Play it Safe
Story by Eric Keener & KG
The Story
This feels like the longest I have been out of the ocean since the first time I tried spearfishing many years ago. My last saltwater dive was 12/23/20 – a very memorable dive and one epic way to end the year. Over a month prior, Fin + Forage was approached by a food journalist that wanted to get the “full experience” which I jokingly mentioned might involve rappelling down a huge cliff, swimming a full triathlon distance and then cooking on a beach. He said, “that’s what I’m here for!” The ocean was already angry at the point of him reaching out and it took us 3 failed attempts (due to unsafe conditions) to make the dive happen, but my word what a dive it was – and a great way to end a wild 2020! You should see that article in a local food magazine in the near future.
After that day, the swells picked back up and pretty much stayed that way for over a month, until this past weekend, when we finally were presented with a halfway decent dive window. I reached out to KG, a good friend, and asked if he wanted to charge it! KG is a freedive spearo that came to Monterey from Florida a little less than a year ago. He initially reached out to me, and with style I have come to appreciate, said he would take me out for tacos in return for some lessons on diving in Monterey. He wanted to learn the ropes about fish ID, hunting styles, gear, recipes, places to (and not to) spear, etc. (Take note: this is a solid way to make a friend!) Clearly I said yes (ummmm tacos?!) - we talked for hours and had a blast sharing stories. Closely thereafter, we scheduled a dive where I committed to keep a close eye on him and help him put to practice all the things we talked about. I took him to a spot that was protected and usually had a healthy amount of fish / structure. On his first drop, he went down to about 30’, grabbed a rock and laid there for an eternity, calmly poised, looking around for fish. It was clear that diving was not what he needed guidance on! Since then, he has been a great friend to our family, often coming over to hang with us, play with Squiggle Monkey, help me play in the kitchen, and go on adventures.
When the dive window opened up this weekend, it was an easy call to make, and as usual, KG was down to rally. While the window was “open,” it was by no means a calm, glassy day. We observed 4 different dive spots before deciding on the same spot we first dove together. It was the same spot where not to long before, he donated his dive light and, on this dive, would end up losing his mask, and nearly more. The swell was coming in from 2 different directions and hitting pinnacles and wash rocks at random variables with movement that was barely predictable – between those rocks was clearly a washing machine. From the top side, it really didn’t appear to be even remotely sketchy or dangerous and being that KG has a military background, is in great shape and generally a salty dude, we were confident this was a good site. We sat watching the swells come in, committed to not let our guard down as we surface swam out around the rocks to our spot.
Just one day before, I heard reports of terrible visibility, but upon timing my jump off the rocks into the ebbing swell, I was thrilled to see about 25 feet of visibility. In order to stay safe during our half mile to swim to the spot, we decided to go way out and around the tumultuous wash rocks. I made sure my gear was secured and KG was ready to go. Not more than a few feet into our swim and something caught my eye, a telltale bit of structure. A small, low overhang, likely with a bit of a crevice below it – perfect spot for a scallop to be hanging out. Took a dive and sure enough, there it was. Not huge, but certainly not small. I asked KG if he wanted to try to locate it and pry it off, which he enthusiastically agreed to. Scallops are one of the hardest ocean ingredients to collect and this was a prime case of, “never going to happen.” We both took many drops and just couldn’t get the angle on it, so we aborted mission and took off swimming to our spot.
After 10 minutes of swimming side by side, I look at KG and see that he is about 10’ behind me and swimming at an angle away from my trajectory. It turns out he was trying to take a shortcut through the rocks instead of following me way out and around them. Suddenly, from a direction that was not expected, a large swell crested at me and broke on him, pushing him another 50’ away from me and in toward the direction of the washing machine. Another wave took him and put him right into one of the rocks on the outer edge of the cluster. He hollered for me so I turned around and kicked as fast as I could toward him. I could tell he lost his mask but was thankful he was clear of the rocks as the last wave had pushed him over it and into a more protected area with deeper water. We got back to our entry point, climbed out and spent a while debriefing what had just happened. It turns out that instead of facing into the wave and diving under it, he tried to swim away from it at an angle. He got caught up in the water movement and it tumbled him. We talked more about how to avoid this next time and what to focus on instead. In the future, if you are diving in an area that has rollers with a lot of water movement, duck dive, under the waves instead of swimming away at an angle. Always steer far clear of dangerous areas and never stop reading the water. Waves come in sets and if you have made it through a few of them, it will likely calm down a bit in another couple waves. In the meantime, focus on not losing control of your position or your ability to stay calm.
He did not appear shaken and was only frustrated that we could not keep diving. I mentioned that I had a spare mask back in the car and he immediately asked to go get it. I said we should go to a more protected area and try again. We stayed in our gear, got to the mediocre spot and hopped into the 8’ vis (at best). Being that he now lost both a light and a mask, we joked that the ocean owes us one. We swam till we found structure, took a dive and boom! Big ol’ grass rockfish! He made quick work of this reef and in no time, he had a large olive, kelpy and black and yellow. I ended up with another grassy and a 21” cabezon. At one point, while we were diving one up one down, he dropped his gun with floatline as a marker on a cave that he wanted me to check out. He said there was a grassy in it. When I got there, I decided to peak around the cave a bit more and wouldn’t ya know, nice ling! I was happy to see it was a male as the females might still be in laying eggs this time of year. I try not to shoot the breeders if possible. KG was baffled that he missed it and was whooping and hollering at the size of some of the fish on the stringer. We didn’t want to get greedy and had plenty of meat to make up for the month hiatus of no fish, so we called it early and set back to the house to clean fish.
In hindsight, we had an adventurous day with a few good lessons learned. I am grateful the story ended the way it did. It was a prime time to be reminded that the ocean is one powerful lady that deserves constant respect – be even more conservative in your estimations than you think the conditions allow for or you could easily get in over your head.
Dive Safe in 2021!
Post-Dive Food Pics and Recipe
Kevin’s Last Taco
A few hours after KG left, I got a picture of some delicious looking fish tacos he made. Hats off to him for sure. I was beat and had no intention of cooking. It was a great conclusion to a great first dive of the year!
Jessica’s Cilantro Crema Tacos
She made dinner the following evening after the dive. It was bomb. It’s a super simple recipe - check it out!
Kevin’s Second Dinner
Kevin invited a couple of the team members over for dinner where he proceeded to stuff the cabezon with all kinds of goodness, paired with some wine and a quinoa salad. It was simple and insanely delicious!
Colleague Meal
I normally don’t take a bunch of fish, but since I had extra on this trip, I gave some to a coworker. There is not much that makes me happy than getting food pics from friends I’ve shared fillets with!