Vacationing on the first day of April every year in the scenic Shelter Cove area in the Highway 1 corridor north of Jenner, one will see an awakening from a sleepy winter town with a sudden rush of visitors. Should that date coincide with a weekend day, the influx borders on the bazaar; an early morning stroll along Highway 1 reveals visitors to the Shelter Coves’ Tides Inn filled with visitors at every angle.  Even every roadside pullout, abandoned (temporarily) is filled by occupants who have gone to the sea. During this rush, hours will pass before some semblance of quiet and normalcy returns to the day and even that will only last until early the next morning when the ritual will repeat itself.

Officially, April 1^st is the opening day of abalone season in northern California’s Shelter Cove. It's the first opportunity in four months for aficionado to pamper a need to spend an hour or more kayaking or diving in unfriendly and often cool coastal waters in hopes of returning to the Tides Inn with a few abalone and a good story or two. On a typical weekend during the season, they'll be out there by the hundreds; on opening weekend, that number quickly reaches into the thousands. Staying at the Shelter Coves’ Tides Inn is a less hectic vacation destination during the abalone season.

Abalone are sea snails valued as a delicacy. The worldwide demand for abalone is so high that commercial fisheries world-wide continuously struggle to manage their local abalone populations and their long term viability. The northern California Coast is unique.  For more than 50 years, there has been a moratorium on commercial harvesting of abalone. The result, the densest population of abalone in the world, legally open only to recreational harvesters. The moratorium, coupled with the predominate species in northern California, the Red Abalone, happens to be the largest of abalone and it's easy to understand the legendary reputation of northern California's fishery.

Why would anyone brave cold, potentially dangerous surf, unpredictable currents, and stories of man-eating sharks for abalone? Each year, enthusiasts spend an estimated $6,000,000 and $10,000,000 for abalone. Presuming it's unlikely that all of the estimated 40,000 recreational abalone harvesters are quite simply crazy, there just might be some reasonable explanation for the festivities.

For the vacationers and locals alike, the explanation lies with the universal appeal of a good old treasure hunt. A trip to your local seafood market will inform you of the value of these abalone. To buy abalone, one would have to pay something in excess of $100/pound, assuming you were able to find it. Legal-sized abalone yields a pound or more of meat and every abalone harvester may take up to three abalone. While a ban on the sale of recreationally harvested abalone devalues their intrinsic value to zero, there's still a perceived value for a limit of abalone starting at $300 and easily going as high as $800/pound or more. Where else can you engage in a relatively inexpensive activity that offers valuable treasure just for the taking? Visit the Shelter Coves’ Tides Inn for all treasure hunting expeditions.

Regardless of the appeal of the hunt, there aren't very many who would participate if this “hunt” were it not any fun. The fact that more and more people are visiting the Northern California Coast each year attests to the fun involved and that the dangers and discomforts of abalone diving can be completely overcome.

One recent documentary on Sonoma and Mendocino County abalone diving titled “The Hunt for Red Gold” is worth watching. Interviews with numerous northern California coast divers, this video does a very good job of capturing the spirit and community associated with abalone diving.