Saturday morning, the abalone divers were Chuck, Mike, Tom and Mark. Mike, Tom and Mark headed off together and Chuck and I teamed up. We drove to the beach, got suited up and the kayak inflated (in reverse order, so as not to get overheated), and off we went.
In addition to abalone equipment, we also had Chuck’s fishing spear on board. I have to say the sharp pointy spear thingy kept my attention focused, being in a soft sided kayak full of air and all. We paddled out to a spot and Chuck jumped out to spearfish. He spent a good hour at this; I could tell it was quite a challenge to swim through the kelp with a long spear, load it, aim it, and try for a fish. Chuck reported he saw lots of fish, and had many good shots, but his aim “sucked”.
At one point, Chuck emerged, eyes like saucers, to tell me he was all lined up on a school of 5 fish and this
big dark thing swam into view – a seal. Having been in a kayak near big bull sea lions, I can appreciate how big and toothy they look when you’re floundering around in their element. No damage done; Chuck’s heart got a little extra stimulation.
Giving up on spearfishing, Chuck converted to ab diving (whilst I carefully stowed the fishing spear with the pointy end securely out of reach of any soft kayak parts) and started diving, working his way toward a big rock. Having been out with Chuck several times, I could tell he was having a hard time – at one point he came up and his mask and snorkel had been torn off by the kelp. After not too long, Chuck stowed his ab iron and climbed into the kayak, telling me “I came too close to 
dying too many times.” because of all the kelp. Right – live to fish another day (unlike this poor guy) seems like a good mantra.
We (I) paddled (we only had one paddle) over to where the other three were diving. They were having a tough day too; each had only gotten one abalone, Mike looked pretty tired, Mark was throwing up, Tom went for “one more dive” and then they all headed in.
Chuck, having had a rest, decided to dive again and managed to get his limit of two for that day. Back in the kayak, we headed in, Chuck did the kelp crawl to help me get across the kelp and then we jetted in to shore. The other guys had not even cleared the kelp by the time Chuck and I were on shore.
We brought the kayak in, had it drying in the sun and were back in civvies by the time Mike, Mark and Tom got back to the vehicles.
Back at camp, I took a nap, then got up and started cooking for the evening’s big potluck. Chopping, steaming potatoes and fish, picking fish meat off bones, chatting with Deb and Shelly, snacking on Deb’s dessert loaves, Deb’s cheese and smoked salmon, drinking a few cold beers, etc. Pretty soon it was time to assemble the curry coconut fish stew and prep the tomato, cucumber and red onion salad, then it was off to join the group.
Revisiting last night’s activity, I got Shelly on the skateboard with Haley on her back and off around the loop we went. I think Shelly would not have gotten aboard if not for the Lobotomy Bock I gave her earlier. Many things seem like a better idea after a Lobotomy. Anyway, we made it most of the way around the loop and then it was other kids’ turns.
Dinner – 6 or seven picnic tables strung together and loaded with food, drink and dessert. I’ll have to see the pictures to get a headcount, but there must have been more than 50 people. Late into the night, eating, drinking, talking, listening to Chuck S. play the baritone horn, wow what an evening. I squirrelled away a piece of pistachio pie for next day; I almost had to knee a 12 YO in the head to save it. Ha.