Next Urchin Removal Dive, October 15th

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Eric Sedletzky

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Santa Rosa, California
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I'm a Fish!
The next Purple Urchin Removal Dive will be on Sunday, October 15th, 2023.

Location: Stillwater Cove Regional Park in Sonoma County.
Time: 9:00 AM.
Meet at the picnic tables on site.
Parking is free at the turnout on the highway above the cove, or there is day use parking across the highway in the campground which is $7 day, unless you have a park pass.

Some things you will need:
Valid California fishing license.
At least two tanks.
A green Trident Game bag with a stainless double ender bolt snap. More bags is better if you can do it. Make sure you have double ender bolt snaps for each bag. It’s possible to fill a limit in one dive. I use two large green bags and one medium yellow bag. All filled and packed full is a limit of 40 gallons.
You will need a lift bag, I use a 50# lift bag with it’s own double ender bolt snap to suspend the full urchin bags and float them to the beach.
A small hand rake is extremely useful to gather urchins into the bags. We have concluded that a hand rake is the best overall tool to collect urchins. I have posted pics in the past but I will post another so you can see what we are using. If you do not have a rake and don’t want to get one, you can load them into the bags by hand but your gloves will suffer and you might get urchin spines in your fingers. A leather glove pulled over your dive glove would work, but you will also lose dexterity to do things like work bolt snaps, handle bags, etc.

Some things have changed since last time. We now have enough containers to put the urchins in, so you don’t have worry about coming up with 40 Gallons of container space. We will also handle the transport and disposal of the urchins. If you want to take your own urchins that’s fine, but you don’t have to now, we will handle all of it.
All you have to do is show up with your harvesting tools and put your diving skills to work.

There will be a Liability Waiver for you to fill out and sign if you want to participate, unless you already have one on file with us.
We will also be weighing the urchins and recording the data which will be submitted to the Cordell Bank Marine Sanctuary (Kelp Restoration Project) for their research and records.

We also need shore support!
Anybody that want’s to help that doesn’t want to dive or doesn’t dive, we could sure use the help!
We need people to run clip boards and record weights and volumes. We need people to lift the bags and weigh them on the hanging scale. Divers will need help getting geared up and un-geared on the beach. Full urchin bags need to be dragged from the water up the beach to be weighed, then dumped into the containers, etc.
Shore support is just as important as the diving, it would be very hard to do this without good shore support.

Write down the date or log in in your phone, the kelp and fish need you! this is important work!
Thank you!

Don’t forget your lunch!

@summitdogg
@suricatasuricata
@bperc
@doc_hud
@Bigbella
@Fonzi4
@SaltyWombat
@lostsheep
@Still Kicking
@nicoh
@wnissen
@ACHiPo
@Jeff_O
@Sonoma Coast 1
@lattehiatus
@The Ruttmeister
@lexvil
@runsongas
@Guille G
 
Here is my rake. This is a cheap one, under $5.
Notice I bent the forks a little more midway. I did this in a vice. They work better when they are bent more to get under the urchin.
IMG_0857.jpeg
 
Will you be having an urchin “caviar“ feast this time? Maybe I could hop in my Lear Jet and join you. Oh yeah, I don’t have a Lear Jet, and if I did, it would probably be in the shop! Rake ‘em up, my friend!
🐸
 
Will you be having an urchin “caviar“ feast this time? Maybe I could hop in my Lear Jet and join you. Oh yeah, I don’t have a Lear Jet, and if I did, it would probably be in the shop! Rake ‘em up, my friend!
🐸
Virginia isn’t that far away, it’s only 3000 miles.
Good idea on the uni fest. I may bring some sticky rice, wasabai, soy sauce, and seaweed and make some uni rolls.
The more we do this the more organized it gets.
It’s a learning curve for everyone.
 
@Eric Sedletzky you rock. Was just thinking about this the other day..

Please take some pics so the rest if us East Coasters can enjoy it vicariously through you. Sounds like a blast!
 
@Eric Sedletzky you rock. Was just thinking about this the other day..

Please take some pics so the rest if us East Coasters can enjoy it vicariously through you. Sounds like a blast!
I will for sure. In fact, I’m going to delegate the photography and videography to somebody doing shore support this time.
I just created an Instagram page for this cause (@p.u.r.p.) stands for Purple Urchin Removal Project. We’ll post stuff there as well as here.
How come you guys live on the East Coast? We need you here!
 
You really have to ask? I prefer historic Virginia to the hysteria I hear about coming from the Left Coast. I really feel for you normal people who are there, and of course there is the beauty of the Pacific coast and some of the more rural parts of the “Gold Plated State” but not enough to make me want to live there. Maybe I should plan a dive trip to a “good part” of California as though I were traveling to an exotic port so I can meet some of my e-friends who live there and maybe get in a dive or three with some of you.
Nonetheless, I hope you guys will have another great P.U.R.E. (Purple Urchin Removal Event).
🐸
 
It all sounds real good except for the part about cold water... I know you guys have the reverse of our Gulf Stream coming down from Alaska to cool you off instead of warm you up. What kind of water temps are you doing your PURE in? Will you be in 5mm wetsuits, or...? I've about worn out my tri-lam dive suit and am considering a shorty or just a lycra skin... if that's not enough thermal protection, the water's too cold!

By the way, you don't put over the hill dive bums in the same class as those transient "scumbag vagabonds" do you? As a retired school teacher, I never get confused with the moneyed hoi poloi:

🐸
 
Just got a new dry suit I would love to give this a try. Perhaps on the next go-around since this is a little short order for me, or at least scheduling with my wife. Seems like it'd make for a fun road trip.

I was watching a couple videos, in one they used BBQ tongs to grab them. Had a pretty cool splitter used to crack them open. Like a pair of external snap ring pliers but with a duck bill on them. Had some uni at a sushi restaurant, but I was disappointed, not like I remembered. Don't think it was really that fresh. Here in Vegas, when it comes to seafood fresh is dubious.

Another video I saw didn't involve collecting the urchins. They were just swimming along smashing them with what looked like a geologist/prospector hammer and letting the fish have a field day.
 

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