Gerstle Cove

2010/08/28 I free-dived here for abalone for the very first time. Before I was an 'advanced shore-picker' -- diving only in 5' of water but I do submerge completely into water. This is the first time I'm truly free-diving. Unfortunately I got my weights wrong. I experimented to get the right weight at my neighborhood pool, but neglected to consider salt water has more buoyancy. So I was unable to dive down! I saw them abalones, they're right there, but could not dive down!! Damn it! I tried holding on to kelp, holding on to rocks, swimming with my hands, to no use. Some people have sinking problem but I had floating problem. Finally I got tired from all the swimming and just gave up. I will be correctly prepared next time. The bottom looks very lush. Lots of vegetation, lots of boulders, perfect abalone habitat. I did not see a whole lot of fish, though. I saw a couple of bluish fish; probably some kind of perch. Then again I only swam in about 200 square yards of area. I was also testing out my underwater camera for the first time in ocean. In the struggle to dive I accidentally switched to photos instead of videos, so my first underwater videography project was also a complete failure. The few photos all came out blurry. May I suggest Shorediving.com add video capability? I anticipate having videos to share in the future.