8-15-2016 BLAINE, WA PART 2

A-Duh!

At about 7:30 PM on Sunday, as the sunset turned our world to bright pink and gold, we sailed toward shore with our precious cargo in the cooler.  We loaded the crabs into a cage that is moored to the pier and lowered them into the water, giving them a 24 hour reprieve.  That done, we tidied up the boat, gathered our belongings and called it a fine day. 

The plan is to go out for more crabbing today, Monday, to a different not-so-secret spot where even more crabs hang out.  Once again, we loaded up the fresh chicken bait, secured the flags and dropped the pots into the briny, shut the engine down, poured a cold one and drifted lazily in the sun and the ocean breeze.  This may not be Heaven but if it isn’t, I’m OK here instead.  After a time, we pulled the pots up.  We caught many a crab but only a few passed the, shall we say, sex and size test (Ahem…) and the rest were thrown back to grow up and make more babies.  We made it a shorter day of crabbing and sailed back to port. 

"Break this thing-y off."

"Then, break these and save that part."

Another first adventure was in store.  Bob sorted through yesterday’s and today’s booty and chose the victims for tonight’s steamed crab feast.  Next, he taught Rob the art of committing crabular homicide, breaking them apart, cleaning them. 

Crab murderer

Next, the cook stove was readied for the steaming process using a large pot with water, vinegar and a slug of beer in the bottom.  On the strainer, place a layer of crab sections, a sprinkle of Cajun seasoning (“Slap Ya Mama”), another layer of legs, a sprinkle of seasoning and so on. 

Jake and the crabby ones

A layer of crab

A sprinkle of "Slap Ya Mama"

Place the pot on the burner and fire that sucker up!  While the crabs steamed, we went down to the dock to spray and flush everything with fresh water, organize and stow all the equipment and gather up our things. Fifteen minutes later, the crabs were done to a turn.  Ada does it best and had prepared a pretty table outside in the sunset and the feasting began.  You break off the pointy end of a leg to use it as a pick to pull the tender, fresh-caught-today crab meat out of the shells and roll it gently around on the tongue.  Repeat.  Repeat again.  And again.  Incredible!  Ada and Bob took us, these last 2 days, on a brand-new ride!  What a fantastic experience!

Gourmet crab feast by the sea

As the sun slipped behind the sea, it grew dark and we all grew sleepy.  It was time to pack up the chairs and backpack, kiss, hug and sadly say, “good bye” to Ada, Bob and Jake and head for the homestead, happy, wind blown, rosy cheeked and grinning from ear to ear. 

Good bye, Jakey Doodle!