California Dreamin

    Most of you probably dont know that I'm from california. Lived in San Fran until January 2000. I dove those waters a lot and as per some of yous request, here are some pics. Mostly from the 1990s. Mostly freediving.:toast:



    Lingcod and a few other rockfish from Fort Ross in Sonoma County, Norcal.



    My Avon 13',Gettin ready to dive Monterey.


    15lbs(aprox) Lingcod from Ocean Cove Campground, in Sonoma County.


    Me and Julian Locatelli after an afternoon of diving south of San Fran in the summer, on one of those rare days when you get 8-10 feet of vis. The spot is called Pedro Point, in Linda Mar Beach. There is a steel wreck there at the point that is scattered all over the place. Productive for cabs, lings and rockfish.



    The next pic was from a CENCAL/USofA Randy Fry Memorial tournament in Vanne Damme State Park, Mendocino County. I met Mark McGuiree and a few other legends of the Norcal dive scene that day. The ling went 16 pounds and earned me a trophy for largest fish and third place. I was not about to shoot 20 small fish to rack points. Luckily I found this bastard in a hole and nailed him.


    I will post more as time allows. Got some excellent halibut pics!:toast:

    Thanks Lee, those are the ones I was talking about. :thumbsup2: I only met Randy once, that was a hard loss
    for everyone.


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    Few more for the record:


    Pedro Point haul. Off the wreck. Solo freedive.


    Montara freedive. South end in epic conditions with baitballs exploding in the sunset and 40 foot visibility. Unbelievable.



    Another nice halibut.



    And another pair out of Linda Mar:



    Camping at Ocean Cove:



    A haul out of Fort Ross. Solo freedive.

    Your a freediver that's for sure, I'll be the first to say I don't have the balls to dive Fort Ross and a couple of those other spots.:@


    Thanks for sharing mate, that was fun .


    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

    linda mar is everyones "secret spot" in norcal. i dove it several of those rare days when there was top to bottom viz, it is spectacular. even on days when you can't see the tip of the gun it was productive for me. my only regret is i didn't have a chance to dive it during the early days when abs were legal to take there, i have seen several hubcap size ones in the water and many more built into walls of the local shacks or decorating peoples yards.


    btw, crab season just opened.

    steve veros


    in loving memory of paolo

    Quote from metelin

    linda mar is everyones "secret spot" in norcal. i dove it several of those rare days when there was top to bottom viz, it is spectacular. even on days when you can't see the tip of the gun it was productive for me. my only regret is i didn't have a chance to dive it during the early days when abs were legal to take there, i have seen several hubcap size ones in the water and many more built into walls of the local shacks or decorating peoples yards.


    btw, crab season just opened.


    I dove abs there for 8-10 years until they closed the season , if you went around the corner to devils slide there were walls covered with abs . For about 14 years I worked in sf ,and lived in redwood city ,and for 2 years I lived in Linda mar ,and took the coast home and dove or surfed every day . I have had some epic days diveing between ptown and hmb . That's still one of my favorite sections of coast to dive . P town will be awesome when the striper spearing law changes !
    Phil

    Quote from Bulit 7

    Urchins you eat the nads with wasabi and soy dip.
    Stars I dried them and hung em up on the wall. I know, not a green practice...
    Thanks!


    Times were different then when I came out to Cali in 77. I used to see out of town beach goers using bottles of bleach to kill marine life in tide pools. The life guards would sometimes tell them to leave if I bugged them enough. I was almost drug off to jail for getting in a poachers shite a few times, some times I would just take the bleach from them and leave. Soon we will have a massive no take zone called a MLPA kicking out the true conservationist's, the home guard spero's that police the reef.


    I too grabbed starfish and live shells when I visited Florida as a kid and made bad fumes in the trunk of my dads Caddy when I forgot to remove them.....after a few beatings with a belt I became a ''conservationist'' and I saw the light,:@:D
    and the need to not stink up new cars.:D



    Cheers, Don

    "Great mother ocean brought forth all life, it is my eternal home'' Don Berry from Blue Water Hunters.


    Spearfishing Store the freediving and spearfishing equipment specialists.

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