"Mrs. B"

[Jonseredbred]

Thats crazy.

 

[gf beranek]

Just in Mendocino county alone we lose upwards to a dozen people a year either from falling off the bluffs or drownings while abalone diving.

 

[woodworkingboy]

Pretty darn reckless it sounds.

Ab divers, I guess they underestimate the surge out there?

 

[gf beranek]

Most the drownings result from heart attack. Middle aged out-of-shape types trying to prove their mettle. That ab diving is much tougher than it looks.

 

[lumberjack]

Most the drownings result from heart attack...

That's funny, I though it was due to folks not being able to breath 02 when it was bound to hydrogen.


Off to research abalone diving.

 

[Al Smith]

Is this a type of shallow "free diving" .IE no weights with a snorkel ?

If so it would be like diving for longoosta or Florida spiny lobster .

I got pretty good at it when I was in the Keys .Usually 8-12 feet of water .Back then I could hold my breath for a tad over a minute though and was 19 years old .That's been a day or two and lots of water over the dam since .

People that have never done it would not realize how hard it is to descend just such a short distance with lack of a weight belt . You can certainly ascend a darn sight easier than descend .

 

[gf beranek]

Getting tangled up in the kelp and rough seas is right in there with the heart attacks for drowning reasons. Falling off the bluffs

Shouldn't neglect to add all that. The coast is rugged and beautiful, and deadly too.

 

[sotc]

you use weights al to develop neutral boyuancy. usually 10- 40 feet. i dove 15-20 usually, you get lots of bottom time that way

 

[MasterBlaster]

I used to free dive in the gulf of mexico, it would piss off the divers onboard.

 

[sotc]

scuba is not allowed for abalone harvest

 

[gf beranek]

I ab dived for about 10 years and gave it up. Too dark, too cold, too rough and there's bigger things than you out there.

 

[sotc]

haha,i quit when left calif. i think your allowed 3 a year here and 1 a day or something pathetic like that. noonan got me into it when i worked for him

 

[stig]

I was wondering when the big whites were gonna get mentioned.
Everytime I've been surfing in Humboldt, I've been insanely aware of those the first day or so.
Then I've sort of mellowed out and ignored them.
Of course the friend I surf with, like to send me clippings of newspaper articles every time someone gets bitten.
Just to make sure i have a high pulserate next time I visit, and we head for the sea.

 

[Stumper]

"under the sea,
everything 's better,
down where its wetter,
under the sea."



naaah.

 

[Al Smith]

you use weights al to develop neutral boyuancy. usually 10- 40 feet. i dove 15-20 usually, you get lots of bottom time that way

Well yes ,neutral to a point and that point being weight and depth .

I just had fun at it .A midwest farm boy thrown into an entirely different element way back when .

You dive say in these lakes or rivers around here you are lucky to see two feet ahead of you .That blue water in the Keys is like looking out on the horizon by comparrison .A whole different world .You see the fish,the fish see you .

 

[gf beranek]

Abalone, Dungeness crab, salmon, rockcod, clams and surf fish. There's a bounty out there.

And Great Whites, too.

 

[sotc]

neutral at the surface. visability is about the same. on a good day you can see 10-12 feet

 

[Al Smith]

There's a bounty out there.

And Great Whites, too.

The fishes in the sea are many and different . Never saw a shark of any type while diving,didn't want to .The first barracuda nearly scared me to death ,I walked on water .Then I found out they are just curious and seldom take a bite out of anybody .The word seldom is what caught my attention . Those SOB's look like they are 10 feet long when they pop up what seems to be 3 feet away from you with a mouth full of teeth that look like a ninja daggers .

 

[pantheraba]

SOB's look like they are 10 feet long when they pop up what seems to be 3 feet away from you with a mouth full of teeth that look like a ninja daggers .

In the 70's I was in the Keys scuba-ing around a brain coral...I did a panic stop when I saw a 4-5 foot cuda about 5 feet in front of me. My buddy behind me then rear-ended me and it seemed like I was nose to nose with Mr. C. I definitely saw HIS teeth...and probably squealed like a girl, can't remember that part, though.

I was ready to murder my buddy for awhile there.

 

[Al Smith]

'cudas will scare the life out of anybody on their first encounter ,Well ,it did for me and I'm fearless ,at least in my own mind .

 

[MasterBlaster]

They scared the shit outta me when I was snorkeling around the rigs offshore! I was afraid they would try to sample one of the tattoos on my arm. I knew they wouldn't bite me outright, but I wasn't too sure about the tattoos. That's the type of thing they like to investigate/taste.

 

[woodworkingboy]

LOL! Tattoo eating barracuda! That is friggen original!

 

[MasterBlaster]

What happens is they think it's some sorta fish or something. The divers I was working with warned me about that.

 

[vharrison]

MB. I think mostly what attracts them is jewelry or anything shiny.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Yep, those too.