Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Last Saturday I went up to Arena Rock for the first time.
The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be with a boat, but after leaving Rincon Valley at 5:30, picking up Steve, and getting up there at 8:00 I guess that's still a haul. There was a line at the boat sling too, but we finally got in the water at 9:00.
The boat ride north to the rock wasn't bad, the swell was only 2 feet and the wind was very slight.
Arena Rock sits about 3-4 miles out from shore and about a mile and a half north of the Point Arena Light House. I had my GPS on so it took me right to it.
There were two other boats already anchored and diving on the rock. We all kind of arranged ourselves around the rock in a circle.
I anchored in 108 feet and was about 75 feet away from the top of the rock. When we went down we followed the line to the bottom so I could check the anchor, then we proceeded onwards to the base of the rock. The rock jutts right up from the sandy bottom and the shape of it is something like a giant stack of worm eaten pancakes or if you could imagine VERY large slices of swiss cheese the size of a house but flat and of all varying sizes stacked up to form an underwater mountain mountain with shelves, caves, holes, swim throughs, and walls. Everything on this rock was overgrown to the max. I have never seen anywhere else up on the North Coast that had this much growth and life. I got one decent size ling on the first dive, but to tell you the truth I soon became disinterested in hunting just because the dive was so visually incredible!
The scallops were everywhere, in every cave, in every hole, laying on the ground!
On the second dive I saw 4 different wolf eels and a VERY large octopuss that was a little PO'd about me going into her den to find scallops. I didn't know, I swear!
On the second dive I bagged up BIG time on scallops. I got a limit of huge ones, all over 6", in less than 10 minutes. Some of the shells were over 8". I saw some so big back in holes and cracks that it would have been next to impossible to get them out. The meats from the ones I got were all about the size of a good size bisquit. 10 of those and 3 people, we were stuffed!
I wok fried them very hot with garlic, peanut oil, butter, lemon , and salt & pepper. They were delicious.
This place is now the reigning champion of all dives of mine on the North Coast.
Did I mention that we had 60 foot visibility that day? I'm not kidding!
Just ask Steve.
I need to get Renpirate and Scubajunkee up there as soon as possible.
ZKY
The drive wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be with a boat, but after leaving Rincon Valley at 5:30, picking up Steve, and getting up there at 8:00 I guess that's still a haul. There was a line at the boat sling too, but we finally got in the water at 9:00.
The boat ride north to the rock wasn't bad, the swell was only 2 feet and the wind was very slight.
Arena Rock sits about 3-4 miles out from shore and about a mile and a half north of the Point Arena Light House. I had my GPS on so it took me right to it.
There were two other boats already anchored and diving on the rock. We all kind of arranged ourselves around the rock in a circle.
I anchored in 108 feet and was about 75 feet away from the top of the rock. When we went down we followed the line to the bottom so I could check the anchor, then we proceeded onwards to the base of the rock. The rock jutts right up from the sandy bottom and the shape of it is something like a giant stack of worm eaten pancakes or if you could imagine VERY large slices of swiss cheese the size of a house but flat and of all varying sizes stacked up to form an underwater mountain mountain with shelves, caves, holes, swim throughs, and walls. Everything on this rock was overgrown to the max. I have never seen anywhere else up on the North Coast that had this much growth and life. I got one decent size ling on the first dive, but to tell you the truth I soon became disinterested in hunting just because the dive was so visually incredible!
The scallops were everywhere, in every cave, in every hole, laying on the ground!
On the second dive I saw 4 different wolf eels and a VERY large octopuss that was a little PO'd about me going into her den to find scallops. I didn't know, I swear!
On the second dive I bagged up BIG time on scallops. I got a limit of huge ones, all over 6", in less than 10 minutes. Some of the shells were over 8". I saw some so big back in holes and cracks that it would have been next to impossible to get them out. The meats from the ones I got were all about the size of a good size bisquit. 10 of those and 3 people, we were stuffed!
I wok fried them very hot with garlic, peanut oil, butter, lemon , and salt & pepper. They were delicious.
This place is now the reigning champion of all dives of mine on the North Coast.
Did I mention that we had 60 foot visibility that day? I'm not kidding!
Just ask Steve.
I need to get Renpirate and Scubajunkee up there as soon as possible.
ZKY
