Tag Archives: Eric Anderson

• 2 Comments

•

The fog has finally pulled back, revealing the ocean we knew was there! Eric Anderson photographed the happy scene at Anchor Bay Beach where a surfer rides the waves.

Here's a website to learn more about the hamlet of Anchor Bay - http://anchorbayvillage.com/

And here's a recent sunset from our deck, just a little south of this beach.

Thanks to Eric for allowing me to share his photo with you here. Eric has a fantastic website for all things abalone. Here is the link: https://sites.google.com/site/abaloneten/

•

Bettye Winters regularly walks the north end of Manchester State Park Beach with her dog, Hunter. This is what Bettye had to say, “This morning there was another first waiting for me. I’ve never come across a shark on our beach. It was small and still alive. I put Hunter on a down/stay. I tried to get it back in the water by rolling it with a big stick but it would just get washed right back to the sand. It was thrashing around and those teeth were awfully sharp looking.”

High tide was coming in and Bettye hoped the tide would take it further out to sea so it could survive but that wasn’t to be. The next day she found its body down by Alder Creek, about a mile from where she originally spotted it.

This was a Salmon Shark, Lamna ditropis. They eat salmon, squid, sablefish and herring. They resemble a Great White Shark in that their eyes are close to their snout. The Salmon Shark, however, only grows to ten feet long.

The question is why this shark died up on the beach. Eric Anderson had a good theory. He wrote, "I talked to a state biologist a few years ago because one had washed up on Anchor Bay Beach. I took it down to the Bodega Bay labs. The shark biologist told me they get about ten a year that wash up on beaches. He suspected they eat other fish that have eaten too much plankton.”

So, while we are sad this Salmon Shark died, we feel lucky we got the chance to see it. Thanks to Bettye for allowing me to share her photos with you here.

•

Local divers, Jack Likins and Eric Anderson, recently dove for Abalone. Here's what Jack had to say about the dive:

“Eric and I went for a dive last Wednesday at a secret spot off of The Sea Ranch coast. The wind was calm, the waves were calm and the water visibility was about 15 to 20 feet. It was a good first dive.

"Eric is 71 and I am 68 so we didn’t want to do anything too strenuous, especially on our first dive of the season.

“We were diving relatively deep for a low tide, from about 20 to 35 feet. Eric got a nice 9 ¾ inch abalone and I got two that were over 10 inches. Both Eric and I dive a lot, so we save our annual limits [24/season and three/day] for the larger abalones. We usually see hundreds of abalone on each dive, we seldom take one unless it is large or we need one for dinner.”

Here is the photo of Jack's two ten inchers:

Several abalone divers paid the ultimate price this past weekend. Eric Anderson has this poem on his website. He has kindly allowed me to share it here.
    ODE to ABALONE DIVERS 
       by Abaloneten 
       
When I’m dead and in my grave
No more abalone will I crave
At the top of my tombstone will be seen
“Here lies the body of an abalone diving fiend”
A little bit lower will be inscribed
“He nearly got the big one before he died”
At my funeral the preacher will say
“If it hadn’t been for abalone, he’d be alive today”
My family will be sad, and, they’ll wonder why,
So will my buddies when they come to say good bye
All I can figure, is, God wanted my soul
Cuz I think I  located God’s favorite ab hole…
To learn much more about abalone, here is Eric's website: https://sites.google.com/site/abaloneten/
Thanks to Eric and Jack for sharing their photo and experience with us here.

•

Gorilla Rock is found on The Sea Ranch near the White Barn. Rozann Grunig recently photographed this unique stone structure with a Gull sitting on top. I thank her for allowing me to share her fun photo with you here.

I sincerely hope nobody is out trying to abalone dive today on the first day of the season. Huge swells and high winds make the ocean very treacherous. Local diver Eric Anderson already proclaimed today unsafe. No abalone is worth a life. Check out Eric's web site if you need an abalone fix today: https://sites.google.com/site/abaloneten/ It's the best web site for all things abalone.

• 2 Comments

•

There are several good places to surf on the Mendonoma Coast. But did you know you could surf at Anchor Bay Beach? Eric Anderson sent in this picture that proves it's possible. It was taken several months ago and Eric titles it, "Surfer Dude riding high!"