Scavenger Hunt Adventure: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

Posted by Allyson on July 14th, 2021

Diving for abalone is a sport taken pleasure in by lots of on the north coast of California. Using scuba tanks or any other underwater breathing apparatus is not permitted and you need to get them by diving while holding your breath. Not to say that you can't go out at very low tides and "rock choice" them without entering the water, but this article is about diving for them, which is the main technique of taking them.

Firstly, an abalone is a substantial snail that lives on the rocks in the shallows of the ocean. Although there are several types, the one searched for here in northern California is a Red Abalone. This abalone needs to be 7 inches throughout the shell at any point in order to be "legal" under California law and hardly ever grows to over 11 inches in its life. The typical one taken by the sport diver is normally in between 7 and 9 inches. By law, every scuba diver needs to carry their own measuring device while diving which are wide "U formed" tools with a within width of 7 inches. The abalone are firmly attached to the rocks by their "foot" and are pried off with a flat bar, which also should fulfill certain requirements legally to prevent damage to undersized abalone and those that are not able to be pried off. It needs to not be sharp or not large enough so the abalone are not cut with it. Every diver must read and acquaint themselves with the policies each year for taking abalone, as regulations alter from time to time and offenses of them typically lead to fines of a minimum of 00 and can result in jail time and the confiscation of your diving devices due to the safeguarded status of these creatures. For example, every abalone taken must be logged properly both on a tag and on the report card instantly upon leaving the ocean, without exception. At this time, you may possess only three abalone at one time, no matter if they are in your freezer at home or in your dive bag at the ocean, and you might take only 24 in any one year. You may not acquire another diver's abalone and hand them to him or her when in the ocean or "trade up" for bigger ones after you have actually gotten rid of a legal one from the rocks. Once again, other policies use so it is necessary that you read the regulations prior to diving.

The water on the north coast of California is cold. You will require a complete wet suit, consisting of a hood, gloves, and booties. The other gear that you will require will be a mask, snorkel, fins, weight belt, abalone bar, abalone gage, and something to keep your abalone in as they need to be kept separate from other divers'. I extremely advise that each scuba diver have and utilize a "dive tube" to keep their abalone in as this also functions as a vital safety device, if needed. Sea sickness, cramps, exhaustion, and injuries do occur and such a floatation gadget can save your life. It likewise can use a place to drift and rest or just to drift and shoot the breeze with your friends and enjoy the views. The dive tube also has actually the included feature of having shoulder straps so it can be utilized as a knapsack for your equipment when treking to and from the ocean. The bag is generally a canvas covering with a zipper that encloses the inner tube of a car. It has actually rings connected to it so you can tie things to it such as your measuring gadget, fish bags if you are a spear fisher as well, and clips to hold your spear weapon when not in use. I extremely suggest using a different bag for your fish or sea urchins as the sharp fins and quills will puncture your tube and they are not inexpensive.

The wet suit is neoprene which is a foam type product and the damp suits can be found in numerous thicknesses. This material is very resilient and the weight belt's purpose is to offset this buoyancy so that you can submerge. Without this weight, diving is essentially impossible. Each weight belt has a fast release buckle on it so that the scuba diver can, if needed and as a last hope, shed this belt and float with ease. Once you lose or shed your belt, either somebody else dives down to get it or your dive is over! Shedding your weight belt also triggers you to lose a few of your maneuverability as your lower body and legs wish to float instead of stay underwater to provide you "traction" in the water. The quantity of weight that each diver utilizes is vital to that scuba diver's ease of diving. Excessive weight and you tend to sink and the climb is harder, and insufficient causes you to need to struggle to reach the bottom. A happy medium is needed Scavenger Hunt Adventure and this medium varies with each scuba diver depending on their wetsuit's thickness and their body mass and height. A more portly individual might require a little more weight and a thin individual a little less offered the very same height, but a taller individual might need more as they have more suit to counterweight.

There is a simple approach that must be utilized by the scuba diver to establish the correct amount of weight to be utilized. The scuba diver needs to dawn all equipment to be dove with and go into the water somewhere calm and near to coast where he can easily float. A dock in a harbor or a releasing ramp are excellent spots for this and make sure it remains in the seawater that you plan to dive in, not fresh water as the buoyancy is much different. Start with about 20 pounds of weight on your belt and utilize a couple pounds more if you are taller or more robust than the next man or lady. Float still while you are directly up and down with your hands to your side and your feet still. The water level need to such that your dive mask is half under the water and half above so you can look either under or over the water. Adjust the weight to your belt till you reach this balance we call "neutral Buoyancy". When you do this, remember this weight as it might extremely well stick with you your entire dive profession and you will want to know this if you lose your belt or rent equipment.

It is necessary that you recognize your snorkel as your buddy. This breathing device allows you to keep your head in the water and float easily and let you view under the water with your mask while still breathing usually. Your head is really heavy - 15 to 20 pounds- and if you demand not utilizing your snorkel and holding it up out of the water so you can breathe through your mouth and nose generally, you will be kicking your rear end off in order to do so. Practice with a mask and snorkel in a swimming pool or river and even in the jacuzzi so you get utilized to it. Every dive it fills with water to your mouth where it is come by you shoving your tongue into the hole, avoiding it from entering your mouth. Then when you come up to the surface, you remove your tongue and blow fast and difficult to "clear" it of water so you can again utilize it. Much of the time this one difficult blow gets 90% of the water out of it and a substantial mistake that brand-new divers make is to presume that all of it is out and they take a big gasp for that required air and intake that last 10 percent and choke on it. It is necessary that you breathe softly and get a nice rejuvenating breath of air so that you draw the air over the water that remains in the snorkel's bottom and then clear it when again to eliminate that last 10% of water. This appears like quite a job, but it starts to end up being habit with experience as does much of correct complimentary diving strategy, which then permits the scuba diver a degree of convenience that transcends him or her from the novice to the experienced diver. I can't worry enough just how much practicing with your snorkel will enhance your abalone diving, spear fishing, or snorkeling experience.

Diving on the north coast of California isn't like the clear ocean waters of Florida, Texas, Mexico, or Hawaii. The water here is not just cold, however generally quite rough and often dirty where the exposure underwater is just 5 to 15 feet. Although the abalone is discovered from the mean low tide level of the ocean to depths of 50 feet or more, diving in waters that are shallow can be both dangerous and stressful. The ocean's waves can be found in and out with excellent force and sweep the scuba diver where ever it chooses to, which can include putting his or her head up versus a rock! Even if you do discover an abalone, trying to stay in one place enough time to get it off the rock can be nearly impossible and requires that you kick like a maniac and hang on for dear life. Diving in over 15 feet of water eliminates most of these issues as the waves are simply swells that carefully take you up and down on the surface and have almost no effect as soon as you are immersed. When you decrease and find an abalone, you remain in still water where you can relax and concentrate. The amateur scuba diver tends to see the shallow water as much easier and more secure, but once they relax enough to give the deeper seas a shot, they quickly learn that their oxygen and strength lasts much longer which the deeper ocean is a much easier diving experience.

Part of diving deeper includes the essential function of what is referred to as "clearing your ears". Learning how to clear your ears when diving is an absolute need to in order for you to prevent breaking or damaging your ear drum. Possibly you or someone you understand that has attempted diving to the bottom of a deep pool or attempted to scuba dive has actually experienced severe discomfort in their ears. This is since water weighs a lot. Pick up a five gallon container of it if you don't think me! The weight of all the air in earth's environment at sea level is 14.7 pounds per square inch. There is less of it in the high mountains and it weighs less there so your ears "pop" to let your ear drums