Honey, Won’t You take Me on a Sea Cruise…..Pillar Point Harbor

Photo: Michael Wong, Spring Mountain Gallery

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Meet the “Flat Abalone”

Distinguishing Characters: Ranges in size up to seven inches, but most individuals are three to five. Shell oval, long and narrow, considerably flattened.

Exhibits less variation in shell form than other species. Color dark brick red with occasional mottlings of greenish blue and white. Holes four to eight, usually five or six open.

Surface sculpture spaced, lamellac-like striae. Inside of shell pale pink, with green reflections. No muscle scar although some may have small clumps of scattered green and brownish nacre in the muscle attachment area.

The body is a mottled yellow and brown with tinges of green. The epipodium is lacelike along the upper edge, colored a yellowish-green with large brown and yellow splotches. The surface of the epipodium is rough and the tentacles are dark green and slender.
Distribution: British Columbia to La Jolla, California, but rare south of Carmel, California. Generally not plentiful but occasional abundant in small areas.

Habitat: Found subtidally and to depths greater than 70 feet. Lives on and under rocks with other species of abalones. Feeds by grazing on small attached algae.

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Photographer Michael Wong Said: Got To Get Her Into My Life

Here’s the true story by Coastside Photographer Michael Wong, Spring Mountain Gallery

In the year 1959, my family moved to Pacifica, CA., from San Francisco. All of a sudden, I was in peaceful Westview School. Up until then I had to fight to survive in the tough city. That year in second grade, I met a cute little girl named Deborah Hagler. We were immediate friends.

They sent me away to a new school for third grade, but in forth I was back. Debbie and I were kind of an item even at that tender age.

Debbie and her sister Laurie were artists in many ways. Debbie would have kids standing over her shoulders to watch her draw; her specialty was horses. I can remember the teachers would send them from classroom to classroom so that they could perform their singing and ukulele act: “We Ain’t Got a Barrel of Money”. They harmonized beautifully, and I was spellbound.

In one incident, I asked Debbie to please draw a horse for my wall.

Debbie drew a stick figure, and threw it at me. I laughed it off, but was puzzled. 36 years later, I would find out her reason. My whole childhood world would change drastically in the fifth grade. My Mom and Dad announced that we were moving. We packed up and I said goodbye to friends, teachers and to little Debbie Hagler.

Life wasn’t too bad at the south side of Pacifica. It was more of a surfer, coast part of town. I made friends, as all children do. Attended Terra Nova High School, and graduated in 1970. I won’t go into all that I’ve done with my life because that’s not what this story is about. Fast forward to the year 2000, 30 year class reunion coming up. As I logged into classmates.com, I couldn’t believe how many of my old classmates were writing online. It was unbelievable, almost a timeless world where we felt like teenagers again, writing stories and reuniting. The class reunion was a two-day success, including about 10 teachers. We had a blast, and a lot of it was planned through classmates.com.

Then the reunion was over, all that could be written on classmates was posted. Bored, I jumped over to our rival school, Oceana. As I read their posts I ran into a topic: “Westview Kids”. As I scrolled down, there was a class photo from my 4th grade class, my very young smiling face was something that I hadn’t seen for decades.

Who the hell posted this? Scrolling down I saw that it was Deborah Hagler. Almost 40 years had past, seeing her name gave me an exciting, wonderful feeling. I wrote to her through the message boards. She replied by telling me: “You were my very first boyfriend”. Since this was a public message board, we quickly went to private email.

Many emails and phone calls later, we made a date to meet in person. Our first meeting since we were very young children, it was as if we had never parted. We were instantly close….very close!! Oh, of course the question came up about the stick figure horse. It turns out that she was very upset (at 9 years old), because I had turned my attention to another girl in class.

Well, I have my horse drawing on our wall, and I have the bride that I was meant to be with all my life. Debbie and I were wed on January 9, 2002. For many pictures and stories about our life together, check out debwong.com

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Do You Believe in Rumors? Who Were the Elegant Hippies seen at the Oceano Hotel?

Friends have told me that they spotted some very rich, beautiful looking “hippies” staying at the Oceano Hotel in Princeton-by-the-Sea.

I got excited and asked: What does a rich hippie look like? What were they wearing? What did their hair look like? How many of them were there? What are they doing in Princeton? Making a movie?

The friends smiled broadly as I bombarded them with questions, ending with a harsh reprimand: “Didn’t you talk to them? I would have been ‘right there,'” meaning, I couldn’t pass them by without getting the answer to the most important question: “WHO ARE YOU?”

But my friends are not in the business of asking rich hippies who they are, and what they might be doing in Princeton; instead my friends just looked and admired and loved looking and admiring these seemingly out-of-place people wearing perfectly made counter-culture clothes and beads from the 1960s.

Now I hear that they were from a production company, involved with making a tv commercial for the “Hummer.” Hummers in Princeton?

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1970s : Giant Log Was Carved at Miramar Beach

(Image: The Michael Powers homestead in Miramar Beach, with the huge redwood log in front. Photo by Michael Powers.)

In the late 1970s, Princeton shipbuilder Manuel Senteio, arrived at Miramar Beach, driving his crane to move a 20-foot-long, 3000 pound redwood log to photographer/sculptor Michael Power’s healing center, then in development.

The log had washed up on the nearby beach, and when Senteio saw how huge it was, and what his crane would have to lift, he exclaimed: “It’s big!”

Yes, it was VERY BIG AND VERY HEAVY–heavier still, from the sea water that had soaked into its pores.

Could Senteio’s crane lift the thing? To fulfill Powers’ plan, which was to carve the log, it had to stand upright. Could this be accomplished? Nobody knew for certain.

If all else failed, a crowd of Powers’ artist friends were on hand to help “psychically” raise the mammoth totem pole; its destination the peaceful inner garden. Half Moon Bay City Manager Fred Mortensen, a neighbor of Michael Powers, was there to lend more practical expertise.

There were many oohs and ahhs and oh no’s. This was the most dramatic event to occur in Miramar Beach for many moons.

But the crane lifter, Manuel Senteio was a professional: Can you hear the great burst of applause and laughter when the redwood log found its final resting place?

“Within this tremendous mass of redwood brought here to Miramar Beach by the sea,” said Michael Powers, “I intend to carve the forms of a man, a woman, and a child, a trilogy. It will probably take a year to complete but hopefully it will become a source of beauty and inspiration for everyone who comes to see it.”

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Meet the Threaded Abalone

Distinguishing Characters: Shell oval, moderately thin, arched. Attains a length of six inches but most are small than four. Surface fairly regular with prominent, broad spiral ribs interspaced by several low, narrow ribs or ridges.

Four to six holes open, small, tubular, raised. Shallow groove between holes and edge of shell. Spire moderately high. Surface of shell primarily greenish with patches and spots of dull brown, white, red or yellow. Outer lip of shell extends over inner nacreous surface, producing typical narrow reddish-brown and greenish colored border.

Interior surface iridescent, light pearly white. No muscle sear in most individuals, occasional sear-like impression. In larger specimens, some with small clumps of greenish nacre in vicinity of muscle attachment.

Body yellowish cream with brown blotching, epipodium light brown and cream, banded. Numerous small rounded protuberances on surface of epipodium, upper edge fringe-like and flecked with white. Orange tinted on edge of foot and mantle, eye stalks and in throat region. Tentacles short and light brownish-yellow in color.

Distribution From Pt. Conception south to Turtle Bay, Baja California, primarily along the mainland.

Habitat Rocky bottoms offshore in depths ranging from 10 feet (rare) to over 120 feet; greatest numbers are found in 70-100 foot depths.

From California Abalones, Family Haliotidae, Department of Fish and Game
By Keith W. Cox

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Me with Ab

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Princeton-by-the-Sea is a place where many historic events happened

There are many of us on the Coastside who wish to see Princeton continue to be a “place,” with it’s name on an official sign, as in the classic photo at the top of my blog. “Princeton,” the sign reads, “pop. 200.” That population number hasn’t changed much, closely matching the number of permanent residents there today.

There are many of us who wish to see Princeton-by-the-Sea retain its unique identity, not to be lost in suburban sameness. Not to be consumed by the big, hungry town to the south.

Yes, I am a romantic, but not the only romantic, and Princeton’s economy thrives on romance in every tone, shade and color.

What happened to the old Princeton sign?

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The Emerald of Half Moon Bay: Story by Bill Claudino

Restoring the “Irene”: Emerald of the Bay

by Bill Claudino

Have you seen “the restoration project” at the pier in Princeton? The old fishing boat, the “Irene” is being restored. When I was a boy, this was the “Emerald of the bay.” In those days there was no “Johnson Pier”. The breakwater jetty had not even been constructed.

The “Irene”–a double-ender–wasn’t the largest boat in the harbor but it was the most envied. In recent years the “Irene” had fallen into almost total disrepair. A gent named Leland, who was sailing around the world on his 60-foot sloop (poor devil,) took pity on the old “Emerald of the bay” and decided to restore the “Irene”. He’s formed a non- profit that accepts donations and is vigorously trying to restore this classic fishing vessel.

I was never a commercial fisherman but as a long time local, I did spend some time on the “Irene” with its owner George Bettencourt, now deceased. Some of my most treasured memories were spent with George on board the fishing boat named after his beloved wife.

My mom went to school with George and his brother Henry, who was best known as “Uncle Henry”. They were both such nice people; everybody loved George and Henry. Their sons, George, Jr. and Dave, still live on the Coastside.

On most days you can find Leland and his wife Cecily working on the “Irene” (in the parking lot near the sea wall in the harbor). I made a small donation and they told me that next time I visited I should wear my “grubbies” and have fun working on the project.

dscn0878.JPG Reads: Pillar Point Educational Fund, Inc. Help Restore The Fishing Vessel IRENE…All parties interested in restoring and transforming IRENE (a fishing vessel for 3 generations) into a Harbor Touring Vessel, the proceeds from which would go into an educational scholarship fund for the children and grandchildren of commercial fishing families from Pillar Point Harbor,

Please contact: Leland & Cecily Parsons
619-507-5071

dscn0882.JPG

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The White Abalone

Haliotis sorenseni Bartsch 1940

Distinguishing Characteristics: Shell thin and light, oval, highly arched, reddish brown color exteriorly. Surface sculpture regular, with low spiral ribs, usually covered by lush marine growth, especially tube dwelling mollusks. The holes are highly elevated and between three and five are open.

The interior is a striking pearly white with iridescent tints mainly pink; the outer edge of the lip is quite thin with a narrow red border. The muscle scar is typically absent, but if present is poorly differentiated; in some larger individuals small blue-colored nacreous clumps are scattered over the interior.

The epipodium is roughened and is mottled yellowish green and beige color. Its edges are scalloped and lacelike with occasional edgings of orange. The long, thin, light green and yellowish tentacles extend beyond the edge of the shell. The portion of the mantle extending over the head region of the animal is edged in purple.

The body is typically yellow or orange colored and the meat is quite tender. Shell attains a length of ten inches, but most are five to eight. Individuals smaller than four inches are rare.

Distribution: Not found north of Pt. Conception, taken only occasionally along the mainland at Pt. Dume, Palos Verde and San Diego. Most abundant among the Channel Islands of Santa Catalina, Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, San Clemente and Los Coronados; also reported from Turtle Bay and Cedros Island, Baja California.

Habitat: A deep water form found from 15 feet (rarely) to 150 (may extend to greater depths), with greatest concentration between 80 and 100 feet.

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From California Abalones, Family Haliotidae, Department of Fish & Game, 1962

By Keith W. Cox

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