We took a ferry over to Bolivar Penninsula. Max loved watching the seagulls (which equaled lots of bird poo on the car) fly around the ferry.
Max at Casey's, where we ate dinner. It was really good - next door to Gaido's, which is a bit fancier. Casey's was more our speed with really good seafood. Andy and I each had grilled scallops, shrimp and fish. Even their salad dressings were homemade - yummy! (Jake and Max shared chicken strips...I hate that - my parents always had us try new foods as kids, which made me like a variety of things. All Jake ever wants when we got out is chicken, and icky nuggets at that! I'm hoping I can convince him to try more as he gets older. I digress...)
Jake catching crabs from his bed!
Showing us his catch! Don't you see it?!
THE DEADLIEST CATCH
Before our trip Andy got the idea to try to catch crabs as something fun to do. He researched it tons online, learned exactly how to do it (he had also done it some as a kid) and got SUPER excited about it. He really wanted to catch a bunch and have a crab boil in our hotel mini-kitchen. :D We did just that! (Sorry to whoever was on our floor!)
We got some tips for good locations, and this was our first try. To catch 'em, you're supposed to attach chicken (we used gizzards, attached with binder clips - ha) to nets, lower them in shallow water and check them every few minutes to see if crabs were caught inside. This first location didn't work out - really no sign of any crabs, and the water was pretty deep - at least 12 feet Andy guessed by the length of string he needed. It was SO HOT and since Andy wasn't having much luck we packed up to try somewhere else.
My mom helped my by sewing a band to a hat I found on clearance for Max. Above is pre-hat.
This is what he thought of the hat. Really. Every time I put it on him, he acted like it was torture. (It wasn't too tight Mom, like we wondered - he just wasn't having it.)
So, with the help of our GPS we drove around to several more spots trying to find crabs. It needed to be on the bay side (not beach side), not too deep, preferably with a dock (instead of rocks) to hang nets over, and with evidence of crabs. Sometimes you could see tiny crabs walking on the shore or crab limbs around.
Around 1ish Andy dropped Max and me off at the hotel so he and Jake could continue the hunt. They were gone till about 7 pm! Actually it turned out to be my idea of vacation - Max napped well, I got to watch a movie I rented (Dan in Real Life - pretty good) and I had no obligation to clean or do ANYTHING! It was super nice alone time.
But Andy and Jake DID catch crabs. He said they found a good spot behind a closed bait shop and that they came pretty quickly. Their first catch:
HA! He said they really pinched hard - wouldn't let go of his glove. 
At the hotel in our cooler. They're called blue crabs - amazing how bright blue their claws were! I think we counted 12 or 13.
Ooh! And to watch them squirm around...crazy-looking.
Our feast! (Hot dogs for Jake, though he did taste a tiny bit, and as a backup if something went awry.) After cooking they turn red! And they tasted pretty darn good! Andy disagrees, but I think they weren't quite as good as restaurant claws - like the giant ones. Because he caught them, they were the best he'd ever tasted! But I was surprised by how good they were - just a lot of work. Also, I forgot butter for dipping! Still a blast...
Andy said several times during the rest of the week, "I'm just glad I got to catch my crabs." It made his vacation.
2 comments:
Looks like fun....I am not a seafood person but that would be fun to catch something and eat it! Love the hat for Max! Cute pic's girl!
It's in Andy's blood, Laura. We grew up catching crabs in Savannah, and Diane was the best. She loved the catching and the eating. If my memory is correct, Diane and Clay went crabbing on their honeymoon! (But you'll have to fact-check that with Clay.)
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