BajaNomad - Abalone Fishing Photo Report from Asuncion

Abalone Fishing Photo Report from Asuncion

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:31 PM

Seeing as the abalone topic was popular, I thought you might like some pictures of the process. The guys leave San Roque around 6:30, these pics are near San Roque Island. they shut the engine down, fire up the compressor and the diver gears up and jumps in with the tender looking after his air hose and the boat driver mans the oars to keep them off the rocks.

cove.jpg - 42kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:33 PM

when the diver fills his sack he sends it up to the tender and they send him down an empty one.

sac.jpg - 49kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:34 PM

the tender sorts the abs in crates...60 blues to each crate

[Edited on 4-10-2008 by shari]

abcrate.jpg - 43kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:36 PM

this abalone weighed a KILO!

bigabalone.jpg - 49kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:37 PM

these two were spoonin! pretty romantic huh!

spoonin.jpg - 42kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:39 PM

I think they are lovers....this borders on kinky...hope the moderators leave it in in the name of science!

ablovers.jpg - 42kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:43 PM

they head back to the cove around 10:00 or so and unload the crates having got between 100-150 abs that day. The abalone get cooked and canned that afternoon. I hope you liked this little abalone journey.

unload.jpg - 45kB

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:44 PM

And here are the stars of the show, Hector the Tender, Martin the Diver and Juan the boatman. Bravo amigos.

team.jpg - 47kB

Sharksbaja - 4-9-2008 at 07:45 PM

Loved it! Do they work the mainland as well?

shari - 4-9-2008 at 07:49 PM

they finished at the island today and moved up towards San Pablo...they also fish along the coast.

diver.jpg - 46kB

DianaT - 4-9-2008 at 07:49 PM

Great picture show---having played tag along with pulpo and langosta fishermen there, we are sure Kevin had a great time and learned a lot.

Enjoyed the show
Diane and John

jorgie - 4-9-2008 at 07:52 PM

Shari, of the meat, how much is food and can be cooked/canned and sold for a product ??

My mouth is watering...

Mexray - 4-9-2008 at 07:56 PM

...big time, seeing your 'succulent' pic's of those fresh Ab's!!!

There just isn't anything better tasting from the sea than fresh pounded and breaded Ab steaks sautéed in butter for a few minutes in a hot skillet!!!

Years ago we were leaving our home in Northern Calif. for a two week vacation of exploring Utah's Southern back roads. A neighbor had just come back from the coast with several Ab's and offered us a couple! We stashed those cleaned Ab's in the ice chest and headed for the open road.

We were scheduled to meet up with my parents that had been on the road for some time at a place called Kodachrome State Park in Utah. After arriving and setting up our camp, we broke out our 'surprise' main course for dinner that first night...My folks just about went out of their minds...Fresh Abalone in the middle of Utah!!! We just couldn't do any wrong after that - what a fun time we all had!!!

Now I'm foaming at the mouth, just remembering all those wonderful flavors....Oh well, Raleys Markets had Angus Beef bone-in New Yorks on sale today for $3.99/lb...I'll just have to 'suffer' through them for dinner tonight!!!

Just to illustrate had 'dear' those Ab's are...

Mexray - 4-9-2008 at 08:00 PM

...I noticed last month at one of the big markets in Ensenada, they were keeping the cans of Abalone in the locked cabinets along with the high priced liquor !!!

shari - 4-9-2008 at 08:02 PM

Most of the critter you see is edible...just a bit of guys down below and they trim off the lips/edges but we save em and grind em up for burgers!

Iflyfish - 4-9-2008 at 09:24 PM

Wow, thanks so much for this post. I have been reading about Abs on the internet and you guys have some of the very best.

Kudos to Juan!

Iflyfish

Natalie Ann - 4-9-2008 at 09:35 PM

Very interesting post, Shari. It's not often we get to see the mating habits of abalone.
Thank you for sharing that entire experience.

And Mexray - abalone in Kodachrome Basin (I picture it at moonrise)....
can't possibly get much better than that.

Nena

BirdDog - 4-9-2008 at 11:21 PM

Very cool shari. Hope Juan and everyone has a safe and productive rest of the season.

Sharksbaja - 4-9-2008 at 11:31 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
they trim off the lips/edges

Ok Shari, that would be called the mantle or rather, the anterior margin.
Knew exactly wat chu meant.

[Edited on 4-10-2008 by Sharksbaja]

Bajagypsy - 4-10-2008 at 06:15 AM

Loved the pictures, it seems like it would be a very hard job. on a side note, is that the Kevin that was down at Christmas??? Lucky man if it is, he is still their!

shari - 4-10-2008 at 08:46 AM

Yes, Kevin came down for our spanish immersion program and well...I guess we did well as he totally immersed and is now part of the community...and dearly loved by all. He now lives in the little orange house beside casa naranja, and is the neighbourhood security guard handyman drinkin buddy.

jorgie - 4-10-2008 at 09:22 AM

HE DRINKS ?? In Asuncion ?????

Osprey - 4-10-2008 at 09:24 AM

Maybe Asuncion is like La Ribera, a quaint little drinking village with a fishing problem.

Bajagypsy - 4-10-2008 at 09:27 AM

No body ever drinks in Asuncion!!

Wiles - 4-10-2008 at 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by shari
these two were spoonin! pretty romantic huh!

Shari, thanks for the pictures and narrative. Almost makes me feel as if I've spent the day on/in the water.

Abalone sex? Quite the opposite of the recent and accurate descriptions of whale sex. When the time is right, abalone release their sperm/eggs into the water. It's called 'broadcast fertilization' They just wing it out there and hope for the best. The odds of a successful fertilization are astronomical thus requiring a tremendous quanity of eggs/ sperm to be released. That is why you rarely if ever only find 1 ab per rock. The succuessful range of fertiliztion is only about 4 feet. Many abs spend their entire life on one rock.

As a side note, it was interesting to see 3 people per boat working the abs. All the commercial ab divers I knew in So. Cal always worked solo. They were hard core.

Ab fondu is fantastic. :biggrin:

shari - 4-11-2008 at 11:06 AM

Wow, thanks for that ab info but I still think those 2 were kissing(or smething) It is law to have 2 men on the panga, one just to tend to the diver and make sure his hooka is functioning properly and one man on the oars or motor...it can be pretty rough on the open pacific here so the boatman must concentrate to keep them off the rocks and on the diver.

Skipjack Joe - 4-11-2008 at 11:45 AM

When I went out with the pangeros (pangueros?) at Asuncion to collect algae there were 3 in the boat. One was over the side. The other was on the oars the whole time keeping it off the rocks. The third was working the compressor, bundling and storing the algae the diver brought up.

Personally I thought the diver should be paid for most of the work but I'm pretty sure the guy at the oars got the lion's share of it.

shari - 4-11-2008 at 04:46 PM

Actually the work is pretty evenly shared...particularly in harvesting sea weed as the diver only has to pick it..the tender and boatman have to take it to town, spread it all out, turn it a couple times a day, sprinkle water on it, then pick it all up and store it, then bundle it...etc etc...so they put in A LOT of extra time where the diver only works a few hours a day. The same for caracol...the 2 guys have to spend hours breaking all the shells and taking out the meat while the diver only works a coule hours diving. Abalone divers make more though than the tenders as they don't have to do anything but turn in the product...the boat man is responsible for all the boat stuff, maintenance of the engine, hull, compressor, anchoring stuff, getting fuel, going out to get the panga etc...so the work is shared by all. The good thing about being the diver is you are done your job when you surface and get to go home before lunchtime whereas the tenders have other stuff to be responsible for.

fishbuck - 4-11-2008 at 05:56 PM

They should hire me as the diver! I work cheep and I might even pay to do it.
This could be a new business for you and Juan. "Jaun for a day" or "The Asuncion Aprentice program for Gringos" or ...

Barbareno - 4-12-2008 at 05:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajagypsy
No body ever drinks in Asuncion!!

Alone.

Barb

Bajaboy - 4-12-2008 at 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Barbareno

Quote:

Originally posted by Bajagypsy
No body ever drinks in Asuncion!!

Alone.

Barb

If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it fall...... :?:

shari - 4-12-2008 at 06:34 PM

Barbareno is a wise woman indeed. We had santa-anna hot dry conditions today...tecate sales skyrocketed I'm sure...we're back to san roque tomorrow for next weeks abalone harvest...ahhhhhh

Diver - 4-12-2008 at 06:46 PM

Here is a link to a weather site I found that actually claims to forecast for Bahia Asuncion.

http://www.accuweather.com/world-index-forecast.asp?partner=...
.

DianaT - 4-12-2008 at 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Diver
Here is a link to a weather site I found that actually claims to forecast for Bahia Asuncion.

http://www.accuweather.com/world-index-forecast.asp?partner=...
.

There is a small weather station up near the cell tower---up on the hill, slightly inland, and the hottest part of town. Quite sure that is from where they pull their information.

It definitely has no relationship to the weather at Diverlandia, or even downtown. :lol:

Diane and John

rts551 - 4-12-2008 at 07:17 PM

Since Accuweather shows 87 degrees at 10 o'clock at night I would venture to say that there is not a reporting station at Bahia Asuncion. If there is one you had better get it checked.

I know some of the weather pages use a regional reporting station as representative for all the locations. One (don't remember which) uses Guaymas as a reporting location for Punta Abreojos. Go figure.

shari - 4-12-2008 at 07:23 PM

Actually last night was super weird night...very hot...santa anna condition...we were with the flying medicos partying in San Roque and just in our t shirts and shorts!!!

DianaT - 4-12-2008 at 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rts551
Since Accuweather shows 87 degrees at 10 o'clock at night I would venture to say that there is not a reporting station at Bahia Asuncion. If there is one you had better get it checked.

I know some of the weather pages use a regional reporting station as representative for all the locations. One (don't remember which) uses Guaymas as a reporting location for Punta Abreojos. Go figure.

Could be, but there is a small weather station---have to show it to you next time you are there---but its location is crazy for the idea of anything accurate. May be warmer now, but 87 at 10 at night? That I would have to see to believe.

You could be correct however. Then I suppose I would need to apologize .

See ya

Diane

[Edited on 4-13-2008 by jdtrotter]

rts551 - 4-12-2008 at 07:31 PM

Maybe it is 87?????? :lol:

shari - 4-12-2008 at 07:38 PM

naaahhhh. wasn't 87 but it was darn hot...very strange.

DianaT - 4-12-2008 at 07:40 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by rts551
Maybe it is 87?????? :lol:

Well, I will tell you that it gets above 120 on our front porch---we bought a cheap thermometer, put in outside in the front window sill and bingo, it got so hot that it broke!

Now don't go telling me that it might have been caused by being in direct line of the setting sun----no, no, thermometers don't lie---120 degrees on our front porch. :lol:

[Edited on 4-13-2008 by jdtrotter]

rts551 - 4-12-2008 at 07:54 PM

You guys are too funny.

805gregg - 4-14-2008 at 07:16 AM

Shrri, too bad you don't have good shipping out of Baja, you could sell on the internet and keep all the profits in Asuncion.

EMAM - 4-16-2008 at 12:03 PM

Ok, so Cindy and I have been in Asuncion for about a week now and absolutely love it here!

It is so much different than the rest of Baja. Shari invited me to go out Abalone fishing with Juan and all I can say is WOW!! What an experience.

Juan would get us so close to the rocks with the crashing surf pummeling the shore only feet from the boat

Those guys are quite the fisherman, and I was way impressed the entire time!

I put together a Gallery to go with the day on the water.

[Edited on 1-02-2008 by EMAM]

[Edited on 1-02-2008 by EMAM]

Gadget - 4-16-2008 at 12:15 PM

Very cool Emam. I was suprised how close to the rocks they were working. All that wave action must make for pretty bad visability down there. Do they take a light down with them to see?

EMAM - 4-16-2008 at 12:18 PM

Nope no light! I too was surprised at that, and being as they were in 30 to 40 foot of water, and it was so early in the morning, I cant imagine they can see too much.

I'm sure that the fact that they are so experienced helps in what they are doing, but you would never catch me in water that rough, unless I had Juan at the oars!

shari - 4-16-2008 at 12:39 PM

LOve your photos Emam...it's always fun to take a guy from Michigan out on the open ocean and WOW him. This is Emams casa on the town beach in Asuncion. We are so enjoying being in san roque...got lots of creative jewellery made, done lots of walking and swimming every day. We've been having a heat wave which has been lovely too. Abalone are thick up in San Pablo so the guys should have their quota filled quickly, probably next week...back to the beach...adios amigos

beachtrailer.jpg - 39kB

EMAM - 4-16-2008 at 12:48 PM

Thanks Shari!

Here is a picture of the Asuncion Nomad - Shari and her horse with two dogs in two. She road over to San Roque from Asuncion on a short day trip.