Excursion: Wilderness Exploration Cruise & Crab Feast

This was a wonderful excursion. Crab feast it certainly was, amazing, but first a boat cruise showing us crab pots set earlier in the morning. We watched as they were pulled up and all released. Many were females and could not be retained and a few males were just on-size. This was really ‘an exercise’ to show us the daily routine that resulted in the feast we would enjoy for lunch.

The day was drizzly and cold despite it being summer. A coach was waiting dockside to take us on the forty minute ride to the sight of the waiting boat for the wilderness cruise.

The coach stopped several meters on top of the mooring spot. We descended about fifty steep stairs down to the waters-edge, thankful for the handrail but still needed to watch each step.

The boat was large enough to seat about twenty of us. It was enclosed, glass windows all around for viewing without getting wet, bench style seating, it was comfortable. We saw a bald-eagle’s nest, sadly no whales were spotted but always the promise that one might surface within camera range. We past a salmon cannery used up until 1959, now a tourist museum of the past. Further on our crew stopped at a buoy that held a ‘demonstration’ crab pot, laid at 5am that morning.
Our crew member, Scott, retrieve the pot and it had about 7-8 crabs. When hauled aboard those who wanted were given a photo opportunity after being shown how to safely hold the crab. Many on board did, we did not. Most of the caught crabs were below legal size, all females must be released regardless of size but for our benefit, all were released. The pot had only been set to show tourists the methods but during tourist season no caught crabs from our expeditions are kept. After about forty minutes on the boat we docked at the lunch spot.

Crab lunch, was served in what was once a boarding house, now a function house, with lodgings for the staff in the upstairs section, all of whom were ‘blow-ins’ from US, up for the summer season. They were fun loving from various states.

A demonstration was given on how to open a crab and the feast started. We were seated at tables and we were fortunate to be with a couple from another cruise ship in port, Norwegian Star. They would have been in their 40’s and lived in El Paso, Texas. They had spent time in New Guinea many years earlier as part of a missionary team.

Back to the feast, we were given initially two half crabs each, cracking tools were on the table and hot melted butter was brought around for each person served in little bowls then….into it.

Absolutely wonderful, the crab meat was sweet and because the shells were softer than our varieties we were able to ‘fork-out’ large hunks, you could opt for the fork provided or enjoy the whole experience best using your fingers, my option. I had never eaten hot crab dipped in hot butter but this was really good.
The crabs kept coming, as many as you could eat, refills please!!

At the end of this, a wonderful dessert of cheesecake with blue berries was served. Drinks were served to us all ,beer, wine, soft drinks were the choices. What a wonderful memory and experience.

I had never eaten such a quantity of hot crab and dipping each morsel into the hot butter was a gastronomical delight. I definitely enjoyed this more than Phil, not a great lover of crab but he didn’t put any damper on my enjoyment and was happy to have experienced Alaskans and Canadians love of crab.

REMEMBERING OLD FRIENDS
We remembered our dear friend Gail Stevenson and her love of crab, now we too had experienced the delights.
We raised our glasses in memory of Gail, Glen and family and the many years we had enjoyed ministry and friendship with their family. Glen and Beth moved back to Canada after Gail’s death, Tim, I think stayed on in Goulburn though I am unsure where he is now.