My fears of swamping the boat were
quickly discharged as Bill reassured me that they had
taken on much more in the past and floated home. We
made several more passes at the buoys but in a much
more somber mood. The wind was still gaining and my
expertise at navigation was sufficiently lacking to
keep the swells from coming over the side. After
several less drenching
occurrences, we counted the
take at 20 crabs and called it a day.
We pulled the boat out, and went back to camp to
change. We were soon on our way back to the landing to take advantage of the public fish cleaning station
provided. I had never heard of cleaning crabs but Ken
explained that cooking a crab whole, permeates the
water and changes the flavor of the meat.
He recommended a pair of rubber gloves as crabs out of
water can develop a nasty attitude. The shell on a
Dungeness Crab is softer than it’s Alaskan cousin.
Ken demonstrated how to pick up the crab from the
back, gather all four appendages on one side, then
reaching over the top of the crab
shell with the other hand, grabbing the top on the side that the appendages
are held and yanking, pulling the top shell of the
crab off. He then cleaned the insides and broke the
two halves apart, flushing the debris away and tossing
the legs and claws into a
bucket. With all done, we
returned to their camp where Shirley and Barbara (Ken
and Bill’s wives) were boiling water in two large stew
pots, over an open fire. Bill explained that it was
necessary to bring the water to boil, throw the crabs
in and wait until the water boiled again. The crabs
were allowed to boil for 12 minutes and then they were
done, and ready for eating, which I did plenty of. When all was done and it was time for supper, Laura
prepared a four star dinner of Crab Linguini Alfredo.
The next morning we said our goodbyes and promised to
keep in touch. We pulled out with crab in the freezer,
refrigerator, and sink. We would eat crab off and on
for the next month. It was a fantastic adventure with
a tremendous group of people. It's what RVing is all about.
***THE END***
