September 2011

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The West’s great $25 Cruises

living in the west September 2011

LIVING IN THE WEST

Pedal paradise

Insider’s guide to the coast | Dig for shellfish | Ultimate garlic steak | $25 CRUISES | Beach-house style

Where to bike in NorCal

The Coast: Insider’s guide to the best Seafood shacks Cozy beach cottages Surf spots Gorgeous drives Kayak trips and more

Easy-grow gourmet lettuce Beach-house style for every budget

South of Eureka, along California’s Redwood Coast

The ultimate garlic steak

SEPTEMBER 2011

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How the experts dig for mussels & clams

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Free diving for abalone took this beginner to a whole new, wild world

Beyond the endless blue

For years after my fiancé, Drew, took up abalone diving,

I’d accompany him on day trips up the California coast.

He’d go free diving—holding a single breath as he disappeared under the water, resurfacing a couple of minutes later—while I would happily relax on the cliffs, watching him and reading my book. Being a girl from the Midwest who holds her nose in the shallow end of the pool, I never really liked the idea of plunging into the icy Pacific.

But after a while, I noticed something: During the car ride home, Drew, usually a man of few words, would regale me with exuberant descriptions of the beautiful things he had seen underwater. I got tired of missing the party, so I mustered the courage to try it with him. I went a handful of times—including one bout of seasickness in the water—but had never managed to get an abalone.

CLOCKWISe from top The author (center) and dive parters Drew (left) and Eric (right) show off their abalone; the mollusks tend to settle on rocks near kelp beds.

By Amy Machnak photographs by david fenton

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Sunset September 2011

I didn’t quite enjoy it, but wasn’t ready to give up, either. So here I was, just a few months after my first attempt, heading out for another try with Drew and Eric Titus, a renowned Napa Valley winemaker, from his Sea Ranch, California, home. We climbed down the rocky cliffs and checked our weight belts, defogged our masks, and made sure we had our fishing licenses and abalone report cards. Then we put on our fins and pushed out into the water.

It’s true: The water off the Northern California coast is incredibly cold, and the first swish of it filling my wetsuit around the neck and down my back took my breath away. As I began to swim, the swell increased and waves hit with a ferocity I had never experienced.

I kicked at full strength for what seemed like forever, eventually making it past the wave break, where the water was calmer. We spread out and got started.

Eric and Drew were picture-perfect in their diving form, bending into a pike and kicking one leg

Explore back, out of the water, before sinking into the deep. They blended into the ocean landscape like any other graceful sea creature. In contrast, I imagine I looked like a one-winged parakeet that had fallen into the kitchen sink. After only a couple of dives, the boys started resurfacing with abalone and putting them in the zippered float bags we’d brought. My competitive nature kicked in: I wanted one too.

After a few long, deep breaths to slow my racing heartbeat, I removed the snorkel from my mouth, inhaled, bent at the waist, clumsily kicked my leg up, and felt myself plunging downward. In what seemed like miles deep, but was probably more like 10 feet, the building pressure of the water pushed against every inch of my body.

There’s a moment of faith when all you can see is endless blue, but you know

longer, popped it off the side of the rock.

I clutched my catch between my body and arm like a football, kicked upward, and broke the surface, sucking up oxygen. I looked around for Drew and Eric to show them my prize, but alas, they were below.

I’m not sure if it was the cold water or the adrenaline, but I was shaking as I swam over to the float bag and carefully placed my treasure in the zippered compartment.

Just a few minutes later, we reached our legal limit for the day and started the swim back to shore. This time, the sea was mellow. I kicked through long lines of kelp that reached up from the ocean floor toward the light like an underwater forest, swaying with the water’s surge like trees in the wind, to and fro.

As I neared the beach, I saw a splash out of the corner of my eye. Peeking out of the water, only a few feet from me, was

Just as I caught a glimpse of the tip of the rocks jutting up from the ocean floor, I had to turn around and head up—I was close but needed air something is down there, so you keep going. I kept going, starting to feel a rising desire to breathe. Just as I caught a glimpse of the tip of the rocks jutting up from the ocean floor, I had to turn around and head up. I was close but needed air.

I kicked my fins, shot to the surface, and gasped the second I broke through.

After giving myself a couple of minutes to recover, I tried again. And again, diving down and shooting up, each time getting a little deeper into the sea.

Eventually, I got close enough to reach the rocks and grabbed hold. There were brightly colored starfish wedged into the cracks and crevices, as well as spiny points of black sea urchin. Finally, under a ledge, I saw an abalone camouflaged with barnacles and plant life on its shell, clinging onto the side of the rocks. I was close enough to touch it but almost out of air, so up I went. The next trip down, I found the same abalone and measured it with my gauge—it was larger than the 7-inch-diameter legal minimum.

I shoved my iron underneath and, while hoping my breath would last just a little 34

Sunset September 2011

the smooth white head and big brown eyes of a seal. I watched him watch me, then turned to call out to the guys, who were too far away. When I turned back, he was gone.

An hour later, we were back onshore at Eric’s with glasses of crisp Titus wine and the sun on our faces, cooking up our abalone. This time, I was the one doing all the talking. >36

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP Back on shore, divers must tag each red abalone to make it legal; Drew returns from the depths with his catch; our postdive lunch.

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Abalone 101

What is abalone? A single-shell mollusk found off the West Coast and legally caught only in Northern California and Southern Oregon.

How do you catch it? Hold a single breath—no scuba tanks allowed—and dive down. Find and measure your abalone, and, if it’s larger than the legal minimum size, use a spatula-like abalone iron to dislodge it from the rock.

Isn’t it endangered? Not red abalone, the only type legal to take. In the past it has been overfished, and even today different camps argue over whether recreational harvesting is harmful to red abalone populations. But California and Oregon allow highly regulated harvesting. Other abalone varieties—such as black, green, and white—are endangered or protected and off-limits to divers. how is it regulated? Divers must get special licenses. In Oregon, divers are allowed to catch 1 abalone of 8-inch diameter or larger per day, 5 per year. California allows 3 per day and 24 per year, with a 7-inch-diameter minimum size.

Can I buy it? It’s illegal to sell or trade wild-caught abalone, but there are a few places to buy farm-raised, such as the Abalone Farm in Cayucos, California (the abalonefarm.com), and Monterey Abalone Company (monterey abalone.com). They’ll be considerably smaller than wild. ■

Sautéed abalone with garlic, lemon, capers, and white wine sauce.

How to cook abalone

The meat is tough, and theories differ on how to make it tender. The most common practice: Shuck the animal from the shell, trim off the black outer flesh and organs, slice it into pieces, then pound with a mallet. Abalone cooks very quickly; overcooking will make it even tougher. You’ll often find it battered and quick-fried. We did a simple sauté—ours took less than a minute—in olive oil and butter with garlic, lemon, capers, and white wine, then added fresh herbs. –A.M. 36

Sunset September 2011