Crabby times at the BiValve Bar & Grill
Here among the headlands life moves to a rhythm dictated by the seasons; tourist season, fishing season, etc. And winter signals the start of the crabbing season, preparing the way for the Seafood & Wine Festival held each February.
The fishermen at the BiValve Bar, just up the estuary from the Bivalve Oyster Farm, were hunkered down one stormy day last week discussing the price of Dungeness Gold. The profits from these precious 10 limbed crustaceans was in the tank last year due to the fact that the Dungeness crabs were too immature to harvest.
But this year they were ready, and the negotiated price was $2.50 per pound. The season was looking good... with only a couple of problems.
The experimental wave energy buoy which the government was allowing to be tested just south of the Yaquina Head Lighthouse had sunk right in the middle of the crabbing grounds threatening to foul the crab pots.
Storm after storm had kept them in harbor with numbing frequency. S'ven, the owner of the BiValve was the only one making any money.
Worst though, was that the winter storms had uncovered the ancient sacred statue of "DUNGENESS," goddess of all crabs (smack in the middle of Nye Beach). Concerned citizens reported that the crabs were leaving the sea for a pilgrimage to the sacred stone. Sure enough, as the morning fog lifted it revealed thousands of crustaceans in orderly rows walking sideways about the statue to the rhythm of clicking claws; a terrifying invasion of crabby religious zealots on our own shores. YIKES!!
Here on the banks of the Yaquina River though, storms and abandoned science projects are nothing new, but this is an unnerving event. What if they turned militant; launching a Cancer jihad?
The men there at the BiValve stared at each other grimly and took another long tug on their Clamato Marys.
UPDATE
It's been a rather uneventful winter here among the headlands. Crabbing has been pretty fair; the price OK, and no loose energy buoys to worry about.
Scuttlebutt among our boys at the BiValve though, is that the real reason for the good year is that the goddess Dungeness has remained largely buried all winter; her voice silenced by the sand.