GOT SOME with Sledge!!!!! 6/30 Albion area

Ana's family is in town from Honduras and they wanted to try some Abalone...good excuse to play hooky and go diving!!! 

Left Capitola at 4ish with my buddy Erik.

Stopped in Healdsburg for dinner and beer at Bear Republic Brewing...yummy!! 

Arrived at Albion Campground and hooked up with Mike aka Sledge...walked out to the beach and it was windy and swelly...not looking ideal for diving in the AM. 

Mike woke us up at 430 am and after a quick check of the spot out front that Erik had dove at before knew it was not gonna happen today...way too exposed and rough. 

Mike knew a spot a little ways up the road, so off we went.

Got there and it looked pretty sheltered and nice...Mike had forget the pump to his float so he had to spend some time blowing it up the old fashioned way!!   

Went down to the beach via a rope and jumped in!! 

Visibility was 15-20 feet and the surge wasn't that bad!!!

Got my three abalone very quickly...too quickly!!

Premature Abalone-ation!!! LOL!! 

After I got my three and slowed down, I saw a LOT more NICE abalone all over!! Next time!!

Erik wasn't feeling it, so he kicked it on the beach and I spent some time chilling on the water with Mike...love that guy man!! He cracks me up!! He had a Mountain Dew bottle out on his float full of white wine!!!   

Dove with him and scoped a nice ab together from the surface and then he dove down and got it...Nice job Mike!!!

He got his three pretty quick and I found some sea urchins for Uni breakfast...yummy!! Felt so cool to be in the water with such nice vis...LOVED IT!!!

Back at camp, cleaned the Uni, chowed them down with some soy and wasabe and headed back home...quick stop at Marin brewing for lunch and back to the house to clean the abs and polish one up as a gift for my coworkers daughter!!

EXHAUSTED, but happy!! Love getting out in the ocean!!

GOOD TIMES!!!!!!

THANK YOU Mike for hanging with Erik and I and finding us that sheltered spot!!! Looking forward to seeing the pictures you took!!!   

Sincerely,

Jim

More pics!!

Posted this one in the public forum cuz I'm hoping to get my buddy Erik to join NCKA...he has a SIK but I am working on convincing him to get a SOT!! 

Sincerely,

Jim

LMFAO!  GET SOME!

that plan was a str8 success , ABS for the family!

Congrat on the Ab limits guys.  That red Ab at the bottom picture is beautiful!  Thanks for the report and pictures Jim.

NICE! way to commando hit and run.
 Randall

Cool stuff Jim. Hell of a mission dude.

I just got a phone call from an old climbing buddy of mine who I haven't seen in a few years...he saw my report on Facebook and called to let me know that he and his Dad were diving at Van Damme today...CRAZY, we were just a few miles from each other!!

Small world!!

Sincerely,

Jim

Fantastic outing Jim!! I'm very happy to hear that you were able to get your limit quickly, especially when the conditions didn't look promising Looking at those pics of those nice-sized abs make my mouth water.

Man after seeing all these posts, I think my next addiction might quite well be diving for abs/urchins or spearfishing lol!!

Thanks again Jim for sharing your trip with us. Btw, Sledge seems like an awesome guy to hang/fish with

Good stuff! Mission complete with friends.

Way to go on the marathon ab run, Jim - great report.  Sledge will definitely keep you moving and smiling - nice work, Mike.   

More pics!!

Posted this one in the public forum cuz I'm hoping to get my buddy Erik to join NCKA...he has a SIK but I am working on convincing him to get a SOT!! 

Sincerely,

Jim

sell him the big yak! that should teach him a lesson!

What is that saying again Mike and Andy? GET SOME! GET SOME!  Anyhow, congrats on the quick limits of abs fellas. I can't wait for my first dive with you guys.

Jedmo

Great report! But sorry to hear about that premature abilation. I think I've had that a time or two, can't help the excitement sometimes..lol

Enjoy eatin abs on the 4th, aka-Kimo

Nice job Jim! It's good to see that Sledge has his wieght belt this time. Have a great meal with that abalone.

Btw, Sledge seems like an awesome guy to hang/fish with

I had a great time diving with Mike...

Erik and I went down the rope first because Mike was taking his time blowing up his tube and we were antsy to go check out the water...

I started swimming over to the spot and Erik said he was gonna walk along the shore and jump in closer to where it was sheltered...

After I got my abs I looked up and saw that Erik and Mike were just getting in the water over on the opposite side of the cove where the water was super calm, but very kelpy and murky...Erik wanted to try and work the shallow edge over there and Mike was hanging out with him...

Told Mike the vis sucked over on this side compared to the other so he and I swam back over together and Erik called it and went back up to the truck.

When Mike and I got back to the nice side he says "Hey lets go back to shore real quick so you can help me get my hood on"..the waves were breaking on the rocks between us and shore right there so I said, "Hold still and let me see if I can do it out here"  

After convincing Mike I wasn't trying to get frisky while he laid on his float and I clambered all over him stuffing his hood in, we relaxed on the floats for awhile and shot the shit and shared stories...

Then we decided we shouldn't keep Erik waiting too long so got down to business...

Right off the bat I see a nice one right on top of a rock about 10 feet down!!  

It was totally hidden when the surge went one way and the kelp covered it, but when the surge went the other way it was totally exposed!!

I went down and measured it and saw it was at least 8 and came up and kept one eye on it while I called Mike over...then dove down and pointed it out with my iron and he came down and plucked it in one clean stroke!!

GET SOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

Anyway, it was a superfun trip and even though the abs I plucked weren't very big (7.25, 7.5 and 8.25) they are better than not getting any and have definitely boosted my WAF account by bringing home the meat that the family requested!!!

 

Good times with good friends...that's what it's all about!!!!!!!!

 

Sincerely,

Jim