Feelin' Clammy

After the moose incident, we got into the car - hearts still pounding - and joined some friends for a long drive to a beach along the Pacific Coast to dig for razor clams. Clams are best harvested at a large negative tide, that is, when the low tide is far off shore - preferably more than -2 feet. Yesterday's tide was -2.5 feet, so we thought it would be fun to go clamming.

Armed with fishing licenses, 5-gallon buckets, fluorescent pink and green rubber gloves and shovels, we descended on the beach to look for the little dimples that indicate the presence of a clam. When you see a dimple, you start digging quickly and carefully. The clam shells are very sharp (thus the name "razor clam") and fragile, which makes digging very tricky. Just a little too close and the clam shell is shattered. The clams are also very fast diggers, themselves, so it's a race between you and the spitting clam that is trying to pull itself vertically deeper into the sand.

It was good fun but not very fruitful as the tide wasn't really low enough to get the really big guys. In fact, only the experienced clammer in the group got his limit (60). When we returned home, we had the more difficult task of cleaning them (which includes removing them from the shell, rinsing them several times and cutting out all of the internal organs and yucky parts (very scientific, huh?). Here's a photo to get a better idea:


Michiel and I managed to harvest enough to make a clam sauce for our pasta dinner - but it sure was a lot of work. If we had to live off the land this summer, we would be in for big weight loss. Kidding aside, we ARE trying to live as much as possible off the land since groceries are more than twice as expensive as what we're used to paying in Amsterdam, but we'll have to try something closer (this required nearly a 2.5 hour drive each way) and more bountiful.

On another note: just saw a bald eagle swoop past the cabin window with something in its talons. Excellent!