Spearfishing & Abalone Diving

Looking for other Tacoma owners who also enjoy spearfishing and diving for abalone. I suppose we could open this up to all free or snorkel diving. It's really a thread for people who would rather be under the water than floating on top of it. Pictures, stories, favorite spots, questions, and comments are welcome.

 

My buddies and I have been abalone diving and spearfishing off the Mendocino coast near Ft. Bragg, Ca for the last 10 years. The water is cold, the abalone are deep, the fish are fast, and the scenery can't be beat.

 

I've never even snorkeled... but I'm subbing just to see some more pictures.

 

It's an absolute blast! I started the thread in hopes of seeing/sharing more diving pics.

 

Abalone is my fav food, how you guys cook it?

 

We have three methods that are our staples; breaded, blooming onion, and left over ab bagels.

Breaded Abalone:

Thinly cut steaks on the meat slicer
Tenderized with mallets
Dipped in an egg and buttermilk wash
Breaded with your choice of panko, ritz, saltines, fritos, etc. (plain ol' saltines are my favorite.
Fried in a shallow pan of oil. Crisco get the crispiest outside, but olive oil retains the flavor better.

Blooming Onion Abalone:

Clean the ab as normal, but leave the foot on
Slice the ab from the top down in a checker pattern, not cutting through the foot (i.e a blooming onion)
Add a 1/2 cube of butter, garlic, and a 1/2 of your favorite beer. (We prefer Blue Star from the Mendocino Brewery right there in Ft. Bragg, Ca)
Wrap this entire thing in tin foil
Throw it in the oven or BBQ for 30-40 minutes
Pick and pull off tasty morsels while you are preparing the rest of your abs
NOTE: You can ad all sorts of other toppings (mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, etc.)

Ab Bagels (aka Abigail)

Fry up some bacon
Toast up some onion bagels
Heat up a few of the breaded abalone pieces from the previous night
Fry up an egg to your liking (I prefer over easy)
Assemble sandwich; Onion bagel, breaded abalone, bacon, slice of cheese, fried egg, and the other half of your bagel to complete the sandwich.
NOTE: This sandwich can be enjoyed at anytime, but best eaten with a hangover.
ANOTHER NOTE: This is my favorite way to eat abalone; especially as I enjoy a good cup of coffee and watch the waves roll in.


Those are the three favorite preparations of the group, but we commonly make abalone poppers, ab-balls, grilled ab steak, and all sorts of other crazy abalone concoctions. Matter of fact we are entering the Abalone Cook Off this year in Mendocino and selling our Ab Bagel Breakfast Sandwich.

 

Just got my blur fix and filter for my go pro. Can't wait to use it. I might put up a vid once I get to try it out.

 

This is what I'm currently using, but looking into upgrading to a DSLR, but the underwater housings cost another $500 on top of a $1000 camera. I spend more time diving than I do taking pictures, and I can't justify spending that kind of money just yet. I would be interested in a mountable camera like the Go Pro just to capture what a normal day of diving consists of. Maybe I'll keep an eye open on eBay and CL and snag one for a decent price.

Sea and Sea DX-GE5 12MP Camera and Housing Set

http://www.amazon.com/Sea-DX-GE5-12MP-Camera-Housing/dp/B0040VUVNQ

 

Sub'd

 

Hi Wes..warm water diving for me...younger years would have done the colder waters but now just easy diving...here's some pics from Grand Cayman Island...Ken

 

Heres a few more...

 

There is nothing wrong with warm water diving. I mainly free dive, but we are all SCUBA certified. Matter of fact my buddies are both advanced cert. We don't dive with tanks as often because you can't pick abs and the giant kelp is a nightmare. The pictures are great! What kind of camera are you using? I will see if I can find some of my pics from the Molokini crater; incredible visibility.

 

u should really check out nor cal underwater hunters, i think u would fit right in, i was a member over there but just moved to montana and it is already hard to be that far from the ocean, i lived for and in it... but ya check them out, think it is ncuh.com, great groupe of people

 

just got the wrist thing for my gopro will post next time i go out

 

Thanks Wes...the camera is a Canon A95 point and shoot in a canon underwater housing...The missus does the picture taking, I just point them out to her...we did Molokini but no camera...I tore up my knee 2 weeks before we left so I did Maui and Kaiui on crutches for 2 weeks but the doc said diveing would be good for the knee so we were limited as to what we could bring(missus had to handle the luggage).

 

Awesome! Thanks for the info. I get a little anxious being over a couple hours from the ocean; landlocked in Montana must be driving you a little crazy.

 

An old Army buddy of mine is from West Palm/Jupiter and he doesn't do much diving, but his dad dives for lobster if I am not mistaken. Not sure what fish/shellfish are in the waters near you, but I would grab a fish and game handbook and find out the requirements and season for what's in your neck of the woods. In Florida, I imagine you could get away with a surf suit or without a wetsuit all together. Diving is a blast, and you only get better as you practice. I can dive deeper and hold my breath longer each time we go, I'm no apniest, but I can hold my own.

 

The real trick is a combination of holding your breath and learning to use less air during strenuous activity. One of the most important thing you need to be able to do is equalize, often referred to as the valsalva maneuver. The point being to equalize the pressure between your ears and sinuses. If you can do this by simply flexing your jaw, you are ahead of the game. You still need to use air to equalize your mask as well, and swim yourself down to whatever prey you may be diving for. I suggest snorkeling and diving purely for fun. See how deep you can dive, and practice equalizing your ears and mask. Test to see how deep you can go while still leaving enough air to surface. Simply play around and get a feel for diving. A good test to see if you are ready for more than just snorkeling is taking underwater photos. Searching for subjects to photograph is very similar to spearfishing or searching for shellfish. You have to search the reef, hold still long enough to take the shot, and still get yourself back to the surface. You should always dive with a buddy, and I highly recommend an experienced diver for your first time. Do your research, find a dive buddy, take it slow, and be safe. Good luck, you will not regret it.

 

Glad to hear it. Keep us posted.

 

I dive everyday all summer long. Been building up my free dive time. Gotta love my job