Life in BG

So the beauty of actually knowing people here in Victoria is that we get to do things not usually found on the tourist agenda. For example, today we played like we were on the Discovery Channel and went out crabbing in the Bering Sea ocean inlet. I opted to refer to our rig as the Northwest (ok, so we were in a small metal boat…perhaps not the same) and to call our captain by his crabbing name of Sig (you REALLY have to be an avid fan of the show to understand my references here….sorry if you aren’t….)

I gathered all my gear and my dry suit fleece sweater just in case some rogue monster waves plunged me into the icy Arctic Pacific waters. We piled up all two of our mini crab traps into the boat and set off. Turns out, there were no rogue waves. Actually, there weren’t ANY waves at all. It looked like a tranquil fresh water lake out there. And of course, the scenery is amazing. I cannot describe it, so I will just show you a couple of pictures:

     

We boated around and found a good place to drop the traps…according to Sig. Then we went and found this little beach where the water was so clear, I could see this:

And this:

We hung out there for a few hours while the crabbies were hopefully gnawing on our salmon bait and getting, well, trapped (hahahaha, I am hilarious!). Then came the time to gather the goods. We motored back out to our site and attached the traps to the hydraulic lift Mark’s two hands and pulled them up. Sure enough there were crabs in there! And just like on TV, we had to measure them and throw back the little ones and the females. I held a few:

Then, on the next stop, there were even more crabs. Here, have a look at the before and after picture of our traps:

     

This time I bravened up a little and pulled them out of the trap. Turns out they aren’t too thrilled to be pulled away from their dinner and they try to pinch you. But being me and of superior intelligence, I learned to grab them from the bottom, AWAY from the pinchers. Brilliant. I know. We sorted again and put our keepers into a little ice chest.

When we were nearing the shore we started to clean and prepare the crabs. Apparently you have to hold their claws in and then pound their head on the boat to kill them. Then you have to remove the shell, break them in half, and clean out all the guts and gills–all of which you just throw into the ocean for the other fishies to snack on. So I can now confess to you that I am officially a murderer because I killed and cleaned out my own crab. And I must say, I have skills, people….SKILLS! I mean, should the teaching thing not worked out…

For dinner we had steak (a meat which is nearly non-existent and inedible in Bulgaria) and shrimp and crab and baked potatoes with real sour cream (also non-existent in Bulgaria) and a delicious Caesar salad. And I am still full…the next morning. But man, it was TASTY. And I just might have found my second career….