This was the first day that Dan Leake could come out abalone diving again since he discovered that he gets seasick on a kayak. This trip he would try out some seasickness medicine. I invited my brother Paul to come along and borrowed my brother Ralph's kayak so we had enough for three people. The weather cooperated and the swell was under five feet. There was a not-so-low tide (2.5 feet) at 9:00 AM which was reasonably late in the morning. Dan met me at home at around 8:00 and we met Paul at Fort Ross. The swell was so mild that we launched into lake-like water in the cove.
The plan was to go out to the place that Dan and I found last time we were here. I took us to what looked like the correct flat topped rock and looked for the shallow water to the right of it. The fog this day was a low ceiling, leaving lots of visibility near the surface and things looked different than last time. The fields of kelp heads in the water were not in the right place, and we did not see any evidence of shallow water. Dan decided that this was the wrong rock and suggested paddling to the next one. When we got there, it was obviously not the right rock, too large and with waves breaking through a gap in the middle. This was the rock I had seen stellars sea lions jumping off a long time ago. The water was deep here and did not look like a good place to dive. The next rock was smaller and surrounded by kelp, we figured that looked like a good place for abalone and decided to try there.
We tied up the kayaks and got into our gear. The water was still pretty deep until we swam right up to the edge of the rock. Dan and I dove down along the side of the rock. Dan saw an abalone but did not try to get it. I went down and found an abalone, apparently the same one Dan saw because after that (and one other) nobody saw any more here. Well, actually the visibility was so good that I could see lots more on the bottom another three or four meters down. But I was unwilling to go that far and I was already diving deeper than the other two guys. When he got tired Dan climbed up on the rock to rest. Eventually Paul and I joined him there.
From up on rock, Dan pointed out a shallow area on the other side of our group of rocks. We saw waves breaking over a submerged rock and hoped there would be other shallow areas. When everyone was rested we swam over there to check it out. As soon as I looked down I decided we were in the right place because I could see the bottom from the surface. I dove down along the edge of that submerged rock and found a crack with lots of abalone. I picked two abalone on that first try here and topped out on my limit. With no pressure to find any more abalone, I started diving for fun and to look for spots for Paul to dive. I also started doing the dive buddy thing correctly. I followed Dan or Paul down on their dives and watched that they were OK. Diving when someone else decided to do it was an interesting experience. I had to go down right after I saw one of the other guys submerge: Not when I was rested, oxygenated, and ready. On one of these dives, Paul saw a harbor seal following me around. The seal chased me back up to the surface nibbling on my flippers, but I never noticed it at all!
Dan got his limit of abalone next, and Paul took a while longer because his mask wasn't sealing well and kept filling up with water. As we started getting back in the kayaks, I undid the strap that held the rear hatch on my kayak down. I forgot that this strap also held my goody bag up. It fell away while I wasn't looking and disappeared. It had five abalone, my four and one of Paul's, and my caliper in it. At least the top was unlatched, so if I could not find it the abalone would be able to escape. I put my gear back on and went diving to go look for it. The water was deeper than I wanted to dive for abalone, perhaps eight meters, but I was desperate to find that bag. I found the bottom and swam around looking in all the cracks between rocks. My goody bag is red, so my heart leaped when I saw a large orange sponge about the right size. At least this meant that the light was still bright enough to see red items on the bottom. I dove three times and started thinking that I was going to have to give up. But finally I found it deep between some rocks, sitting on a patch of sand. I grabbed it and headed for the surface as fast as I could with all that weight. When I broke the surface with it, Pall proclaimed it "The catch of the day"! I replied "Five abalone captured in a single dive"!
