Van Damme 11/21,22

Looks like we were a couple of days early for the epic conditions. Conditions were far from epic on Friday/Saturday. Swell was up with breakers at the beach during high tide. Was divable at low tide with surprisingly good visibility. Once you were out of the mud and pea soup it opened up to about 15' near the reef. I am always surprised by the size and quantity of abalone inside the reef. We dove the southwest corner near the archrock. Very little kelp, great visibility and 9" abs everywhere. It is interesting to me how abs of a certain size tend to flock together. I was so excited with the unexpected conditions on my first dive I took one just over 8. I caught myself, slowed down and then grabbed a couple 9 1/4s. I had a friend come up for the day and he went home happy in the rain gifted a limit of abalone. Saturday the conditions were similar but visibility dropped off a bit. You needed to hunt around for clear water in the pea soup. We dove much closer to the rocks so there was quite a bit of surge. No fish that weren't locked down in the surge but still a considerable amount of large abalone. The best part of the trip is always parking the trailer on the south end of the lot and camping with an ocean view and a giant fire. We had the lot to ourselves overnight both nights albeit in the rain Friday. Might try and go up again early Friday if conditions hold.