Deep-Sea Sherpa

Received an email from Ben that he had Wednesday off and wanted to do something different. He’s been trying to get a group of us to dive California’s north coast, but most of his requests have fallen on deaf ears.

Since I have always been interested in the rugged Sonoma coast, I thought that Wednesday would be a good day to try. After 3.5 hours of driving, we reached our destination – Gerstle Cove.

Cool and overcast, the cove scene looked very inviting. With no swell and only ankle slappers, negotiating the melon size smooth rocks wouldn’t be too difficult.

While viz was only 5′ throughout much of the dive, there was a good amount of life. Greenlings were everywhere as well as plenty of alabaster nudibranchs. Within the marine reserve zone, abalones were larger then our heads. Monster sea urchins clung onto scattered rocks and low rocky reefs.

Out at 65′, we ran across an abandoned anchor. Speaking to some veteran freedivers, they mentioned that it used to stand upright. Now, that must have been an impressive site.

Ben’s Gerstle Cove dive report.

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Dive Report by Don