Yesterday’s Urchin Dive

[Eric Sedletzky]

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 temp was cool. My intention was just to see what the cove looked like underwater since the winter storms. At one point earlier in the year I visited the cove just to look at it and all the sand was missing from the beach. Well I found it, it’s all in the center of the cove where there was rubble rock and gravel. It forms sand dunes underwater and stretches out a ways, but then it goes to rocks again. The weed line is back in force close to the beach. I spotted many small abalone and even some larger to very large abalone close to the beach all hiding in the weeds, so that’s great! They are making a recovery.
I was looking for purple urchins and found them too, in force. They are all on the rocky sides of the cove and they are just as thick as before, maybe even thicker. I brought all my urchin removal gear, bags, rake, buckets, etc.
I got my whole limit on about 1000 psi on an overfilled HP120. In fact I got three dives off of that one tank!

It turned out to be a beautiful day as the fog lifted and the sun came out. The wind began to pick up at about 1:30 pm but I was done and loading my truck by then.
More picks of the day:
Stillwater Cove

The creek leading out to the cove

 

[scubadada]

Hi @Eric Sedletzky

Gorgeous photos.

What do you do with all the urchins?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

More pics:
The short trail through the redwoods from the upper day use parking down to the cove.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

Wow that looks like a good time.

Water temp, suit worn, viz? Any underwater photos? Water looks amazing, all great pictures.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Hi @Eric Sedletzky

Gorgeous photos.

What do you do with all the urchins?

I give away what I can and eat a few, then the rest go into the green compost can. The idea is to get them out of the cove first and fore most because they are invasive with no predators at this point.
The State Department of Fish and Wildlife has increased the limit from 35 individual urchins up to 40 gallons of whole purple urchins. That’s hundreds of urchins. They don’t care about what happens to them after, they just want them out. They make good fertilizer. It’s fun doing a working dive.
I guess it’s similar to lionfish hunting in a way, but lionfish are a lot tastier!

 

[rob.mwpropane]

What do urchins taste like? How hard are they to eat.. what can you make with them.

I feel like I need to try an urchin now!

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

Wow that looks like a good time.

Water temp, suit worn, viz? Any underwater photos? Water looks amazing, all great pictures.

Water was 52.
Suit was a 7mm Pinnacle one piece with a three mil body/7 mil hooded vest pulled over suit. Booties, gloves, etc. I was only in 15’ max so I was toasty fine. No UW pics because I don’t have a camera, but l want to get a housing for my IPhone so people can see. It would add visuals to my reports.
I have a new buddy out there, I named him Troy. Troy the sea trout. He was following me around like a little puppy dog. Sea trouts love urchin roe so I would smash open a few as I went along and he was all over it, and waiting for me to smash a few more. You’re not really supposed to smash them but he looked hungry and he was looking at me. There were actually a few following me around.

 

[rob.mwpropane]

I would totally get into that.. just fell into a small rabbit hole watching people eat urchins. Looks different.. definitely worth a try.

 

[BoundForElsewhere]

ok. officially jealous, now. as much as I love nyc, you live in a magical place.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

What do urchins taste like? How hard are they to eat.. what can you make with them.

I feel like I need to try an urchin now!

Well, the part you eat is the roe which is bright yellow. It is in 5 packets running vertically along the inside of the shell. Essentially it’s the caviar of the urchin. It’s sweet and fresh tastes like the ocean with a sea flavor combined with avocado, that’s about as close as I can describe it. A lot of people eat it with a little wasabi and maybe soy sauce mixed on a rice ball. That would be the sushi way. I just crack open a few on the beach with my BFK and rinse off the roe in the sea and go for it.
It’s a power food with a lot of anti oxidants and cancer fighting compounds. It’s considered one of the healthiest things you can eat. It is an acquired taste which I acquired a long time ago.

These purples are small and don’t have a lot of roe, but the quality in the ones that do have roe is grade AA.
I can’t wait for the big red urchins to come back. Those are huge and when they’re eating good the roe is plump and lots of it. The reds are the ones dived for commercially that you would see in sushi restaurants sold as Uni.