2009 North Coast Party & Campout

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Eric Sedletzky

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Well, we're going to do it again!!

Come one, come all,

Join me and the North Coast Divers for the 2009 Annual North Coast Party Meet & Greet.

This year we will have it at Albion River Campground in Mendocino County, California.
The Dates set are July 30th thru August 2nd , 2009.
Join us for a great time where we get to meet each other, dive together, hunt, eat, and drink, and party it up around a big fire at night. We gather by day and feast at night for 3 straight days.

Albion Campground is a great place to camp and hang out. Amenities include: Two areas for boat launching, docks for overnight tie up, fish cleaning station, great restrooms with flush toilets and showers, flat campsites for tents, on-site restaurant that serves up scrumptious breakfasts. They also have camp trailers for rent, kayaks for rent and free wi-fi. There is a beach right at the edge of the campground where kids can play and kayaks can be launched. Shore diving can be done from the beach as well with abalone to be found right in the cove.

The spaces we are reserving are all in D section starting with all the sites closest to the restrooms in both rows and working towards the pond. Participants will need to contact the campground through the link and reserve their own sites. Please go to their website to view a map of the facility and get the rest of the information on the facility:
Albion River Campground - Albion, California

The whole area is a destination location in itself with the town of Mendocino just a few miles north with all its Victorian architecture, quaint shops, restaurants, and art galleries. There are wineries in the inland valleys, and miles of beautiful untouched coastline. There is a full service dive shop in Fort Bragg about 15 miles north on highway 1 for air fills and any other dive equipment needs including gear and Kayak rentals.

Some things you'll need to know:
Please show up fully self sufficient in respect to food, beverages, camping supplies like camp stove, lanterns, folding chairs, tent, bedding etc, (all the basic camping equipment that you'll need). Having some fire wood is nice; the campground has fire pits.
Usually what we do is everybody handles their own breakfasts and lunches and dinners are a pot luck (optional, You can do your own thing if you wish) The potlucks are fun to get involved in, trying different dishes people have cooked up and sharing a few of your own specialties. I've even had professional chefs (that were also divers) show up and really cook up some amazing stuff. The focus is on cooking up the game that we've gathered during our dive day and creating something mind blowing with it back in the camp. The North Coast provides all sorts of seafood, rock fish, scallops, urchins, abalone, and other things.

If you plan to hunt and more specifically gather abalone, you'll need a fishing license and an abalone report card with tags. Please go to the DFG website to learn more about the regulations. It is important that you thoroughly understand the laws because DFG has a zero tolerance policy in regards to infractions in the taking of abalone. If you do everything right you'll be just fine.
Abalone season re-opens on August 1st, so that Saturday we can hit the water with our freediving gear and go get 'em!

The diving in the area is spectacular. If you have a boat or kayak you are highly encouraged to bring it. The area is very rocky with great underwater structure and amazing sea life.
The North Coast can get rough, so diving of course is dependant on calm conditions. But to give you an idea, in the 9 years I've been doing this we've never been blown out.
The water is cold, 46 to 53 degrees. In August most of the winds have calmed and so the cold water upwellings have subsided.
But be prepared for brisk cold water. Make sure you have sufficient exposure protection to dive in our waters. But the rewards are great.

To see the thread or if you have further questions please go to:
The North Coast Divers - Index
and go to the thread 2009 North Coast Party in the general discussion forum.

Thank you very much, and hope to see everyone there.

Eric Sedletzky
(ZKY)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So, I am definitely not a hunter. This is not to say that I have a problem with hunting, it is just not my thing. I will not even get mad if you spear a fish while I am taking its picture. :D

So, I have always held that Mendocino diving is all about the hunting and so I have never made the effort to dive there. How much fun is the Mendocino scene for those of us who do not care to hunt.
 
So, I am definitely not a hunter. This is not to say that I have a problem with hunting, it is just not my thing. I will not even get mad if you spear a fish while I am taking its picture. :D

So, I have always held that Mendocino diving is all about the hunting and so I have never made the effort to dive there. How much fun is the Mendocino scene for those of us who do not care to hunt.

Mendocino is one of the real treasures of California. It's very rugged, there is lot's of life, the underwater structure is very dramatic. It's very similar to the outer pinnacles and structure at Point Lobos but there's a lot more of it. However the vis is regularly not as good as Lobos, although getting 20 to 30 foot vis is about avarage for Mendo unless there's a bloom.
There are plenty of sightseers that dive up around that area. There are also plenty of people doing photography. We just don't have a large population of divers, and the ones that do dive it keep it secret, so that's why you never hear about it.
 
Hey mikemikethepike like ZKY says Mendocineo is some tremdious diving, alot to see and offer.
 
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