Eric Sedletzky
Contributor
Hello again folks,
I have an urchin dive planned for Sunday, July 30th at Stillwater Cove Regional Park.
Stillwater Cove is located about 17 miles north if Jenner on Highway 1 in Sonoma County.
Meetup will be between 8:00 and 9:00 am at the picnic tables in the cove. The cove has restrooms, picnic tables, and barbecues.
This will be an official purple urchin removal dive in an ongoing effort to reduce the population of invasive purple urchins to try and help re-establish the kelp forests.
*Note, there is a loading and unloading zone at the cove entrance driveway. There is a 10 minute parking limit to load and unload gear, etc. you must move your vehicle promptly once you are done unloading so others can do the same.
There is free parking along the highway above the cove, and/or there is a day use parking lot up in the campground across the highway. The day use parking fee is $7 unless you have a parking pass.
There is a short wooded trail down the hill and through the redwood grove in the canyon that leads down to the cove from the day use parking.
Things you will need if you want to take urchins:
Valid California fishing license.
A large green or yellow (or multiple) Trident game bag(s) with double ender bolt snaps.
A lift bag or deluxe surface marker buoy that has a lift strap and a dump valve.
Kevlar dive gloves.
*Small gardening rake
Enough containers to hold 40 gallons of purple urchins. This could be eight 5 gallon buckets, or two 20 gallon brute trash cans, or one big 45 gallon brute trash can.
I have a wheel dolly to move full cans of urchins around.
Bring a couple tanks.
Bring your lunch, water, snacks, sunscreen.
Bring a buddy if you want.
I also recommend to have DAN Dive Insurance.
*About loosening urchins from the rocks:
I used a small gardening hand rake the last time I went out. It worked the best so far for collecting urchins. I strongly recommend getting one since it will save your gloves and your fingers from urchin spines. I will post a pic.
An ab iron or BFK also work to loosen urchins off rocks, then they can be handled carefully and placed into bags. A thin leather glove pulled over you dive glove would help to save your dive gloves and to prevent urchin spine injuries.
The diving will be shallow, 10’ to 15’, so make sure to bring enough ballast weight to work comfortably at that depth.
Each diver will be responsible to transport and deal with their own urchins. Pick up trucks or larger SUV type vehicles with cargo room are highly recommended.
**Also note: This is not a lead dive and as such Each Diver will be responsible for their own diving safety and they will be responsible for their own actions. We will be gathering and diving as autonomous divers.
For more information you can also go to this thread:
scubaboard.com
And this thread:
scubaboard.com
Thank you and see everyone there!
Cheers!
@suricatasuricata
@bperc
@doc_hud
@Bigbella
@Fonzi4
@SaltyWombat
@lostsheep
@Still Kicking
@nicoh
@wnissen
@ACHiPo
@Jeff_O
@Sonoma Coast 1
@lattehiatus
@The Ruttmeister
@lexvil
@runsongas
@Guille G
I have an urchin dive planned for Sunday, July 30th at Stillwater Cove Regional Park.
Stillwater Cove is located about 17 miles north if Jenner on Highway 1 in Sonoma County.
Meetup will be between 8:00 and 9:00 am at the picnic tables in the cove. The cove has restrooms, picnic tables, and barbecues.
This will be an official purple urchin removal dive in an ongoing effort to reduce the population of invasive purple urchins to try and help re-establish the kelp forests.
*Note, there is a loading and unloading zone at the cove entrance driveway. There is a 10 minute parking limit to load and unload gear, etc. you must move your vehicle promptly once you are done unloading so others can do the same.
There is free parking along the highway above the cove, and/or there is a day use parking lot up in the campground across the highway. The day use parking fee is $7 unless you have a parking pass.
There is a short wooded trail down the hill and through the redwood grove in the canyon that leads down to the cove from the day use parking.
Things you will need if you want to take urchins:
Valid California fishing license.
A large green or yellow (or multiple) Trident game bag(s) with double ender bolt snaps.
A lift bag or deluxe surface marker buoy that has a lift strap and a dump valve.
Kevlar dive gloves.
*Small gardening rake
Enough containers to hold 40 gallons of purple urchins. This could be eight 5 gallon buckets, or two 20 gallon brute trash cans, or one big 45 gallon brute trash can.
I have a wheel dolly to move full cans of urchins around.
Bring a couple tanks.
Bring your lunch, water, snacks, sunscreen.
Bring a buddy if you want.
I also recommend to have DAN Dive Insurance.
*About loosening urchins from the rocks:
I used a small gardening hand rake the last time I went out. It worked the best so far for collecting urchins. I strongly recommend getting one since it will save your gloves and your fingers from urchin spines. I will post a pic.
An ab iron or BFK also work to loosen urchins off rocks, then they can be handled carefully and placed into bags. A thin leather glove pulled over you dive glove would help to save your dive gloves and to prevent urchin spine injuries.
The diving will be shallow, 10’ to 15’, so make sure to bring enough ballast weight to work comfortably at that depth.
Each diver will be responsible to transport and deal with their own urchins. Pick up trucks or larger SUV type vehicles with cargo room are highly recommended.
**Also note: This is not a lead dive and as such Each Diver will be responsible for their own diving safety and they will be responsible for their own actions. We will be gathering and diving as autonomous divers.
For more information you can also go to this thread:
Upcoming urchin dives
Hi all, I’m looking at future dates for more purple urchin removal dives at Stillwater Cove Regional Park in Sonoma County. With this latest series of storms coming through it doesn’t look good for January. I’ll keep an eye on February and post it up if and when it looks like it will happen...
Yesterday’s Urchin Dive
It was a great day on the Sonoma Coast! I got up to Stillwater Cove in Sonoma County at about 8:00 am. The water was a touch sloppy so I figured I better get in and get out ASAP because it could get worse, but the ocean actually continued to lay down as the day went on. The fog was in and air...
Cheers!
@suricatasuricata
@bperc
@doc_hud
@Bigbella
@Fonzi4
@SaltyWombat
@lostsheep
@Still Kicking
@nicoh
@wnissen
@ACHiPo
@Jeff_O
@Sonoma Coast 1
@lattehiatus
@The Ruttmeister
@lexvil
@runsongas
@Guille G
