A good feed of crab

I got up today at 3.30am for a 4.00am pickup to go crabbing. Max (who's partner works with Jo) and Paul picked me up right on time and we had the boat in the water down near the Port of Brisbane just before 4.30am. In all my years of living next to the bay and boating on the bay, I have never been out at night and also never been crabbing. The sensation of racing along with no spotlights, navigating just by the beacons was a bit surreal. Max has been boating/crabbing for years so I wasn't at all worried. It was just a new experience. Max and Paul had to push the boat accross a tidal sandbar. Thankfully I was allowed to stay aboard. The thought of pushing a boat through knee deep water in the dark out in the middle of the bay was scary. It was beautiful to see the sun come up over the Islands.

So, just on sun up we arrived at where the crab pots had been laid the night before and started. Max used his GPS to get the boat close to the pots and then it was just a case of spotting the floats, grabbing them and hauling the pot aboard. Then we opened them, shook out the crabs, re-baited them and threw them back in for another attempt. This process was repeated over and over till all 12 pots were done.

I didn't realise how much work goes into crabbing. Max was kind enough to stop for an hour of fishing while we waited for the other pots to fill (or not) with more crabs.

The wind had come up and it was pretty rough. we did get a few more crabs and then Max decided to head back in. Luckily we had stopped for a chat with some fellow crabbers on the bay. A cigarette lighter was exchanged for 3 beers. We didn't die of thirst.

The crab total was 25 which to me was quite a lot but Max seemed to think things could have been better. After loading the boat back on the trailer we went back to Max's place and cooked up the crabs in a massive industrial boiling pot. That was done while drinking a few cold beers and I ate crab fresh out of the pot. Beautiful. All that before midday.

Jo and I had (you guessed it) crab for dinner with a lovely salad and boiled potatos. I think I will be eating crab for lunch and dinner tomorrow too.

I don't think I will be too late to bed tonight. What a great day.