how sharky is shelter cove?

I want to go back up and dive the area about 500 yards off shore from the inn. It's open reef out there 30-40 fow. There is a seal colony there but what concerns me more is the fish cleaning station where they grind up hundreds of carcasses and then pipe them out to the ocean. What kind of activity does the lanlord have around there?

Is anyone interested in paddling out to those fish covered pinnacles and shooting with me?

What kind of activity does the lanlord have around there?

Enough.

 

one of my surf spot books states that there were 2 GWS attacks on divers in the 90s

Open water scares the crap out of me. Shark attacks are rare, but there's no need to push your luck. I posted a while back about diving Kirby Cove at the Golden Gate and everyone talked me out of it...there's too much good diving to do tight to shore to take risky chances, IMO.

Good luck out there if you go.

Merv - they're out there.  If the conditions are good at the north end of the airstrip you can get some great diving in 20-30' nearshore, and it's much fishier than in front of the hotels where we dove on the 14th.

Get in touch if you're coming up.

Eric

I'm not talking about in the cove. I'm talking about 400-500 yards out where we were catching all the fish and seeing schools of lings. I don't mind open water but there are certain places in norcal and socal that are considered to have higher concentrations of whites. Like I said the fish chumming machine would be my biggest cause for concern outside of any specific facts someone knows about.

For those of you you that were out there opening day with sonar you saw how many fish were down there. 

I wasn't paying that much attention but does the fish grinder actually dump everything down the pipe? I thought maybe the pipe was for bits & pieces that wash down but the grinder itself might dump into tubs & then be used for chum on boats. If it all goes down the tube, I can see how it might attract lots of predators - the birds sure love it...

Merv,

Great Whites eat seals, sealions, and whales for a living.  And they move around a lot to do that.  I think there's plenty of marine mammals around shelter cove - as much as anywhere else.

Dave, do you dive open water in Mendocino? I may be up your way this weekend to dive. The forecast is looking good.

I do, but unfortunately WAF concerns are in play this weekend.  i must go to SF this weekend for "culture."  So that I be able to fish and dive later.  You must pay to play.  Too bad, because it's the first good weekend conditions in a while.

I'll pm you with a location where we've been getting some big blacks - not far from where we went out last time.

Dave

thread-jack alert!


you guys saw SCHOOLS OF LINGS?? 

thread-jack alert!


you guys saw SCHOOLS OF LINGS?? 

That caught my eye too!  Merv was schooling the lings, but I don't know about schools of lings.   

Merv, I wasn't talking about diving IN the Cove.  The north end of the airstrip up by Abalone Point is a good dive spot without going 500 yards off shore.   

With the action that good in-shore, why risk getting your ass bitten off in open water 1/2 mile offshore?  Why push it if you don't have to?  We were having great fun with the blacks, verms and occasional ling inshore (30' where the PBs dont go), and I am sure they would have been in that big kelp patch right in front of the hotel.  A buddy from Fort Bragg told me that SC has had some sharky situations, and whether or not that's true I personally would prefer to take a shot at potentially GREAT no-sweat diving in 20' of water right in that kelp.  I would at least give it a try, first.  I hear no diver in CA has ever been hit in the kelp.   I like kelp.     

How good could the diving be (to justify being in a 40' of open water near a seal colony)?  We heard the killer whales were enjoying the local seals, why wouldn't sharks? 

Also, I hate to lower the hysteria for once but actually, I saw the fish cleaning station get cleaned out by the crab guy both days.   I don't think they dump that much stuff.