The Last Dive
The Bayou Swamis had people dancing to zydeco at Fort Bragg’s 24th Annual Abalone Cook-Off last October, but even the band’s squealing accordion couldn’t lift the Mendocino County gathering’s grim mood.
Abalone is California’s rarest seafood delicacy and holds an almost mystical allure for many Californians. Stalking, preparing and feasting on abalone has long drawn people together on the California coast in a primal ritual that’s not easily given up.
Decades back, adventurous cognoscenti could slosh into the surf from the Tijuana Sloughs to the Oregon border and pluck species of this giant snail from submerged rocks. Scuba divers found the pickin’ even easier. A commercial industry thrived.
Longer ago, even before the
