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Abalone Season Opens April 1st
Seems something good has to come on April Fools Day, and it’s the opener of abalone season. This year the limit is 3 per day and 24 per year. Abalone may only be taken north of San Francisco, and only by shore pickers and free divers, no scuba allowed. They must be at least 7 inches in the largest dimension. Please determine the size of your abalone prior to removing it from its rock. Abalone are hemophiliacs and a cut abalone will surely bleed to death. That is why there is so much verbiage regarding the size and shape of the tools allowed to take abalone—to reduce the chances that an undersized abalone will die when replaced.
But frequently the mouthpiece is not the cause, or the only cause. A hood that is too tight will often cramp the jaw causing pain. Use a hood that seals well around the face for warmth but loose enough so that the jaw can move freely. A thin, skin-in material works well for this application.
The Advantages of Marking Your Dive Gear
Marking your dive gear with your name and phone number can be advantageous for a number of good reasons. First, should you ever lose a piece of dive gear underwater in a heavily dived area, you stand a pretty good chance that the diver that finds the gear will return it. Also, should you accidentally forget or misplace an item of gear on a dive boat, you again have a greater possibility of recovering the lost item. And finally, marked dive gear has a greater chance of making it back to you in the unlikely event of theft.
Rubber paint, available at most dive stores, is good for marking fins. It will come in a small bottle with a small brush or as a marker. Mark on the inside of the foot pocket if you are concerned about how you will look underwater (such as with underwater photo models). With an indelible ink marker, put your name and phone number on the inside of your wetsuit. Use the same technique for your gloves and booties. For masks, etch it into the frame. Etching, with the proper tool, also works well to identify your regulator. You may need to re-mark your gear occasionally as the rubber paint and markers can wear off.
Old Shipwreck Kills Seabirds
On July 14, 1953, the 4,615-ton freighter, SS Jacob Luckenbach. sunk in 175 feet of water off the Golden Gate Bridge after colliding with the Hawaiian Pilot. There she sat for 49 years, leaking bits of oil at irregular intervals. During the weeks after Nov. 24th she began to leak oil faster and 1,540 seabirds were tainted with oil. The government is footing the cleanup bill, which totals about $2.5 million
