Views From Paradise

You may have read my earlier note about helping make a wine rack for a friend’s boat.

Now this is not a yacht, it is a large zodiac with a helm in the middle and a 135 HP engine on the stern.

Anyway,  as a result of helping on the wooden tray that will hold wine bottles and glasses when they pull into a quiet cove, Paul and Bev invited us for a gathering of oysters.

This morning was a rare event where there was a very, very  low tide at about 11 am.  This very low tide exposes a bank north of Denman Island that is normally under water for many months.

After an exciting bouncy ride across the channel, we drifted onto the bank and went ashore wearing our water shoes and carrying some pails.  As we walked up and down the shoreline, we found dozens of huge oysters.  We finally ended up with a pile and selected the ones we could legally collect and take home.  Both Paul and I have a license that allows us each to collect 15 oysters a day.  We ended up with a bucket of 30 oysters and then headed back to the marina.

As we docked, Paul and Bev said, by the way, they were off to a function for the afternoon, so we could take all 30 oysters.

Now understand, these are not the quaint little oysters that you order at a high end bar, where some guy comes up with a little shucker knife, pops it open and you may chose to swallow it raw.

These are natural wild oysters.  You need a hammer and chisel to open the hinge before the shucking knife goes in.  Not the oysters the size of your thumb, these are the size of , well let’s just envision your tongue being ripped out.  Look at the pictures.

I cooked them all on the BBQ.  Pat and I managed 6 oysters each and we had to eat them with a knife and fork.  Delicious.  The rest were packaged up for freezing and use in future chowders.

But the next time you are at an expensive oyster bar where they charge $5 each for tiny little morsels, remember what a true wild oyster looks like.