Saveur: A Plague of Delicious Purple Urchins is Taking Over the California Coast and It's Our Duty to Eat Them
We launch our kayaks at dawn from a pristine, sheltered cove and paddle about a quarter-mile up the pinnacle-studded Mendocino coastline to a craggy reef just offshore. Our mission is to scan the bottom of the Pacific for troublemakers, and we know we’re certain to find them. To prepare for my freedive, I float motionless on the surface and sink into the rhythm of my breathing: Inhale two counts, exhale slowly for 10, pause for two, repeat. A few rounds of this aquatic ujjayi slows my heart rate down to about 50 beats per minute. I take one last breath, filling my lungs top to bottom, before flipping upside down to begin my descent.