The Great Geoduck Hunt of 2009

Geoduck:

Pronunciation:

\ˈgü-ē-ˌdək\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

Lushootseed (Salishan language of the Puget Sound region) gʷídəq

Date:

1883

: a large edible clam (Panopea abrupta syn. P. generosa) of the Pacific coast that usually weighs two to three pounds (about one kilogram) but may attain a weight of over ten pounds (4.5 kilograms)

And there it begins....

So, one of the annual rites of summer is the Bounty of the Sea party hosted by our good friend, in a location unlike any other, and so full of beer and sealife it's amazing no one ends up with food poisoning...because after all, all sealife looks delicious after several beers. And lucky for us, we just happened to be in the area when the low tide dipped to -3.4' exposing all sorts of intertidal wonders, and making for prime geoducking.

The great thing about the late spring/early summer low tides is that they fall smack dab in the middle of the day--bad if you're a little eelgrass plant (Zostera marina) trying hard not to dry out waiting for the incoming tide, but ummm, ummm good if you're out to dig halfway to China in search of a phallic-looking clam (and incidentally, the antipodal point to our geoduck grounds happens to be somewhere between S. Africa and Antarctica, and not China at all). While the breeze was fresh, the air temperature wasn't bad and our bellies were full of breakfast, so we set out for the hunting grounds with tools of the trade and some beers for the clam bucket.

The first task in hunting the goeduck, is to locate a siphon sticking up in the sand. Our preferred location happens to have a mixture of horse clams (Tresus spp.) and geoducks--differentiating between the two can be tricky, but our well-trained party had it down (and I'm not about to divulge all the secrets here). Horse clams make for fine clam burgers, so in the event of a mis-identification, not all is lost (and the secrets aren't that secret as there is plenty of available information on how to dig geoducks). Horse clams also tend to be a little easier to dig, yielding higher success rates and cleaner, drier clothing. A couple of intrepid diggers from our group pulled 7 out of a single hole--that's some persistence!

Once the siphon is located, the "tube" is placed around it and pushed into the sediment. At this point the furious digging begins (I don't know that speed is critical, it just makes for a more dramatic pursuit). It helps to have a few looker-on-ers cheering you on and critiquing your digging--think public works project, but with a lower budget.

If the beastie is deep, it becomes necessary to employ advanced techniques, including finding a really tall dude with 6' long arms to reach in the hole. In the absence of said character, contortionism plays a good role in wrangling the siphon and then shell. It's important not to cut the siphon during the digging process or you will be ridiculed during extraction--the best dug 'Ducks have intact siphons, showing off all their overstuffed glory.


And if all goes well: success!

They are kind of awful looking things, but they taste pretty alright and go nicely with cold beer. This year's haul also included plenty of mussels and steamers and some tasty clam burgers. Not bad for a few days of fun.

Outside of sticking the rental Versa in a wetland, the trip was a big success. We got to hang with our 'Peeps and feel like we were back in our own habitat. Spending some time collecting salty seafood was just the ticket for spending a remarkably lovely weekend in the PacNW. We missed having the Salty One out on the mudflats with us, be she no doubt enjoyed her time at the familial dog spa.