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Cockle
Luck was on the Ferry with us, and we met a couple from La Paz who turned out to be the son and daughter-in-law of a man with
whom Billee and her husband had made the long and difficult drive the length of Baja California years ago. Doors began
opening. They knew the roads, and said our car could not negotiate them. They also told us La Ventana or Sargente would be
the most practical place to leave the mainland from and that a boat would be available there. They arranged transportation to
Sargente immediately after lunch at their home, and just before sundown we landed on our island with Sr. Victor Caldron, his
son, and their outboard motor boat to remain with us during our stay.
By the time we had set up camp and had dinner it was dark, and immediately afterward we were combing the beach by lantern
light. What a thrill to find a number of dead Cypraea isabellamexicana, many C. albuginosa, and even one dead and broken
Cassis vibex mexicana. We could hardly wait for daylight and were up at dawn the next morning and each of the five mornings
we were on the island. A little after noon the wind began whipping up whitecaps on the channel and continued except for brief
periods, during our entire stay on the island.
The water was much colder than we anticipated, shortening our diving periods even with rubber suits, and the wind made our
return to normal temperature slow. Though we were cold much of the time and ate little food that escaped having at least some
sand blown in, I feel certain if we had found even one Cypraea isabellamexicana among us we would not have been aware the
wind was blowing. But from the intertidal zone to a depth of 30 or 35 feet we turned over rocks (and turned them back),
searched living coral, reefs and ledges but found not one live Cypraea isabellamexicana. We found no dead coral heads as
coral is scarce in that area. We poked every sea slug and soft creature even though we knew what it was, and with a hook
[hookah] and compressor we could be thorough and leisurely about it.
We could not have left the island earlier if we had wanted to, and a small yacht was riding out the windstorm in "our" little
bay. We finally left in a dawn lull though the wind came up again shortly after we reached the mainland as our boatman said
it would.
From Rabaul, New Guinea: A native collector wrote to us offering 136 live-collected Cypraea coxeni. From a different source
we received an offer of 200 coxeni. To further the evidence of "slaughter," an American collector passed through Honolulu
recently with over 175 specimens of New Guinea coxeni in his luggage to be used "for trading," so he said.
From Florida, U.S.A.: Fishermen trawlers just sold 230 live-collected Voluta junonia johnstonae and 203 specimens of Voluta
kieneri. The kieneri were all small (4" to 5") and the junonia were of "poor quality"!!!
These accounts barely touch on the world-wide destruction of molluscan fauna now taking place daily to supply the
ever-growing shell market.
Dealers and shell clubs alike should unite in a concerted conservation program before depletion of this nature puts them both
out of business.
Saturday, April 2, 1966 will be a day I will remember for a long time. This was the morning that I found a beautiful, perfect
2-1/2" specimen of Conus bullatus.
Diving buddies Mal Loring of the Hickam Sea Lancers, and Reg Grimm of the San Francisco Skin Divers, were with me at a depth
of 75 feet off Pokai Bay when I spotted what looked like a typical 2" wide Terebra maculata track in a small sand pocket
between coral clumps. The trail lead from the edge of a coral boulder out into the center of the sand patch, and ended. A
quick fanning action across the track's end uncovered a brilliant red cone. I didn't know what I had for sure but I knew it
was something special. When I showed it to Mal and Reg sand really began to fly as they searched for the mate to my shell.
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