since November and his first baby due to come in 6 weeks. We made the trek out and decided to stop at a spot we thought might be diveable. We walked to the bluff to watch the waves and determine if we would get in. We watched for a while from the bluff and then hiked down the fairly short cliff to the boulder beach to get a closer look.
When we got to the beach we found a huge, dead sea lion. Because it didn’t smell, we figured had been there less than 12 hours. We couldn’t see any obvious sign of shark teeth which made me very happy. We also found an octopus arm that was at least three feet long. We determined the octopus arm to be very fresh. Our friend Chris picked it up and could still feel it contract in his hand. Also, the chromatophores were still working when you pressed on the arm. He decided he would take it home and cook it up.
After we all this, we decided the viz didn’t look great, nor were the conditions, but we were going in anyway. So, we walked back up the cliff and up the bluff back to the truck. We got geared up, grabbed our boards and once again made the trek down the bluff and down the cliff.
The entry was gentle and as we got further out the waves got bigger. We tied up to some bull kelp in about 25 ft. and I tried to relax. This wasn’t easy of course with 2-3 ft. waves, the bull kelp whipping your legs and the viz of about 4 feet. I got tired of this after a while and went in closer and tied up in about 15 ft. of water. The water was calmer here and I could easily dive down to the rocks and take in the beauty of the North coast.
There are soo many abalone, they’re everywhere! I can’t wait until ab season opens. On one of my dives a crab tumbled on top of my head. I must have accidentally knocked it off a piece of kelp. It was a very pretty blue color. I took in the beauty of the purple encrusting coral and the clown nudibranch. There were also clouds of teeny tiny fish that look like they just hatched. They were so thick you couldn’t see through them.
We all made it out safely. I was out first and picked up trash while I waited for the guys to come in. Chris got dinner that night. He speared a nice cabezon and a nice blue rockfish. We hiked back up the cliff and the bluff and had a nice interaction with the state parks officer that was waiting in his truck. We gave him the tag i.d. of the sea lion and he said he would send in a report.
There was a lovely sunset as we were packing up. We had a safe trip home and stopped at one of favorite spots to get dinner and a beer. All in all it was a great afternoon.
***
First Diving of the Year. - February 6, 2010
Our first diving of the year was in Monterey. We met up with our dive group, the Monterey Bay Tritons, and decided on a local spot that would allow us entry that day. All winter the swells have been huge and the ocean gods have kept us away.
As we were getting geared up it rained off and on, but what does it really matter? You're going to get wet anyway. The entry was easy and as we kicked out harbor seals and sea lions were there to greet us. They followed at a close distance and were very quiet. When you would stop to look at them, they would quickly turn their heads away and dip back under the water.
We tied our boards up to some kelp and started easing into diving. The viz was about 10-12 ft and water temp. was 53 degrees.
It rained off and on while we dove. This is one of my favorite things.....watching the rains drops from below hit the surface of the water.
Brian got dinner for the weekend. He speared two fish with his gun and one with his polespear.
After about an hour and a half we decided to head in. It was a good 10 minute kick in and the water remained calm. The tide had gone out some, and as we got closer to shore our boards would get stuck on the rocks until the next wave came and lifted us off.
We got cleaned up and dressed to go to our club meeting. We had a great meeting with 45 members in attendance. One of the topics of discussion was the newly released Femmes Fatales 2010 Warrior Women in Spearfishing calendar. Your's truly, as well several other women, are in it. Click the link here if you would like to purchase one. All proceeds go to the California Fisheries Coalition.
***
