At times I think it would be so much easier and cost-effective to simply purchase our Dungeness Crab from anyone of a number of reputable local sources. We could fore-go all the joyful sucking black hole financial frustrations that results from boat ownership and eat our store-bought crustaceans in relative ease and comfort.
But alas, there is something very primal within us that yearns for expression – the hunter instinct – that causes us to cast aside all concerns for safety and common sense, to release our ‘inner explorer,’ and relentlessly pursue our prized quarry.
Such was the case this past week.
Our trusty C-Dory was finally in working condition (fodder for another article soon to come), so we launched at Miami Beach out in Seabeck WA, motored out to our usual spot, and dropped our pots.
A couple hours later, we returned to retrieve our pots and our hopeful bounty. Unfortunately, the tide had come in faster than we had anticipated, and we couldn’t find two of our crab pot buoys. To make matters worse, our 40hp Johnson Outboard suddently gave up the ghost and refused to cooperate, leaving us at the mercy of his evil twin, the 9 horse kicker.
Have you ever watched grass grow? Or observed molasses going uphill on a cold day? That’s about the maximum rate of speed we achieved as we sputtered our way back to the Miami Beach boat ramp.
The following day, my mother and I decided to head out a couple hours prior to the peak of low tide, accounting for the neck-breaking speed of our trolling motor, to find our two missing crab pots.
Arriving just in time, we quickly located one of the buoys. The wind had picked up, as it has a habit of doing in the afternoon out on Hood Canal, and the waves made pulling up the crab pot more difficult. As Murphy’s Law of Crabbing would have it, the pot was bare except for a lone starfish.
We searched repeatedly up and down the shoreline for the 2nd crab pot, but to no avail. Time had run out and the tide was rapidly returning.
To gain a better vantage point, I climbed up onto the roof of the cabin and peered out over the water. Suddenly, I saw the 2nd buoy submerged just under the water’s surface.
Kicker motors are great for trolling, but they totally suck when it comes to quick turns or maneuvering. We made a dozen or so attempts to retrieve the submerged buoy, but came up empty at every pass.
Finally, at wits end, I pulled off my shirt, handed my wallet and car keys to my mom, and jumped overboard.
Have you ever done something without really thinking it through, and then realize very quickly how big a mistake you’ve made?
I hit the water and immediately realized I had made a fatal error. Besides the water being just a few degrees short of freezing, my Mom had never operated the kicker motor!
As I frantically searched for the submerged crab pot buoy, I kept thinking of that scene from the movie ‘Titanic” where Leonardo slips away from Kate’s embrace, and disappears into the freezing depths.
I found the buoy and grabbed the attached line like a fierce, relentless junkyard dog. Unfortunately, it was then that I understood why the buoy had been underwater. The rope was shorter than the water’s depth and the tide was coming back in!
Did I mention that the wind had come up and the waves were getting increasingly larger? About every 3rd wave, my head would bobble under the water, filling my mouth with saltwater.
Off on the horizon, I could see my Mother struggling to maneuver the wave-tossed C-Dory using the gutless trolling motor.
Would she somehow miraculously tap into the Matrix and learn the operating specifications for a 1985 Johnson 9-Horsepower Outboard Motor? Or would I suffer the grizzly fate of being transformed into a human crab pot buoy?
To discover the fate of our heroic Crab Hunter, read “Hood Canal WA Deadliest Catch Part Deux”
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Rich Jacobson is a licensed real estate professional providing knowledgeable empowerment and relentless representation for his clients of residential properties and vacant land throughout all of Kitsap County WA and portions of Pierce, Mason, and Jefferson Counties. You can also find him at KitsapLife.com, SOUNDBITEBLOG, ActiveRain, Everyday CK, Facebook, Twitter, or e-mail: kitsapagent@gmail.com
