Respect the Stone Crab
Nearly every year for my birthday, I reserve a campground or two at Woodside in Salt Point SP for the a weekend in August. This is just one tiny story from the trip this year.
We decided to dive a cove very close to the highway turnout just south of The Ocean Cove Store if heading North on 1. I had several of my friends with me who wanted to just get wet and see what all the hype was about, so i decided to take them to this cove which is very protected from a northern swell and I have had a lot of luck with seal sightings while in the waters; a treat for any free diver.
So there were 5 of us in the water in total and another 3 on the beach chilling out and enjoying the view. Myself with over 8 years experience, my buddies Wayne and John, whom i taught to ab dive with about a year each, my friend Jeannine and my total newbie to the water friend, Tyler, that afternoon.
I decided to not really dive that day but instead grabbed my friend Wayne's camera and went around shooting starfish, sea urchins and anything else i could see. I kept an eye on my friends and when possible went over to them and showed them different things underwater to keep their interest which was easy since the vis was pretty good..about 20' or so. After awhile i drifted away from them and started searching some underwater caverns and holes that ran along the right side of the cove...very close to some fisherman. I usually don't like doing this because fishing line is very hard to see underwater until you are caught up in it.. but i did it anyway. I found a hole about 15' down that opened up into a very large cavern with multiple entryway and exit tunnels leading all over the place and decided to do some exploring. My friends were floating above me chilling out and talking so i knew they would be cool while i did some exploring.
After a few dives I found a nice section with lots of rocks and holes and one in particular that was large enough to get my head and an arm into.. so i decided to stick them in there and just shoot whatever was in it and look at it on the surface. So as i stuck my hand in to take a picture i felt an unbelievably strong crunch on my fingers and immediately pulled my right hand out and a very large Stone Crab had grabbed onto my right ring finger... oh man did that hurt.. i tried to grab it with my left hand and it latched its other claw onto my left pointer finger and started to pinch down on both... so here i am about 15' feet down or so with a crab just jamming itself on the tips of my fingers and all i could do was scream... scream bloody murder! i jammed around the rocks and kicked myself to the surface, with the crab still latched onto my hands..... on the surface i was able to pry my left hand free, but the damn thing just wouldn't let go of my right finger and was applying enough force on my right finger to make me scream again... after about 20 seconds or so i finally grabbed my iron from my wrist and started banging it on the crabs claw and about 5 very long seconds later it finally let go and started to sink back down into the water. At this point you would think i would relax, but instead I looked down, took a breath and chased it as it sank away to its freedom, with only one intent... to capture this creature on camera as a memento.... which i did! LOL
now.. as i said before, when i was underwater, my friends were on the surface and they later told me that all of a sudden they could hear some crazy screaming coming from under them, which started to really freak them out. We have dove together many times and i am always calm and collected and then they heard those sounds and were wondering what the heck was going on. John said that when they saw me break the surface with a crab on my hands, they just lost it and starting laughing...and laughing....and laughing... the whole time i was struggling to get it free, they were all laughing.. the commotion caught the attention of the fisherman on the cliffs next to us and then THEY started laughing too.. the whole thing was a big ole laughfest at my expense...
I ended my dive at that point (and because i had been in the water for nearly 2 hours). When i got to the beach where my other friends were I began relating the story to them as i began peeling my gloves off my very sore and swollen fingers. The damn crab had broken the skin on my right finger THROUGH my 3ml glove! and my fingers were quite swollen.
but i had a picture of the culprit and a story to tell and laughter to share.
abalone diving.. its always an adventure.
-bigfoot