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A glorious day up on the North Coast





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Posted by Eric S on September 04, 2007 at 08:04:05:

Yesterday a friend and I took my boat up to Mendocino County to Albion and did a couple dives at a site I call the Ice Cream cone, named so because it is a large rock mound which reaches about 15 feet to the top and bottoms out an average of 75 feet at the base. At the bottom it is fringed by shorter rock structure so it really does resemble a giant scoop of ice cream.
On the way up to the cone we passed an offshore site called Colby Reef but the current was ripping. I could tell because there were a couple of kelp strands growing of the top that were layng down flat with water rushing by.

The swell was around 4-6 feet and the winds were light.
Water temp was 52
Vis was 10 to 20 feet depending on if you swam through a green cloud or not. We don't need no stinkin vis, we're just happy for any day we can get out.

On our first dive my buddy got the biggest Vermillion I've ever seen, the thing was huge!
I found several very large scallops and managed to get a few blues towards the end of the dive as I was hanging in the kelp at the top of the pinnacle.

We stayed put for our second dive. My buddy was cold and passed on the second dive so I went in and puttered around again checking out some of the walls and then off to check out some of the surrounding rocky structure. I managed to get a few nice Vermillions myself so now I have some food in the freezer and fridge for the week.

The fog had layed down right on the water as we made to 2.5 mile run back to Albion bay. I had to use GPS entirely to find my way back. I find it a little unnerving with a coastline that rugged when you can't see what's coming up until it's too late,
especially with submerged pinnacles and wash rocks right off shore. It makes riding the shoreline to get back to the harbor impossible.

What a long day. I left my house at 5:00 am and didn't get back till 5:00pm. Then I had to wash the boat and gear, and clean the game. I wasn't done till 8:00 pm but then I was able to crack a cold beer and think back at how great it was to finally get back up to Mendocino County with my boat and do some diving.





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