5/19/24 urchin dive report

[Eric Sedletzky]

Stillwater Cove turned out to be beautiful yesterday. No wind in the afternoon and the water laid down flat.
The tide was exceptionally low at 8:00 AM.
The sandy beach was high and dry and all the slimy rocks were exposed. It made for a very tricky entry to try and navigate all those slippery ankle busters. I ended up just putting everything on and slithering over the rocks on my belly until I could get enough water mass under me to float out. Not pretty but it worked.
Six of us managed to land 441 lbs. of purps.
There were lot of people on the beach since it’s a holiday weekend. A lot of people were intrigued by what we were doing and several people took some urchins to consume. There were also a few random divers there, one of which was on a quest to get his own bag full of urchins, which in turn he allowed us to include in our weight count, fantastic! He joined us on the spot and is signed up now to attend future urchin removal dives.

 

[Green Frog]

Sounds like a great day all around (except for the challenging entry, of course!). Would California's fish and game laws permit having a big dinner on the beach and inviting all passers by to join in? You might be able to gain some recruits that way, and of course more folks could discover the purple delicacy you've come to collect so well.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Sure! We could invite the world to a huge feast on the beach as long as it was free and we weren’t charging or bartering anything in the form of currency (as far as DFW is concerned), and we respected the park hours (open from sun up to sundown, Sonoma County park rules).
Have at it!
The park ranger lady is actually pretty cool and down to earth. She’s totally into what we’re doing and appreciates our efforts.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Water is still very cold
47 degrees.
Better than last dive, we had 45 degrees. That was a tough one! All of us dive wet too.

 

[happy-diver]

I ended up just putting everything on and slithering over the rocks on my belly until I could get enough water mass under me to float out.

Ha ha ha ha ha yeah that's it magnificent must have just missed you man

Hey if you chomp down and get fed up on some of those urchins do they give you super plate forming strength

Yeah prices of everything are just insane

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Ha ha ha ha ha yeah that's it magnificent must have just missed you man

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Hey if you chomp down and get fed up on some of those urchins do they give you super plate forming strength

Yeah prices of everything are just insane

Hey Happy,
I’m impressed that you went to google maps and actually looked up the site, that’s awesome! Yep that’s the place. I have several hundred dives there and know it as good as my back yard.
An Aussie diggin’ on what we’re doing, that’s great man!
Urchin roe (uni) is one of the richest most nutrient dense foods on Earth. It’s full of vitamin C, vitamin E, a whole list of cancer fighting compounds and anti oxidants, and a rich source of protein. It’s a super food/fuel akin to nitro methane for dragsters.
I’ve remember being out freediving deep for hours on end looking for big lingcod and realizing I’m tapped and need to refuel. We’re on kayaks, so we paddle to an area where we know there are large red urchins and dive down to harvest a few. Big and plump, we sit atop our kayaks and crack open several and eat a bunch of uni using seawater to clean and also to season the roe, and within minutes we feel the surge of energy from all that protein and nutrition. Gods food, better that anything else you can stuff into your pie hole.
The indiginous peoples of the area made a religion out of urchins based on the healing powers of the uni. We modern people are so ignorant of the power of nature and what it has to offer.

 

[happy-diver]

I'm with you!

Hey I'm interested in what everyone on the baoard is doing and that they're ok

If only I could afford an image specialist PR type person

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Here is a short video of the cove and our take.