Crabbing!

Our first roadtrip this summer was a week-long trip round western Oregon. It started off with quick trip down the I5 corridor to Grant's Pass. After that we crossed over the mountains, hitting the Oregon Caves and the giant redwood forest on the way to the coast. The rest of the trip was coming up the southern Oregon coast before crossing back after Lincoln City.

So...we extended our trip by a day - to go crabbing!! We chartered the Ilwaco Indian for our outing, along with three other small groups who wanted to go out that morning. This kind of charter is a 'working' trip, in which everyone helps out with the crabbing, and takes a share of the catch.

It was a glorious day, everyone had fun, and we limited before our time was up, so the skipper gave the traps to his sister ship, and we didn't even have to put them away! The only real question - what do you do with a dozen dungenesse crabs?


our charter...


getting ready to pass under the Newport bridge


cheeeese...


The crabs are over there!


Robb helps haul in traps...


We got some on almost every haul!


taking a short break


dumping the crabs in the bins


Sort and measure...


...this is how you tell if they are big enough.


They threw the small ones back!


When they are full they get pretty heavy!


A baby crab came up on one trip.


...Kayl wants to measure.


Only 2 rock crabs - we kept them both


We caught our limit pretty quick!


Kayl really liked watching the process...she wished she could help.


headed back to the dock


The guys cooking up our catch...



...while the kids enjoyed some ice cream!