The north coast, Mendocino and Humboldt Counties, offer spectacular scenery, especially underwater.
The flora and fauna are abundant at Salt Point State Park which juts out toward the continental shelf,. where upwelling currents bring nutrients to sustain all kinds and colors of starfish, seaweed and algae, in oranges, umbers and purples rather than tropical raimant, equally a delight to the eye. This seastar must have been a foot across.
But far and away the greatest delight isn't the palette but the palate: California Abalone (pink in the South, now nearly extinct, and black in the north) are simply too delicious for their own good.
Pounded and fried in butter and garlic, fresh out of the sea, the taste is like Manna.
There are several factors in the Abalone's favor:
The size and quantity of catches are strictly enforced by park rangers with binoculars.
- Abalone can be taken only by free-diving, not scuba.
- Abalone are nothing if not clingy. After three dives with my "iron," I got frustrated and pried one loose 15 feet down, upside down, straining with my feet against a rock. That one cost me the high frequency hearing in my left ear.
- Last but not least, the triangle formed by the California Coast from Santa Cruz north to Salt Point and west to the Farallones is the most prolific breeding ground for GREAT WHITE SHARKS(realaudio sound file) in the world.
RESCUE AT SEA
Comments? Write me at DrJohn@idiom.com
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